McLaren assesses O’Wards ‘Formula 1 potential in Young Drivers’ test – Zak Brown

the McLaren F1 team will judge Pato O’Ward and a possible future move into formula 1 for the Mexican after this year’s young driver test at the end of the 2021 season.

The Mexican was on the verge of that NTT IndyCar series Title in his second full season with the Arrow McLaren SP Outfit, win twice and only lose at Chip Ganassi Racing‘S Alex Palou in the last round of the season.

O’Ward will take part in the young driver test of the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi in December with McLaren as a reward for winning a race in IndyCar after betting with CEO Zak Brown.

But Brown’s bet in early 2021 that O’Ward would get the chance to drive a Formula 1 car in the junior driver test was won early with a win at Texas Motor Speedway, and he followed with another win for that Streets of Detroit.

And Brown will be among those who watch O’Ward when he takes the test as the team examines the possibility of getting the twenty-four year old into Formula 1 in the future.

“We’ll see after driving the car in Abu Dhabi,” Brown told Motorsport.com’s Dutch office. “Drivers always have the ambition to drive in Formula 1, but I think we’ll have to wait and see how things go in Abu Dhabi.

“We have to wait for the developments at IndyCar, but also in F1, to see whether there is a chance in the future. This is important. We all focus on our task and don’t think about what might or might not happen.

“The best way to get to F1 is what to do [Jacques] Villeneuve and [Juan Pablo] Montoya did it in IndyCar, I told him. Then we’ll see what happens. “

Brown has ruled out the possibility of O’Ward participating in free practice in 2021 and is canceling the Mexican Grand Prix Weekend, because McLaren is engaged in a close battle for third place in the constructors’ championship Scuderia Ferrari.

“We’d never do that,” Brown insisted. “We couldn’t use a driver in free practice because, first of all, he starts the weekend without a goal.

“That would be news in Mexico and good advertising, but we always want to perform optimally and using a different driver would have an impact.

“We are in the middle of a big battle with Ferrari for third place among the designers. We will not do anything that could stand in the way of this fight, that much is certain. “