Pato O’Ward describes his FP1 outing on the Mexico Metropolis Grand Prix as “a dream come true” after finishing a clear and aggressive session on Friday.
McLaren ran O’Ward as a part of its rookie follow necessities, with the IndyCar star taking on Lando Norris’ automobile for the opening session of the race weekend. With the FP1 look being the primary time O’Ward has pushed at his dwelling race, he says his ultimate tally of 21 laps and a greatest time simply over 0.3s off teammate Oscar Piastri was a powerful return after a prolonged purple flag.
“I assumed it was an amazing FP1,” O’Ward stated. “We obtained by way of a really intense working plan, particularly with such a chaotic and loopy follow session.
“I’d have cherished to have some extra likelihood maybe on the onerous [tire] to organize for the tender, however with having what we did, I can really feel fairly happy with what I obtained out for myself and with all the data that I used to be capable of collect for the staff, as a result of they’re clearly in a reasonably vital title battle and I’m clearly right here … to assist that they keep the place they’re.
“A dream come true, I noticed the Mexican flags, I noticed floating Pato faces in sure areas; it was actually cool.”
O’Ward admits he was below very strict directions from McLaren as a result of information the staff wanted to collect, however centered on being constant over attempting to show his uncooked tempo potential.
“‘Pato, don’t shunt the automobile!’ Pato for those who attempt to go too quick I’m going to scream at you!’ and, ‘We’d like info,’ [were the messages], and this info is extraordinarily vital to what the weekend goes to appear like,” O’Ward stated.
“It was very clear that I needed to prioritize the whole lot that was wanted from me when it comes to gathering info, being constant, nevertheless it’s fairly troublesome. Whenever you don’t know this automobile, you don’t know this observe a lot, you’re attempting to study for your self, however you’re additionally attempting to remain as constant as potential for the staff, for all the information that they’re gathering, however I’m very happy with it.
“I believe we gathered the whole lot that we wanted to in a reasonably chaotic session, and I believe they’re fairly pleased with the job that I did. I definitely am, so I can’t wait to drive this automobile once more. Hopefully I get to drive it someday earlier than the yr ends. That will be cool.”