The security guards at the Reforma 222 shopping center were scared. Terrified that things would get out of control with hundreds of people shouting wildly and not stopping throwing “Duck! Duck! Duck!”. It was a public event so that some Formula 1 fans could meet one of the pearls of Mexican motorsport, Patricio O’Ward (Monterrey, 25 years old). The security personnel could not believe how three floors of the plaza were filled with fans, who only wanted to support the McLaren reserve driver, pamper him before the Grand Prix. There were no incidents, except for O’Ward’s tachycardia of emotion.
Pato O’Ward is experiencing a peak of popularity. He is a professional driver, but he competes in IndyCar, one of the major car divisions in the United States. Indy has had several Mexican drivers with Adrián Fernández and Mario Domínguez as great exponents. O’Ward’s plans included moving to Europe, “the only way to enter Formula 1,” as Checo Pérez, who packed his bags as a teenager to try his luck in Germany, said. The O’Ward family supported their little driver to compete in Formula Renault and Formula 4 in France. Due to proximity, he tried to get a place in the United States in the minor category of the Indy Lights Championship. He was crowned champion. In 2018 he was offered a contract in IndyCar with Harding Racing and a year later came what he dreamed of so much: contact with Formula 1.
The person who recruited him was Helmut Marko, one of Red Bull’s main advisors. Marko, harsh in his criticism, saw the potential in the Mexican. He called him on the phone and told him that he had to drive in Formula 2, the prelude to Formula 1. “I arrived this weekend without knowing the car, the circuit, or the tires and every time we go out we improve a lot,” he said in his brave debut. The plan was to profile him towards F1, but he did not meet the merits to obtain the Super License, basic to race in the elite, due to a Red Bull problem. “There was no scenario in which he was going to get it and he can’t do anything without the Super License. They signed me for it, so everything went to waste,” he said in 2019.
He returned to IndyCar with the Carlin team and, in 2020, signed with McLaren. He was offered a seat at the Arrow McLaren team, where he has won seven times and taken five pole positions, a success that has caught the attention of the team’s F1 boss, Zak Brown. In November 2022, the man from Monterrey got into a Formula 1 car for the first time, in Abu Dhabi, for free practice. “The car feels fast compared to anything else in the world,” he said at the time.
In 2024 the stars were able to align at McLaren to give him the opportunity to race at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. “I’m speechless, I never would have expected it. “It’s crazy,” O’Ward said after seeing the madness that broke out at a public event in the Mexican capital. The scene was worthy of any Taylor Swift, Bad Bunny or any South Korean band event. “The welcome that I could never have imagined,” he wrote on his social networks. He will run in the first free practice of the three scheduled. His role in the team, so far, is limited to that: when the IndyCar season ends, he is a reserve driver, waiting for one of the starting drivers, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, to suffer a setback that prevent driving.
“I think that if by 2027 I am not in a seat negotiating to enter, then I see it as complicated,” said O’Ward about his arrival in F1. “I don’t want to think about it too much because if I’ve learned anything it’s that life surprises you and plans don’t turn out as you expect,” he added. He wants to make his name resonate in the teams’ garages so that they consider him for the coming seasons.
