The post-season tests that took place at the Yas Marina circuit, where Max Verstappen had won the world title a few days before the tests, had seen the young Mexican at work Pato O’Ward behind the wheel of the McLaren. The 22-year-old, an Arrow McLaren SP driver in IndyCar, had arrived in Abu Dhabi at the invitation of the same British team, which had kept its promise to allow him to carry out the tests immediately after the victory in Texas. However, what could have appeared as a simple test with an F1 car turned out to be a convincing performance, so much so that rumors circulated about a possible approach of O’Ward in the Circus. In this regard, the CEO of McLaren, Zak Brown, wanted to clarify the position of the Mexican: the latter, in fact, will continue his career regularly in the United States, but it is not excluded that he may take part in first free practice sessions in Mexico and the USA, the two scheduled after the IndyCar championship.
Interviewed by racer.com, the US manager specified the team’s intentions as follows: “I think every time you test a driver in Formula 1 – has explained – however, with so few days available, it is difficult to understand how significant the test in question actually is for a novice. But yet, he did everything we wanted and expected him to do. He was extremely fast and brave, but that didn’t surprise us. For his first experience with a Formula 1 car, he went very fast. Next year we will have two PL1s in the program: ultimately it is Andreas Seidl’s first responsibility to do an analysis. In the two years that he and I have worked together, I have always agreed with his suggestions. We will do a full evaluation – he concluded – there is still some testing to be done, so let’s take it one step at a time. However, for them it was the first test on the track, Pato did very well ”.
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