Pato O’Ward finally had the chance to hit the track today at the wheel of the McLaren MCL35M during the Abu Dhabi tests. The team leaders have decided to reward the Mexican driver for the first victory achieved by the Arrow McLaren SP team in IndyCar at the Texas round.
O’Ward finished this day with the fourth fastest time and a total of 92 laps and said he was impressed by the performance of the F1 cars.
“I’m at a loss for words for today. This is a rare once in a lifetime experience and opportunity, ”he commented hotly.
“These cars are crazy! I was expecting something crazy, but it was crazy to the tenth power. I thought IndyCar cars were fast, but these are amazing! I honestly don’t know what to say “.
“From the first lap, as soon as I got out, I noticed the power, grip and braking. The machine does everything you want. What a great experience and what a great machine! “:
O’Ward finished the morning session in the lead, while in the afternoon he was only able to improve his time by six tenths and admitted that he was not satisfied with not having maximized the potential of the car in qualifying simulation.
Pato, however, also admitted that at the end of the day his neck was no longer able to withstand the G forces.
“I think I wasn’t able to put everything together on the flying lap because I couldn’t keep my head still. My neck is destroyed. In the morning everything was fine, but when I put on the soft and rode the sequence of fast corners to the maximum I had the feeling that my head was about to detach ”.
“This was a problem for me because I knew that at the end of the day I was losing time in the corners due to neck problems. It’s a completely different reality than any other car you can drive on the road ”.
Patricio O’Ward, McLaren MCL35M
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
O’Ward then went on with words of enthusiasm: “I think it was the best experience in a racing car of my entire life. In terms of sensations behind the wheel and feeling, nothing comes close to this ”.
“The feeling that an IndyCar car gives you is incredible, but what a Formula 1 gives you is unreal. It feels like being in a videogame ”.
“To extract the maximum potential from the car you need to apply more. I certainly didn’t go to the limit. It will take some time to understand what the car can be capable of, but I didn’t want to go out on the track and look full of myself and then crash into the wall ”.
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