IndyCar star Pato O'Ward shares celebrations of McLaren’s F1 title win with Lando Norris and co. in Abu Dhabi

McLaren’s IndyCar driver Pato O'Ward recently captured moments from the 2024 Abu Dhabi GP. McLaren won the 2024 F1 Constructors championship after Lando Norris secured the victory at the Yas Marina Circuit. Arrow McLaren’s Twitter account uploaded the pictures taken by their driver and accredited the Mexican for the same.

The uploaded media included Pato O'Ward's selfie with Oscar Piastri. The other is a video from inside the McLaren garage, wherein as Lando Norris crossed the finishing line in P1, the whole crew burst into celebrations, jumping around, and congratulating each other.

The caption read:

“Winning scenes courtesy of @PatricioOWard.”

McLaren last won the constructor's title in 1998. While the team did win the title in 2007, they were excluded from the championship following the Spygate controversy. The Woking-based outfit was arguably the slowest team at the start of the 2023 season. Courtesy of the changes made by Zak Brown and Andrea Stella, along with the effort of the team, McLaren was able to mount a significant title charge in 2024.

With both Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris consistently scoring big points, compared to the one-man show at Red Bull, McLaren won the championship. However, Ferrari came close finishing 14 points behind the Papaya orange outfit. The title seemed in danger after Piastri's Lap 1 crash at Abu Dhabi and with Sainz tailing Norris.

However, the Briton dispelled all doubt as he managed to keep the Spaniard behind him for the entirety of the race and brought the championship home. Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, on the other hand, did their best and finished on the podium, but it wasn't enough.

Pato O'Ward also fulfills the duties of the Reserve Driver role at the McLaren F1 team alongside the full-time IndyCar seat. The Mexican was spotted at multiple F1 weekends, the ones that coincide with the IndyCar calendar.

Pato O'Ward to participate in the postseason test in Abu Dhabi

The post-season test at Abu Dhabi is used for data collection by Pirelli, and to give the young drivers a chance to showcase their capabilities in an F1 car. One car is usually driven by a veteran driver for the Pirelli tire testing and the young driver, with no more than two F1 starts drives the other car.

Pato O'Ward at the Mexico GP- Qualifying - Source: Getty

Pato O'Ward will be driving the MCL38 with Piastri and Norris sharing the other car. It will be the Mexican driver’s fourth running at the post-season Abu Dhabi test. Isack Hadjar (Red Bull), Arthur Leclerc (Ferrari), Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes), Jak Crawford (Aston Martin), Paul Aron (Alpine), Ryo Hirakawa (Haas), Ayumu Iwasa (VCARB), Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber) and Luke Browning (Williams) will be joining the test as the young drivers.

Pato O'Ward plans on making it onto the F1 scene as a full-time driver but it seems unlikely given the long-term contracts signed by current McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. However, rumors suggest that O'Ward is in the running for Cadillac's F1 seat.