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IndyCar star Pato O'Ward has candidly expressed his interest in potentially leaving the McLaren family to sign with Cadillac F1 for 2026. The Mexican driver is the lead driver of McLaren's IndyCar team, Arrow McLaren, and the reserve driver for the sister F1 team.
Driving in F1 has been a childhood dream of O'Ward. Though McLaren has given him several F1 testing opportunities, its driver line-up is locked up by two proven performers in Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. As a result, his chances of driving for the Woking-based outfit look slim, and he has expressed this concern publicly.
With Cadillac joining F1 as the 11th team in 2026, it opens the doors for Pato O'Ward to fulfill his childhood dream before younger talents make him redundant in the F1 driver market. In a recent interview with IndyStar, the Arrow McLaren driver re-emphasized his F1 dream, saying:
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"I would still love to be in F1 and it doesn't have to be with McLaren. Zak (Brown, McLaren Racing CEO) knows it's always been my dream, and it's something I'd love to check off my list and just give a try. It's never been a doubt of if I can do it. It's just like, is that opportunity going to come about at the right time? I don't have forever. There's always going to be younger guys."
When asked if the General Motors-backed team had reached out to him, O'Ward said:
"They haven't reached out, but if they do, I'm definitely answering their call. That interest hasn't been shown from their side, but I'm sure it probably will be a conversation that will be had. But I'd love to, man. And I'm (driving a Chevy-powered Indy Car) right now. Same family."
Chevrolet and Cadillac are divisions of General Motors' American automobile operations. Pato O'Ward first expressed interest in a Cadillac F1 seat in December last year in a stance that his recent comments echoed.
His biggest rival for that seat could be his IndyCar rival, Colton Herta, who drives for Andretti Global, the American team that birthed the Cadillac F1 bid, led by former owner Michael Andretti.
Cadillac F1 director Mario Andretti shows interest in signing Pato O'Ward
Racing legend Mario Andretti is the director of the Cadillac F1 team. The four-time IndyCar champion's first priority for one seat is Colton Herta. However, Andretti hasn't ruled out the possibility of approaching Pato O'Ward.
In a recent interview with ESPN Fans on YouTube, the 1978 F1 champion was asked if O'Ward would be a good option for Cadillac.
"Of course. I mean he has tremendous talent," Andretti replied [23:50 onwards]. "He has shown that. Of course, we would have to fight pretty hard with McLaren because at the moment, he's under their contract. So yeah, you have to keep your options open, when they come, maybe many situations are not available today but in a year or two... who knows you have to keep your options open at all times, you can't say [that] we only can go in this direction because things change."
Alongside a young driver like Pato O'Ward or Colton Herta in one seat, Cadillac plans to sign an experienced driver in the other. Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas have been heavily linked with the second seat.
