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Eric GomezMexican writer
When Patricio O’Ward got behind the wheel of a formula one car for the first time last winter, he fulfilled a lifelong dream. The moment bonded with him, and although the 22-year-old Mexican driver is commonly known by the name “Pato“having started his third IndyCar Series season last weekend, his ultimate goal remains fixed: Get to Formula 1, where his compatriot Sergio” Checo “Perez has made waves. wind after more than a decade of racing in the circuit.
O’Ward had just wrapped up his second IndyCar season in December with the Arrow McLaren as he got a taste of the team’s most powerful car. McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown gave him the chance, promising a test drive if he wins at least one race in 2021.
Pato won two.
O’Ward told ESPN last week: “I remember being really excited and really seeing what those amazing cars are capable of. “Seeing what a Formula One car is like, the cars. This car really does everything too perfectly.”
The test drive lap inched O’Ward a little closer towards Formula One, even though it was hard to roll. In 2019 he signed with Team Red Bull Junior and raced in Formula Two and the Formula Super Championship, with the goal of winning the FIA super license needed to participate Max Verstappenreigning Formula 1 champion, in the Red Bull team.
However, O’Ward left Red Bull just six months later after falling short of that goal. Red Bull then signed Perez – the current face of Mexican racing and the man O’Ward hopes to follow – ahead of the 2021 season.
“Red Bull can’t use me,” O’Ward said, adding that he has nothing but positive memories of his time there. “I appreciate that [being released so I could join Arrow McLaren]. The contract that I signed with Red Bull is for Formula 1, nothing else. “
So far, IndyCar is a great fit for O’Ward. In 2021, he finished third on the championship list and went to the final race of the season with a title still viable. This year, O’Ward is among the top contenders to win it all; If he does, he will have the necessary points for a super license.
Even so, O’Ward doesn’t take anything for granted and knows that the road to glory in IndyCar is an arduous one. He finished 12th at St.Petersburg’s Firestone Grand Prix last Sunday, the first race of the 2022 season.
“Everybody wants to do well [on the first race]. That’s the kind of pressure that the team creates for themselves, the drivers themselves. But in the end, this is the first race and you have 16 more races left [after that]”, said O’Ward.
Last year, O’Ward experienced a similar start, finishing 19th at St.Petersburg, before recovering with a podium finish in the next race. It was O’Ward’s first of five podium appearances, an achievement that has garnered considerable attention in his native Mexico – which continues to build a racing fan base. Powerful car largely thanks to Perez.
Perez is not the only Mexican driver in the ranks of Formula One recently. Esteban Gutierrez racing three seasons from 2013-16 for Sauber and Haas. However, the idea of finding the next Checo caught the attention of O’Ward, who received rave reviews from Perez himself.
“Honestly, I think Pato is very talented, he just has to adapt to Formula One,” Perez told Racer magazine last June after O’Ward won his first IndyCar race. mine. “I definitely think he has the talent to compete with the best drivers in the world.”
Mexico has left its mark at Formula One. In the period 1961-81, the country had four drivers. The most successful, Pedro Rodriguez, won two races – like Checo’s current tally – before he was killed in a crash in 1971 at the age of 31 while racing in West Germany. It will be three decades later Hector RebaqueThe final season in 1981 before Checo’s debut rekindled the Mexican’s passion for sports.
The Mexican Grand Prix returned to Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in 2015, after more than two decades out of the race schedule. Even so, the pandemic has canceled 2020 but it has certainly become one of Formula One’s flagship events. In 2021, secondary market tickets go on sale for up to $20,000. With more than 300,000 fans witnessing the frenzy, the Mexico GP was the second most attended race of the week.
Perez finished last season with 190 points, his best year so far. It would make sense for another Mexican driver like O’Ward to convince a Formula One team to give him a shot. As a rule, racing teams must allocate two free practice runs in a season to their potential clients. O’Ward is on the shortlist to do it for McLaren.
“We haven’t decided who to bring in yet, but he’s definitely a contender,” Brown said in St.Petersburg. “YES, [a potential IndyCar title] That’s good. But we are more interested in our F1 test, do some comparison [with other] drivers. “
McLaren is currently using Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris as their Formula One driver. Norris was consistently selected as one of the UK’s top prospects, while Ricciardo won the only race for the team in 2021, coming first in Italy. If O’Ward wanted an immediate call, one of them would have to leave first.
If Brown calls him in for a practice run, O’Ward already knows which race he wants to enter. O’Ward, born in Monterrey, northern Mexico, moved to San Antonio at age 11 and continues to call Texas home today.
“If I had to pick and choose, I’d probably say Mexico and Austin because I consider them both home,” O’Ward said. “I’m from Mexico, and I’ve lived an hour and a half from Austin for a decade.”
Without a doubt, both races will be suitable venues for O’Ward to serve its core audience. Even if that doesn’t happen, fans can still travel across America and see him in person at the IndyCar races. Fans in Mexico and Latin America can watch on ESPN, IndyCar’s broadcast partner in the region.
In the end, O’Ward can hardly deny his ultimate motivation, and the duality that comes with it: Focus on IndyCar now, so that Formula One can one day become a difference ability.
“I was the six-year-old who fell in love with all this because of Formula One,” he said. “It’s a childhood dream that will never leave my heart because that’s what sparked me now.”
