O'Ward explores free institutions after a single race

AP (AP) — Pato Oward won his first IndyCar victory at the Texas Motor Speedway a year ago. His reward was a Formula One test against McLaren.

In the face of Sunday's race, again in his “de facto” house, the future of Mexico was suddenly clouded. He signed a contract with the Arrow McLaren SP team until 2024, but the young man admits that he is investigating the labor market.

When O'Ward asked the Associated Press about his future on Wednesday, he said, “To be honest, I'm totally focused on what I do now, driving and trying for the best season I can. “My group is simply looking for what my future looks like. Yes, that's all I can say right now.”

O'Ward answered evasively when asked what changed in the romance between 22 years old and McLaren.

“Good question.” He said.

However, his sudden interest in the free agency seems strange: The Sunday race in Texas is only the second of the 17 tournament season, and O'Ward is expected to fight for the title.

He has been with McLaren since the end of 2020, when the team hired him.Red Bull Racing discarded it after the Junior Driver Program.

Hiring was a good move for McLaren's boss, Zak Brown. He got rid of veteran James Hincchcliffe and gave O'Ward a place in the team.

For two seasons, O'Ward helped Arrow McLaren SP improve the program and compete with the elite teams of IndyCar. O'Ward, who lives in the Mexican city of Monterrey and San Antonio, Texas, won two races last year and won the third place in the championship.

However, O'Ward did not keep up with his desire to try his luck in F1, and McLaren was finally able to take him to the best motorsport series in the world. The team hired American Colton Herta as part of the test program over the weekend.

Herta and O'Ward are friends, former teammates, and current opponents of the IndyCar Championship.

And, perhaps, now they are also contenders who fight for a place with McLaren in F1.

Did this worsen O'Ward's current consensus?

“To be honest, I think we all have to wait to find out what the answer is. I don't want to lie to them.” He said. “I don't want to lie to anyone and say 'no, no, 'or 'yes, yes,' let's see how things go. I think the season is too early to see what's actually going on.”

Herta's recruitment did not keep him ahead of O'Ward in McLaren's test program.Brown said he wanted to evaluate several young drivers in the first race of the IndyCar season last month.

He denied that he would use O'Ward in F1 to harm the IndyCar program.

“What we're not going to do is compromise on the IndyCar team at all,” Brown said in St. Pete. “Since IndyCar is just as important as Extreme and Formula One, Pato cannot be taken from IndyCar to F1 without a great solution. This is not a training ground for Formula One.”

Brown promised Oward a test in F1 when he won his first Indycar race. The victory in Texas last May won the car in Abu Dhabi one day in December.

O'Ward has not signed a contract to do other work with the F1 team, and McLaren reserves the right to match the proposals that Mexico receives from other teams.

However, there are currently no IndyCar teams that offer their way to F1, and only a few continue to compete with the chances of victory and championships. O'Ward said on Wednesday that he is not sure how it fits into this puzzle.

“I think everything is possible. For now, I don't know that I am part of it.” O'Ward of McLaren's testing program said. “I currently have a contract with McLaren. Like everything, there are scenarios where I can stay where I am and where I can be in a different place.”

Theoretically, O'Ward can move to another team from the next season if McLaren chooses not to match the potential proposal.However, McLaren can keep this through an existing contract that runs until 2024, and the team wants to extend the current contract.

In any case, O'Ward's apparent complaint would not be a good way to find IndyCar titles.

Taylor Kiel, team president of the series and strategist of O'Ward in the race, said Wednesday that the parties will work to resolve the conflict.

“In my opinion, this is just the sound of the radar, we have already dealt with rumors internally or whatever.” He said. “All the outside noise that surrounds a situation like this is part of the sport. It's up to us to keep the house organized. We'll give it to us when the news comes out.”