Zak Brown reacts as McLaren nearly repeats 49-year-old IndyCar and F1 feat

McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown reacted to the IndyCar team's result at the Thermal Club Grand Prix. The English outfit surged to the top of the F1 stable and was presented with the opportunity of repeating an almost 50-year-old feat with Pato O'Ward claiming pole at the Thermal Club Grand Prix but was denied the opportunity by Alex Palou in the dying stages of the race.

McLaren brought home a 1-2 finish at the F1 Chinese Grand Prix with Oscar Piastri leading Lando Norris to the chequered flag. This helped the Australian driver claw back some points in the drivers' standings as he looks on to challenge the Briton for the title.

In the IndyCar realm, Brown's McLaren continued its dominance as the British team locked out the front row for the Thermal Club Grand Prix. Pato O'Ward qualified almost two tenths ahead of Christian Lundgaard and the former driver led 51 laps of the race.

However, this was not enough for O'Ward to bring a second victory for McLaren on the same day as Alex Palou overtook the Mexican on lap 56. This denied the team an opportunity to recreate a 49-year-old achievement, as in 1976, Johnny Rutherford won the Trenton Champ Car race, and James Hunt won in Madrid, Spain.

Despite this, Zak Brown was happy with the team's results as he wrote on X:

"Two @ArrowMcLaren Chevrolet Indycars on the podium at The Thermal Club. Great work, team. Let’s keep pushing!"

Pato O'Ward will continue serving as the reserve driver for the Zak Brown-led McLaren on the F1 side.

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Where does Pato O'Ward place in Zak Brown-led McLaren?

Pato O'Ward at the Formula 1 Testing In Abu Dhabi - Source: Getty

Since 2022, O'Ward has taken part in F1 sessions for McLaren. The Zak Brown-led outfit has taken the Mexican driver to multiple locations on the F1 roster and the 25-year-old remains closely allied with the team.

O'Ward has the ambition to join the F1 circus but has no path to lead into a full-time seat as McLaren has two drivers with long-term contracts. Sharing his frustration and how the clock's running out for his F1 dream, O'Ward said (via The Race):

"I'm at a point in my career where I'm all in, and I've been all in for so long for this opportunity in Formula 1 to come about, but that always has a deadline, it will always have a date where it's just... 'that's enough', because it might never happen. I'm not open to doing it for five more years. I think there's definitely a deadline and that will come sooner rather than later. I'm giving it everything this year and hopefully my opportunities keep on growing."

"I would say it's to the point where I think it's reached a pretty intense role in terms of having a presence at all the flyover [F1] races, and I want to drive the car. I want to be in the car."

The next IndyCar race will be held at Long Beach, California. Meanwhile, F1 will race at Suzuka, Japan on April 6.