'They're in trouble' - How McLaren's 'driver-manager' Indy 500 would work

"Obviously I'm not going to put them in the wall, but if I have a chance to win, they're going to be in trouble."

In a bizarre set of circumstances, McLaren’s IndyCar team boss could end up racing his own drivers for the victory at the Indianapolis 500.

For 2025, IndyCar has introduced a new rule where replacement drivers can be used for the 500 - with some big caveats we'll get to shortly - and Tony Kanaan, the 2013 race winner, will be on standby to start this year’s race for McLaren in case NASCAR star Kyle Larson can’t. That's despite Kanaan having retired from full-time racing after 2019, now being 50 years old and being pretty busy running the McLaren IndyCar team.

“If we're fighting, they [the other McLaren drivers] are losing,” Kanaan tells The Race in an exclusive interview explaining the new rules and how he has ended up as an effective back-up driver two years out of his last 500 and last IndyCar race to boot.

“If I'm in that car, I'm Tony Kanaan the race car driver, there's nothing to do with the team, that's the way it needs to be.

“I know that because we talked about it actually, jokingly [Christian] Lundgaard asked me: 'So, boss, last lap, we're fighting for the win and I'm leading and you're second…'

“I said ‘you better watch it, because I’m going for it’. Obviously I'm not going forward to put them in the wall, but if I have a chance to win, if I do they're going be in trouble.

“I’m obviously joking. But a race is a race. Obviously I’m not going to do anything silly to anyone, but it's racing.”

Before we go any further, let’s explain how the rules work. Kanaan is only allowed to replace Larson before the race starts. It’s not a change that can be made mid-race for any reason. Larson will likely be the only driver in the field eligible to be replaced - because to have a replacement driver, your original driver has to be entered in another marquee event on the same day as the Indy 500.

Larson - who intends to also run NASCAR's 600-miler at Charlotte the same day as part of 'the double' - is the only driver currently meeting that criteria.

Kanaan will have to do a refresher test, which he’ll do on May 12, and the rules have been written to stop this becoming an extra McLaren test. Tyres will come out of Larson's allotment and set-up changes regulated.

New rules at a glance

The driver being replaced must be participating in “another marquee event” on Indy 500 race day in that driver’s “principal” series.

The replacement driver has to do the refresher programme on day one of practice. Extra tyres won’t be provided for this refresher, once the refresher is complete that driver will get no extra laps, and “minimal” set-up changes are allowed.

If a team uses a replacement driver, its grid position will be forfeited so the car will start the race from the back.

If the original driver starts the race, the replacement driver will not be allowed [to step in] under any circumstances.

Full rules here

Last year was a mess because no such rule existed, and a delayed Indy 500 because of rain left everyone - including McLaren and Larson’s NASCAR team Hendrick Motorsports - wondering if he would start the 500 or would head to Charlotte for the Coca-Cola 600.

Ultimately, a chunk of that uncertainty has been taken away this year because team owner Rick Hendrick has said in no uncertain terms Larson’s priority is absolutely the NASCAR race.

So, in practice, if the race is delayed for any reason, like last year's was for rain, Larson will leave and Kanaan would be called up.

If the race is delayed until the next day, even if Kanaan has been declared Larson’s replacement, as long as Kanaan hadn't actually driven the car yet Larson would still be allowed to return and race, although he’d also have to start from the back.

It’s a fascinating rule that has been a year in the making, with McLaren obviously lobbying IndyCar to introduce something of this nature. An effort has been made to ensure the rule didn’t open up unintended consequences, like teams dropping drivers because they performed badly in qualifying, for example.

So, it means Tony Kanaan the team boss and Tony Kanaan the racing driver will have to coexist happily through May.

Writing this gave me the hilarious image of Tony Kanaan talking to himself, saying, “can I race boss?” and then replying, to himself, “yes, you can!”.

But rather than Kanaan choosing himself for this role, he confirms it’s a continuation of the plan announced when Larson originally confirmed he was doing the 500 for 2024 with Kanaan as the back-up driver. Rick Hendrick and Zak Brown were quick to sign off on Kanaan as the best option for this role all things considered.

