Pato O’Ward says a future Formula 1 drive is becoming more of a possibility with every passing test he gets with McLaren after finishing second in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.
The top 19 drivers in the Abu Dhabi test set their best times on the softest C5 compound, although there was a mixture of race drivers testing tires and rookies taking part across two programs. O’Ward went second to Esteban Ocon in the final hour of running and said he’s improving rapidly in F1 machinery, and feels that if the team sees the same progress then it might open doors if he’s successful in IndyCar.
“Every time that you do more FP1s, you do more testing, that’s just more time in the car,” O’Ward said. “That means someone is ultimately believing in you, in your preparation and giving you that opportunity to be ready if those doors do open.
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“For me, it’s all about being fully focused on what I have to do in IndyCar. I want to give the [Indy] 500 win to McLaren; I want to be the one that gives it to them, because I’ve been with them for four years, starting my fifth next year, we’ve been so close [to an Indy win], and to a championship as well.
“I want to give it to the team, and to myself, and then it’d be quite the Cinderella story to tackle the challenge in Formula 1 and be a contender, not just come here and have fun. We’re here to win, we’re not here to go out and about and enjoy what Formula 1 has to offer. This is a competitive sport, and from my experience, if you want to be a champion you have to be uncomfortable, and you have to put yourself in these uncomfortable positions in order to grow.
“For me, this was very uncomfortable a couple of years ago, it’s very new, very different, there were a lot of eyes, and it takes some time getting used to. It’s not a light switch where it’s ‘I’m on now, and I’m good’. It takes a lot of work, a lot of fine detail and it can get really frustrating sometimes.
“I’ve had a journey so far in my career, and I’ve had to work really hard where I’ve gotten to, so for me it’s a nice challenge to accept, and if it ends up happening, fantastic, I know I’m good enough to be here. But if it doesn’t it’s just going to make me better everywhere else, so it’s a winning formula, to keep evolving as a racing driver.”
After completing over 100 laps, O’Ward said the track time has allowed him to really identify areas he can improve and work on immediately.
“I think I got to a place today where I could really see, from the start of the day to the end of the day – and even from my second to last soft run to my last soft run – the increments and the learnings I was doing corner by corner was huge,” he said.
“You download a bit of what you see on the data, and you go out and do it. You can watch data and lines all you want, but the only thing that’s going to allow you to replicate this every single time is to go out and do it.
“You have to experience the feeling of what it feels like to do certain things in order for you to take that next step and then keep on building. You’re not going to do it by just looking at the lines.”