No matter who is champion in 2021, Duck O’Ward will not move from the IndyCar Series in 2022. So emphatic was the Mexican driver of the Arrow McLaren SP team, to the questioned about his immediate future, after that there is much speculation that his big year could catapult him into Formula 1.
“In 2022 I will continue in IndyCar, it is much more realistic that (take the leap to Formula 1 with McLaren) will be in 2023 or 2024. I will continue in IndyCar in 2022. To me Zach (Brown, CEO of McLaren) he told me, ‘I care about IndyCar just like F1 and I want to be a champion’. He knows he has a chance to be champion right now, “Patricio replied to an express question.
To be clear, won’t it happen that you become an IndyCar champion and move on to F1 in 2022?
“It won’t happen. The drivers have contracts. Everything has to be aligned in order to make that change. I have my contract with the IndyCar team until the end of 2022, so here I leave them.”
Born in Monterrey 22 years ago, he is the leader of IndyCar, with three dates left in the calendar to compete. In his opinion Scott Dixon is the strongest rival he will find in this season finale.
“You can never tell Dixon outside. Newgarden is going to walk really well, Palau. He’s been so scolded this year that you can’t trust that one or the other, you have to be careful of all three,” he added.
One factor that has marked the 2021 season has been the power of Honda engines over Chevrolets. Duck has Chevrolet and hopes the power units are not what the championship decides.
“In these last three races: Portland, Laguna Seca and Long Beach we will have three very strong races. I love Portland, I love Laguna Seca and when we tried here we walked very hard, then I hope to be fighting for the pole and I hope “I’m fighting for the podium, specifically in Portland and Laguna Seca. Long Beach wouldn’t know what to tell you because I haven’t tested our car here and because it’s harder to bet on it,” O’Ward summed up his analysis of the remaining in the program to seek to be champion.
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The Mexican was surprised to see that in the Belgian GP the Formula 1 team came out with an announcement from a Monterrey brand.
And Oxxo’s announcement to McLaren in F1?
Everyone was surprised at the Belgian Grand Prix, which was repeated in the Netherlands, when on the pontoon of Formula 1 McLarens appeared the sponsorship of Mexican stores Oxxo, owned by FEMSA, a company based in Monterrey. Well Duck O’Ward was also surprised by this and said that it has nothing to do with his project, but …
“In my opinion, if my logic is not wrong, in my opinion the logo that McLaren normally uses here here cannot be put in Belgium or in this area, then they had to put something else that in this case was Oxxo, but this sponsorship I did not put.
“But hopefully this is something that expresses the new interest in McLaren and Mexican sponsorships, that at the end of the day, nothing else would help me move to the Formula 1 team or where I am. Well, who knows? We’ll see! “, Ànec narrated amusedly.
Lant Norris, a McLaren driver, has had a great year, but his teammate Daniel Ricciardo has not, which opened up speculation for a change where Duck O’Ward would benefit.
“I want them to do well, because I know what it’s like to be in a difficult situation, when you change teams it’s a different family … but if Zach tells me I want you on my F1 team, I’ll tell him that if “Even if it’s going well for the McLaren drivers, I know that by doing my job well at IndyCar, I’m going to earn it, just by doing my job and what I want to achieve here, that’s what I’m going to put in this opportunity.” , said O’Ward.