Pato O’Ward has proven that he is one of the most valuable commodities in the IndyCar paddock over the last few weeks.
The Mexican driver was the most sought-after man at the Mexico City Grand Prix, with fans swarming for a glimpse of him.
He has helped to put IndyCar on the map a bit more and it’s leading to conversations about having a race in his home country.
2025 represents a genuine opportunity for him to compete for a championship, now that he’s more than comfortable within his McLaren team and experienced enough to make a charge.
Pato O’Ward is IndyCar’s ‘warrior’
O’Ward managed to finish 13th in his practice outing at the Mexico City Grand Prix, within 1.5 seconds of the leader.
It led to comments from him after the session that he believes no current Formula 1 driver could achieve the same feat stepping into an IndyCar for the first time.
It’s something that colleague Conor Daly enjoyed and mentioned on his YouTube channel that it was a bold move from the Mexican.
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“Pato is our warrior. He is out there saying the truth and he doesn’t give a care at all in the world what people think about that.
“Honestly, a lot of us [IndyCar drivers] would say the same thing, but we would get trashed on the internet. Pato’s so famous that he doesn’t have to care about that. He’s got wins, he’s fast in a Formula 1 car.”
What next for O’Ward?
O’Ward has shown that he has excellent pace throughout his racing career, and it’s why he’s affiliated with McLaren.
However, it seems unlikely that he will ever step into the cockpit of a Formula 1 car in a full-time capacity.
Even at the age of 25, he’s got to win a few championships to earn an opportunity like that – even Alex Palou has done that and nothing of note has come around.
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Sebastien Bourdais was the last guy to prove his credentials in IndyCar before making a move on to Toro Rosso in Formula 1, but that didn’t end too well.
For now, Pato, who is very loyal to IndyCar, needs to keep applying his trade and hopefully, there will be a race in Mexico soon that he can compete for.