O’Ward returns to McLaren
Patrick O’Ward will get on the McLaren MCL38 in free practice 1 of the Mexican GP at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. For the 25-year-old from Monterrey it will be the third appointment with an official session in Formula 1but the first on the weekend of his home Grand Prix and since he was officially named as the Woking-based team’s reserve driver at the start of 2024. O’Ward, who drives the Arrow McLaren SP Dallara-Chevrolet full-time in the IndyCar championship and has won three races so far this season, previously took part in FP1 at the 2022 and 2023 Abu Dhabi GPs, driving the MCL36 and MCL60 Landon Norris.
The Fia rule on rookies
Surely “Pato” – as the young Mexican is nicknamed by everyone – will not be the only rookie to take the place of a regular driver in the first free practice sessions of the GP in Mexico City: the regulation in fact requires that each team must give the opportunity to a debutant (who has competed in no more than two Formula 1 races in his career) to take to the track in at least two free practice sessions 1 during the championship And usually most teams, especially the top ones, aim for the races in Mexico and Abu Dhabi to comply with the rule by taking advantage of the wide escape routes of the two circuits but also of the traditional format (i.e. without Sprint Race) of the two weekends.
Pato: “Dream Come True”
“I have some pretty exciting news. – said O’Ward in a video recorded for the Woking team’s social media channels – to let you know. I will be a McLaren driver for the Mexican GP and will be jumping in the car in FP1. I can’t wait, to be able to get in an F1 car in front of my home crowd is truly a dream come true. I can’t thank Andrea, Zak (Stella and Brown, ed.) and the whole team for this fantastic opportunity. The car has been a rocket this year, so I’ll try to do my part to help them as much as possible for the rest of the season.. This weekend is IndyCar in Nashville so that’s my priority, but I’m looking forward to flying to Europe at the end of this week to start all my F1 commitments.”
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