McLaren driver signs multi-year contract extension

Felix Rosenqvist will stay as part of the McLaren Group beyond next season.

McLaren Arrow SP IndyCar driver Felix Rosenqvist has secured a multi-year extension with McLaren for next year and beyond.

Rosenqvist won the Formula 3 title in 2015 before moving over to Formula E in 2016, finishing third in the 2016/17 campaign with a race win, before he ended the following season in sixth having taken two wins.

The Swede stepped away from the all-electric series to focus on his sports car pursuits, but he did make a one-off appearance for Mahindra in the first round of the 2018/19 season to replace the injured Pascal Wehrlein in Saudi Arabia.

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The 30-year-old spent two years in IndyCar with Chip Ganassi in 2019 and 2020, winning one race before heading over to McLaren last year.

He would partner Patricio O’Ward last year as he is currently doing this year, but Rosenqvist is yet to record a podium with the British side.

His career in the American series is still young, so those results are sure to come, and CEO Zak Brown has also entered a team into Formula E, where they will replace Mercedes at the end of the current season.

It is unknown whether they will want to keep hold of current Mercedes drivers, Stoffel Vandoorne and Nyck De Vries, who both have strong links with McLaren.

De Vries spent many of his junior years as part of the McLaren young drivers’ programme, while Vandoorne scored points for them in Formula 1 at the 2016 Bahrain Grand Prix, before spending two seasons there alongside Fernando Alonso in 2017 and 2018.

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For Rosenqvist, there may be an opportunity to reignite his Formula E career should he want to, but he will confirm his intensions in the “coming weeks.”

“I’m delighted to be remaining with McLaren for 2023 and beyond,” he told the McLaren website.

“With the team expanding into Formula E next season, it provides additional opportunities for me both in the USA and Europe and I look forward to being in a position to announce my plans in the coming weeks. 

“I’ve loved my time with the Arrow McLaren SP Team in IndyCar driving the No. 7 car and we’ve had some great moments together, including securing pole earlier this year in Texas and coming home P4 in the Indy 500. 

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“I’m excited and grateful to be given this opportunity to explore the new options available to utilise my experience to help McLaren start 2023 on the strongest possible footing.”

O’Ward has taken three wins for the IndyCar team since his arrival in 2020, finishing third in last year’s championship.