Amid the blockbuster news that Alex Palou wasn’t going to join McLaren after all, and the lawsuit that followed, McLaren’s scramble for a replacement IndyCar signing and the choice it eventually made may have gone somewhat under the radar.
McLaren was very complimentary about its 22-year-old pick David Malukas, who has two years of IndyCar experience despite his age and a pair of podiums with Dale Coyne Racing - the team that catapulted Palou himself to the Chip Ganassi seat he has won two titles in three years with.
However, no matter how complimentary, any way you dissect this move, it’s a story of McLaren not getting the original driver it wanted, and ending up with a back-up option or a 'Plan B'.
That doesn’t matter to Malukas, though. He's ready to fight and defend this seat with every fibre of his being.
“They're not really making me feel like I was just kind of like some sort of last-minute option, or that I don't belong there,” Malukas tells The Race, fresh off being dropped in at the deep end with his new team.
He’s been embedded at the factory and drove James Hunt's and Bruce McLaren's Formula 1 cars at the McLaren-backed Velocity event at Sonoma last month around his settling-in period.
The real trouble in trying to evaluate Malukas or how he will fare at McLaren is that his impressive rookie campaign was followed up by a Coyne team finally feeling the brunt of years of its best talents - its best drivers, mechanics and engineers - being plundered.
It was almost rudderless to start 2023 and while it improved through the season, that really meant - along with Malukas having a poorly performing rookie team-mate in Sting Ray Robb - that it’s hard to get a read on where Malukas is at and how he might perform in his big opportunity.
On the exterior, Malukas is the happiest of beings, always ready to have fun and enjoy every aspect of his life as an elite racing driver. It’s no surprise to see McLaren has heavily leaned into that already and is making use of its young star - a gaming aficionado with a social media output that reflects his jovial spirit.
All David wanted was this moment.