“We’re in entertainment”: When Pato O'Ward responded to Penske CEO’s comments on IndyCar Mexico

Arrow McLaren's Pato O'Ward is one of the newest racing stars to come out of Mexico. He has been shining brightly in IndyCar since 2018, but with the sport not having raced in his home country since 2007, he had a few things to say about it in 2024.

Last year, Penske Entertainment CEO Mark Miles talked about the prospect of having an IndyCar race at Mexico's Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez circuit. He said at the Milwaukee Mile (via IndyStar):

"They said, ‘If you want us to rent you the place, we’ll rent you the place, but we don’t want to partner because we think it’s too early. You’re not well enough known yet to be in Mexico City. What that means is they have a view that we’re not well enough known, nor is (O’Ward) yet, to populate an event at that track."

Following these comments from the Penske CEO, Pato O'Ward took the opportunity to give his take on the matter. The 25-year-old said:

"I believe the purpose of going to Mexico is to help everyone and help everything (in IndyCar) grow. My mentality has always been, ‘How can I be better? How can we all be better and get bigger and make this a better experience for other people? We’re in entertainment, man."

Formula 1 has been regularly making a race happen in Mexico City with the Mexican Grand Prix. The Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez always attracts huge numbers when F1 is around. Their home hero, Sergio Perez, took part in last year's Grand Prix. Interestingly, during the same weekend, Pato O'Ward drove McLaren's MCL38 in FP1.

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Pato O'Ward took a 'gamble' at Thermal Club GP

While Pato O'Ward gave his opinion on having an IndyCar Grand Prix in Mexico last year, during the ongoing 2025 campaign, he missed out on the victory at the inaugural Thermal Club Grand Prix (P2).

O'Ward was in control of the 65-lap race for the majority of it, but during the closing stages, Chip Ganassi Racing's Alex Palou got the better of him. O'Ward said in the post-race interview (via IndyCar):

"We took a gamble; it didn’t work out for us. We had used our new reds (alternate tires) at the start because we didn’t really quite know what the deg (tire degradation) was going to be like. The blacks (primary tires) really kind of took a turn for the negative at the end of the race, and that was it. We didn’t stand a fighting chance."

Chip Ganassi Racing has set the early pace in the 2025 season. After two rounds, Palou is at the top of the drivers' standings with 102 points (two wins). Pato O'Ward, meanwhile, is in second spot with 63 points. The latter managed an 11th-place finish in the season-opener, the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, whereas, at Thermal Club, he ended up second (as mentioned earlier).

Keeping in view everything that has been discussed, O'Ward will have his eyes set on a strong showing in Round 3 to close the gap to Palou at the top. The Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach race weekend will kick off from April 11 onwards.