Tony Kanaan at the Indy 500

Starts: 22
Poles: 1 (2005)
Average start position: 10.0
Wins: 1 (2013)
Top-fives: 9
Average finish position: 12.6
Laps led: 352 (8.9% of laps raced)

And in many ways, he is the right choice. It would almost be cruel hiring a current driver to do this role, which has a very low-percentage chance of yielding a race start, having them sit on the sidelines all through May with the hope they might race only for it not to happen. Kanaan's raced recently enough that he's a good all-around solution to McLaren's unlikely problem.

So how will the team operate when its team principal and decision maker is throwing himself at Turn 1 on race day at over 230mph?

Kanaan jokes that, yes, the team is still allowed to ask him questions over the radio! We’re having a lot of fun making jokes about certain aspects of this story, but I should make it clear that whenever I’ve asked a serious question, I’ve got a serious answer and Kanaan is taking this role very, very seriously.

“If they were going to take me out [of the team boss role] and I have to be in the car every day, all week long, qualifying and the race, that was going to be a problem,” Kanaan acknowledges.

“I’d need someone to help me, right? But by the time it comes to an hour before the race [when the decision is likely to be made], we just have the race to do.

“We already discussed the strategy, discussed the plan A, plan B, plan C.

“So really, it's just about executing - and I'm not a key member of the execution, that's why I have the engineers and on every timing stand we have plenty of capable people.”

McLaren has a core leadership team in IndyCar, not unlike in F1, so a lot of decisions are made by the person in charge of that area and, if it requires further debate, that leadership team makes the decisions as a collective.

McLaren’s leadership team

Tony Kanaan - Team Principal
Brian Barnhart - General Manager
Scott Harner - Director of Racing Operations
Nick Snyder - Technical Director
Brad O’Brien - VP, Finance & Business Operations
Lauren Gaudion - VP, Marketing & Communications
Sophie Markakis-Smith - Chief of Staff

One of those things that isn’t yet decided, at least according to Kanaan, is whether he would just start the car and then park it to score minimum points, or whether he would contest the whole race.

I’d say I’m 100% sure there’s no way Tony Kanaan would start-and-park an IndyCar when the chance is there to race, and the fact he’s already talked to Lundgaard about fighting for the win tells you that’s the much more likely goal and scenario! But perhaps between now and the race a different decision will be made.

McLaren’s been incredibly competitive at the 500 in recent years, including last year when Pato O’Ward was overtaken on the last lap for the win by Josef Newgarden. The additional weight of the hybrid unit this year may shake things up slightly. But generally speaking the team is expected to be at the front and, as a previous winner, Kanaan would expect nothing less.

You might remember Kanaan had expected 2020 to be his last season where he had a whole host of celebratory events lined up - but COVID ruined it.

Then he ended up signing Indy 500 deals with Ganassi and then McLaren, so 2022 ended up being his last event, and it’s fair to say Kanaan saw the funny side in people wondering if he’d ever retire because every time he proffered it might be his last time in a car, he’d come back the next year!

But 2022, his last race in IndyCar, was deemed the end…until now. This time he says it’s more final.

“I'll never, even slightly, say 'no' to do a few laps in an IndyCar at Indianapolis,” he says.

“I honestly think it's not a comeback. So I'm not taking it that way on race day. I truly hope that this is a 0% possibility [to race] to be honest.

“I don't gain anything by it. I don't think my fans- I mean, it's just not where my effort is right now.

“So can I switch back? 100%. It hasn't been that long since I'm being involved. I know everything that is going on.

“But If it happens, it's not going to be emotional. It's just going to be like, 'I have a job to do'.

“But I’m still retired. I still remember those memories about two years ago.

“This is just a situation that I had to fill in and I can assure you, this will for sure now be the last time that this is even going to be an option of Tony Kanaan filling in in an IndyCar race for any reason.

“I talked to the boss here, you know, the other Tony Kanaan, and he said [this one time] I had to get back in the car!”

Everyone, including Kanaan, is hoping Larson is able to race. If he isn’t, at least now a clear rule and plan is in place so that people understand what’s happening.

Last year was complicated. Now it's simple. Larson races unless there’s a delay, and then Kanaan races, unless the delay is long enough to get the race moved to Monday, in which case Larson is likely to return and race. Simple.

What happens after might not be so simple though is if McLaren does end up going without Kanaan the team boss at a track where Kanaan the driver could end up in a titanic battle for an Indy 500 win with the drivers Kanaan the team boss then has to manage for the rest of the season!

As a neutral, that would be fun.