Race winner Alex Palou made the decisive pass for the race lead with 14 laps to go on Marcus Ericsson, who couldn’t return serve.
Neither O’Ward nor third place finisher David Malukas were able to make a meaningful lunge in the dying laps.
It’s thought that was due largely to dirty air caused by Devlin DeFrancesco and Louis Foster at the tail of the lead lap.
The Mexican was vying for this first Indy 500 win but finished fourth. He subsequently gained one place due to Ericsson’s disqualification.
Since his 2020 debut, O’Ward has finished no worse than sixth in all but one outing and has twice been runner-up.
O’Ward hit out at DeFrancesco and Foster for ruining the race finish.
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The last three Indianapolis 500 wins have been determined by last lap passes.
O’Ward also took aim at the chaotic race restarts, one of which was aborted after Christian Rasmussen got loose trying to get an early jump and sent smoke signals as he locked up.
“I’m not going to Band-Aid this. This was the worst Indy 500 I’ve ever been a part of,” said O’Ward.
“What a boring race. What a crap race. Pathetic restarts, really. I feel bad for the sell-out, the fans, everybody that came here that would have loved to have seen a finish like last year.
“But no, they were looking at last placed being switched and the leader just kind of chilling there.”
O’Ward gave Palou kudos for his breakout win. With victory, the Spaniard continued his reign over the series having won five of the first six races.
“We have to see what Palou is eating and where he is sleeping because we have to get on that train. It’s impressive what he’s doing,” said O’Ward.
O’Ward, who sits second in the standings, said the final stanza would have been a better spectacle had there been a late caution.
“Our race was a bit up and down,” he said.
“We were making the car a bit better as the race went on. Would have loved maybe an extra restart or maybe another pit stop to maybe cycle two or three cars more to have a fight for that win.
“I think we were just one pit stop short to have that opportunity.
“It’s been a good month, obviously. It feels like I’ve had every single top five here in all of my Indy 500 showings and the most important one is missing.
“We’re going to come back 365 days from now and we’ll give it another shot.”
McLaren team principal Tony Kanaan made note of the dirty air caused by the traffic.
“At the end of the day, only one person leaves this place happy,” he said.
“We fought all day as a team. Pato was pretty strong, but it looks like at the end there, we didn’t have enough.
“With the nature of this race – look at Marcus Ericsson, look at Malukas – no one could do anything. But I’m proud of this team.”
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