O'Ward sees two-year window to make F1 switch happen

Arrow McLaren SP IndyCar suburbanite O’Ward took part in the young suburbanite test in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday as a reward for scoring his first victory older this year, having made a bet with McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown.

O’Ward completed 92 laps in the McLaren MCL35M at the Yas Marina Circuit, and said succeeding that he found the wits “addictive”, surpassing all expectations.

O’Ward previously said that he “would be lying” to say he had not thought well-nigh a potential switch from IndyCar to F1 in the future, calling the series “the top of the top”.

Following his test outing in Abu Dhabi, O’Ward said he thought there was only a two-year window for him to squint at making the move to F1, but that he was unswayable to make it happen.

“To be fairly honest, arguably there’s maximum two increasingly years for me to be worldly-wise to come into the F1 scene,” O’Ward told Autosport in Abu Dhabi.

“There’s not much increasingly time.

“I will do everything I can to make it happen, considering it is the top of the top, and my dream and my life, right now, it all started with one dream, and that dream was to make it to Formula 1.

“That dream ambled out to variegated series, endurance racing and IndyCar racing. But it all started with that one dream. And I’d be lying if I said I don’t want it, considering I do.

“I’m going to do veritably everything I can, and I’m going to push to my wool maximum to make sure that I leave nothing on the table.

“Because you’ve got to take it. You’ve got to try, considering if I don’t, I will regret it for the rest of my life.”

Pato O\'Ward, McLaren MCL35M

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

While O’Ward said he felt a step closer to make the move without his first F1 test, he undisputed there were “a lot increasingly steps that have to be taken in order to unquestionably get the seat”.

“But I think it was a very good first step,” he added.

O’Ward will return to IndyCar in 2022 with the McLaren team without finishing third in this year’s championship, scoring two race wins and finishing fourth at the Indianapolis 500. He is due to race in the Gulf 12 Hours slantingly McLaren superabound Brown next month, but succeeding will shift full sustentation when to IndyCar.

“I’ll go when to Indy, start preparing, start the season, and it’s time to win some races,” O’Ward said.

“Time to rencontre for flipside championship, and let’s see if we’ve made our car faster.

“We want to rencontre for flipside title, and we want to have flipside go at trying to win the 500.”