“I would be very happy”: Sergio Perez backs McLaren’s IndyCar sensation to breakthrough into Formula 1

Sergio Perez recently expressed his wish that Pato O'Ward, a fellow Mexican driver, should be given the chance to drive in F1 regularly with a team.

O'Ward is a Mexican racing driver who currently competes in the IndyCar series with Arrow McLaren. His racing career started in 2005 with Karting. He then participated in open-wheel racing in 2013 at the Pacific F2000, Latam Fórmula 2000, and Formula Renault 1.6 NEC. O'Ward also competed in the French F4 Championship in 2014.

During his latter years, he kept a connection with the world of F1 through the Red Bull junior team, which he joined in 2019. However, he had to leave their junior program because of fewer super license points. In 2020, McLaren hired O'Ward for their IndyCar team. With this move, he also became a reserve driver for McLaren's F1 team.

Since Sergio Perez is the only Mexican driver on the grid, he is frequently asked questions about fellow Mexican, Pato O'Ward.

Speaking in an interview shared by an F1 fan account on X, Sergio Perez praised O'Ward for his racing stint in the IndyCar series. He then hoped that he would get a seat in F1 and would be able to achieve great things in the sport.

“Pato is a very good driver. He has certainly done very well in America, and I hope he can get a chance to do something in Formula 1. I would be very happy if he can achieve that soon,” Perez said.

Most recently, Pato O'Ward made his first practice debut in the 2024 F1 Mexican GP, where he drove Lando Norris's MCL38 around the track with Sergio Perez as well as other drivers.

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Sergio Perez's fellow Mexican IndyCar driver shares his thoughts on his debut practice session at Mexico GP

After his debut practice session in the 2024 F1 Mexico GP, Pato O'Ward expressed how it felt to drive an F1 car for the first time on a race weekend. He said that he was thrilled to drive in front of his home crowd and also stated how chaotic the session was, especially due to the red flag.

Nonetheless, he concluded that McLaren gathered the required data and that their plans for FP1 were executed properly.

“It was amazing. Really a dream come true to be driving a Formula 1 car in front of my home country. It was a very chaotic, very busy session. I'm super happy that I was able to help out the team. There was a lot of things we wanted to scan, we wanted to find some more information. Obviously the red flags denied some more running, but I'm happy with what we got done. We ran through our whole program smoothly,” O'Ward said.

The Mexican managed to finish P13 in the FP1 session, clocking in 21 laps. From FP2, Lando Norris returned behind the wheel and participated in the rest of the weekend.