Sergio Perez vouches for Mexican superstar racer as a potential F1 driver

Sergio Perez recently hopes that fellow Mexican driver, Pato O'Ward, gets an opportunity to drive in F1 permanently with a team. Both Mexican drivers will be sharing the track in the 2024 F1 Mexican GP's FP1 session.

Before the race at Mexico City, McLaren announced that O'Ward would be taking part in the FP1 session. Ward is under the British team's umbrella since he drives for Arrow McLaren in the IndyCar racing series. In 2023, the F1 team started their development program, with Pato O'Ward being their first driver. In 2024, he was announced as a reserve driver for the F1 team.

Speaking at the 2024 F1 Mexican GP, Sergio Perez was asked about sharing the track with Pato O'Ward during FP1. To this, the Red Bull driver said that he was delighted to have an F1 session where another Mexican driver participated. He explained how difficult it is for him to be the only Mexican driver on the grid and hopes that O'Ward increases that number to two in the future.

In his answer, Sergio Perez mentioned former F1 driver Esteban Gutierrez, who also shared the track with him from 2013 to 2016.

"Well, I think it's great, you know, for the fans. In the past, we had Esteban [Gutierrez] that was there also. We had two Mexican drivers at the time. And it's really hard for a country to have one Formula 1 driver. So to have two racing at the same time, it was just a unique moment. So it's great for the crowd. And I hope Pato can get an opportunity soon in a team to be a racing driver in Formula 1," Perez said.

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Pato O'Ward wonders how Mexican fans would react to him compared to Sergio Perez at the Mexican GP

Pato O'Ward recently wondered if he would be accepted by the Mexican fans in comparison to Sergio Perez during FP1 of the Mexican GP.

Speaking to The Racer, O'Ward expressed his excitement to take part in an F1 session for the first time. He added that he had heard loud cheers from the stadium section of the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez Circuit whenever Checo went through it. Though he feels he would not receive the same reaction from fans, he was curious as to how people would react to him driving around the track in an F1 car.

“I’m curious to see the stadium section because every time Checo goes through there I hear everybody just screams, and I can hear it from the box. Obviously I don’t think it will be the same for me when I go through there, but maybe some people will be like ‘Hey!’ I think that will be really cool,” O'Ward said.

When it comes to the IndyCar racing series, Pato O'Ward is currently sixth in the 2024 season standings with 419 points and three wins under his belt.