Long-term Pato project pays off early – Brown

The morning of February 11, 2019 is one of the darker days for the newest race winner in the NTT IndyCar Series. Pato O’Ward woke up and began struggling to keep his young career from collapsing and burning after Harding Steinbrenner Racing released the Indy Lights champion from a contract he couldn’t fulfill.

Since HSR was unable to raise adequate funds for the two-car team of O’Ward and Colton Herta, who had spent the previous season as Lights teammates at Andretti Autosport, it was the 19-year-old Mexican who did Riding out of one wondering how a bright future full of stability and opportunity had disappeared.

Here O’Wards personality took over. Pouting and feeling sorry for yourself was an option, but it wouldn’t solve the problem. After the divorce was official, the boy, who blinded his IndyCar debut in Sonoma in 2018, began asking friends about contacts of any team owners, team bosses, and makers of the sport who might agree with his plight.

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One of the numbers he got was for Zak Brown, CEO of McLaren F1, who worked behind the scenes to arrange a new partnership in IndyCar that would eventually lead to the Arrow McLaren SP union. Brown had nothing to offer O’Ward at the time, but the two stayed in contact. From that outing in early February to Sunday in Texas, where the 21-year-old took his first win for AMSP and stamped his ticket to a McLaren F1 test later that year, it’s been an odd and awkward drive for Brown and O’Ward .

O’Ward made his IndyCar debut with HSR at Sonoma in 2018. This was the only race the team completed as a two-car operation, and O’Ward faced an uncertain future as the team downsized and cut him before 2019. Image by LePage / Motorsport Images

“I knew him from Indy Lights and from Michael and Mario [Andretti] told me he was great, ”Brown told RACER. “Then he had a great qualifying debut at Sonoma. I think he was P5 so it was very clear how good he was. Tons of energy, tons of natural pace, and of course Red Bull signed him as soon as he was free. I thought we missed him. They dropped him in F2, made him do IndyCar stuff, and then sent him to Japan for the Super Formula series. “

Brown watched privately as O’Ward progressed as part of Red Bull’s Young Bulliver development program.

“So I think, ‘****, we missed our opportunity with the guy’ and luckily Red Bull gets it right half the time when it comes to their drivers and then they do it wrong half the time, if.” it comes to their drivers, ”he said.

“They released him after a couple of races. And we already had plans for him, provided he is released. But I wasn’t sure if he would get his release because he is such a talent. We took the opportunity. “

Thanks to a seven-race program with Carlin Racing in 2019, O’Ward was able to accumulate enough miles and collect some memorable passes to confirm Brown’s interest was legitimate. Working with Sam Schmidt and Ric Peterson, O’Ward was selected as the new face for AMSP in 2020 along with Oliver Askew, the 2019 Indy Lights champion. It was a bold risk at the time that was rewarded with O’Ward’s first pole and first win early in the 2021 season.

“If you have two drivers who have never had a full IndyCar season, this may not have been your typical choice,” said Brown. “But like in Formula 1, we needed a long-term plan. Maybe some other teams would not have gone in the direction we were going because they thought they wanted to fight for the championship this year. But we knew last year was about getting everything right and preparing to fight for the championship and win races in year two.

“And if you decide to use an incredibly fast rookie, you realize that you may have a couple of crashed cars. But Pato didn’t tear things up. You can bring a veteran and maybe start stronger in the first year, but I’m not sure if anyone in the car he was in last year would have been stronger than Pato. I think he made the best of it. So whenever you look for Pato it has always been about choosing a five year outlook as opposed to a 12 to 24 month outlook. “

A deal is a deal @patriciooward – what a win! See you in Abu Dhabi later this year! https://t.co/njw2soyZFR

– Zak Brown (@ZBrownCEO) May 2, 2021

A fight between O’Ward and Felix Rosenqvist of Chip Ganassi Racing last year at Road America that continued the youthful theme caught the attention of Brown and the AMSP leadership. O’Ward almost won his first race that afternoon but was overtaken late on the final laps by Rosenqvist, who secured his maiden win. The rivals’ respect and speed served as a preview of AMSP’s 2021 lineup when the Swede was signed to replace Askew.

“We were ready to take the risk of what the consequences could be by adding two newcomers to the car last year and it worked out really well, one Pato,” said Brown. “And it didn’t work out for Oliver for various reasons, but I think he’s a solid racing driver. So this year we chose Felix as someone who had some experience but is still a young, tough charger.

“We just have to get a little bit of Felix’s bad luck out of the way. In Texas, we gave both of them great racing cars and they both delivered, and unfortunately we let Felix down. But we now have two drivers who can win anytime.

“Pato drives on Sunday… I watched with Lando (Norris, McLaren F1 driver) and husband, Pato was there, the passes he made. And Felix would have been there, right with him. I think these two guys are just getting started with what they can do. “