Pato O'Ward is done chasing Formula 1. The Arrow McLaren driver has given up his role as McLaren's F1 reserve to commit entirely to IndyCar, and he made no attempt to soften the message. After three years on standby for grand prix duty, O'Ward says the appetite has simply drained away — and the cars set to define 2026 are a big reason why.
"There is nothing in me that is aching me to continue as a reserve in F1," O'Ward said. "I'm in a great place in IndyCar. I love the series. That's where I want to be."
Much of his decision is rooted in what F1 has become. O'Ward is now among the loudest critics of the sport's incoming rules, insisting the cars have been designed into something he has no interest in racing. "The new Formula 1 cars — what the series has done has been a mistake," he said. "The truth is, when you look at them, they are artificial."
The overtaking gadgets drew his harshest verdict. "You don't want to be flipping a switch to say, 'Oh, I'm going to press it to pass him artificially,'" he said. "It's not Mario Kart; we're racing here. Honestly, I have zero desire to be part of that."
It is a striking turn for a driver whose F1 dream once burned bright — though, as he tells it, never for the wrong reasons. "The hunger I had to get to Formula 1 wasn't for fame or money," O'Ward explained. "It was because the cars were something impressive. Driving those cars was something impressive." That admiration, he says, has evaporated.
McLaren has not waited around. Over the winter it added reigning Formula 2 champion Leonardo Fornaroli to its reserve pool, handing itself a Europe-based option that O'Ward's IndyCar commitments made impossible. "A big thank you to Zak, Andrea and Alessandro for this opportunity," Fornaroli said when the move was confirmed.
There is some scepticism about how absolute O'Ward's stance really is. Voices on the GRID Network podcast pointed out the contradiction: despite all the talk of "artificial" racing, O'Ward would probably still jump at an FP1 outing in the McLaren if it came up. Read that way, the fireworks look less like a rejection of F1 and more like a driver closing a chapter that was never truly going to open for him.
The bottom line does not change. At 26, O'Ward has a race-winning IndyCar résumé and a championship to fight for in a category he plainly values above a spectator's seat in F1. "I feel that right now, today, this is the best series for a driver who wants to race," he said. Choosing to leave on his own terms — and saying exactly why — is a statement in itself.
