52 Facts About Pato O'Ward

Patricio "Pato" O'Ward Junco was born on 6 May 1999 and is a Mexican professional auto racing driver who competes full-time in the IndyCar Series, driving the No 5 Chevrolet for Arrow McLaren.

Pato O'Ward is signed to the McLaren Driver Development Programme and is currently McLaren's reserve driver for their Formula One team.

Pato O'Ward attended high school in San Antonio, Texas, US.

Pato O'Ward explained on an episode of The Marshall Pruett Podcast that his surname comes from his Irish great-grandfather, adding that he considers himself "full-blown Mexican".

Pato O'Ward began his racing career in karting at the end of 2005 and remained in karting until 2012.

In 2015, Pato O'Ward debuted in the Pro Mazda Championship with Team Pelfrey, finishing sixth in the championship.

In 2016, Pato O'Ward returned to compete with Team Pelfrey in the Pro Mazda Championship, finishing the season as championship runner-up.

In 2018, Pato O'Ward signed with Andretti Autosport to compete in the Indy Lights championship.

Pato O'Ward won nine of the 17 races, was named Rookie of the Year and won the drivers championship at the penultimate race of the season in Portland, beating runner-up Colton Herta.

Two weeks after clinching the 2018 Indy Lights championship title, Pato O'Ward made his IndyCar Series debut at Sonoma Raceway in a second Harding Racing entry, where he qualified fifth and finished ninth.

In 2019, Pato O'Ward was scheduled to move up to the IndyCar Series full-time, piloting the No 8 entry for Harding Steinbrenner Racing.

However, sponsorship issues led to Pato O'Ward being granted his release from the team on 11 February 2019.

On 7 March, Pato O'Ward joined Carlin on a part-time deal that saw him drive in 13 races in the 2019 season.

Pato O'Ward drove Carlin's second entry for 12 races and drove Carlin's third entry for the Indianapolis 500.

Pato O'Ward failed to qualify for the Indy 500 along with Carlin teammate Max Chilton and the Carlin-prepared car of McLaren Racing's Fernando Alonso.

Pato O'Ward placed 26th in the final points standings, with the best race finish of eighth, achieved at the Circuit of the Americas.

On 30 October, it was announced that Pato O'Ward had returned to IndyCar by signing a deal with Arrow McLaren SP for the 2020 season.

Pato O'Ward had a strong start to 2020, clinching pole position and achieving his first podium finish at the second round of the Road America double-header, finishing second.

Pato O'Ward would go on to finish sixth in his first Indianapolis 500 start and won the Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year award for his performance.

Pato O'Ward subsequently scored consecutive podium finishes in the double-header at World Wide Technology Raceway.

Pato O'Ward was placing as high as third in the driver standings before finishing eleventh and ninth at the double-header at Mid-Ohio and a disappointing 22nd place at the first race of the Harvest GP double-header at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which dropped him to fifth in the overall standings.

Pato O'Ward started the season off by earning his second career pole position at the season opener at Barber but was unable to convert that pole position into a win.

Pato O'Ward took his first podium of the season with a third-place finish in the first race at the Texas Motor Speedway and took his maiden IndyCar victory in the second race the following day.

Pato O'Ward became the first Mexican driver to win an IndyCar race since Adrian Fernandez in 2004 at Fontana and the first Chevrolet driver not from Team Penske to win a race since 2016.

Pato O'Ward started on the pole and finished third at the first race at the Detroit double-header and scored his second win of the season at the second race, his first win on a street course.

Pato O'Ward achieved his third pole position of the season at the Big Machine Spiked Coolers Grand Prix, where he eventually finished fifth in the race.

Pato O'Ward achieved another podium with a second-place finish at Gateway, taking the championship lead for the first time in the season.

However, a 14th-place finish at Portland by Pato O'Ward saw race-winner Palou retake the lead.

At the season finale at Long Beach, Pato O'Ward was one of three drivers who were mathematically in contention for the series title, alongside Palou and Newgarden.

Pato O'Ward ultimately finished third in the championship behind Palou and Newgarden.

Pato O'Ward started the season slowly before capturing his first win of the season and first on a permanent road course at the fourth round at Barber.

On 27 May 2022, Pato O'Ward announced he had signed a three-year contract extension with Arrow McLaren SP.

Pato O'Ward followed up his new contract with a second-place finish in the 106th Indianapolis 500, briefly nosing ahead of Marcus Ericsson for the lead on the final lap but was unable to complete the pass.

Pato O'Ward had a strong start to 2023, with three second-place finishes in the first five races.

Pato O'Ward started fifth at the 2023 Indianapolis 500, his best starting position in the race to date, but crashed out of the race fighting for the second place with Marcus Ericsson.

Pato O'Ward ultimately finished fourth in the championship, picking up no wins but having the most podium finishes and top five finishes of his career.

Pato O'Ward started his 2024 campaign with a second place in St Petersburg.

Over a month later, Pato O'Ward was awarded the win at St Petersburg after race winner Josef Newgarden was found to have violated push to pass regulations and was stripped of the victory.

Pato O'Ward led 11 laps and finished second in the 2024 Indianapolis 500, following a last-lap pass from winner Josef Newgarden.

Pato O'Ward picked up a third win at the first race at IndyCar's return to the Milwaukee Mile, securing his first season of more than two wins on the year.

In May 2019, Pato O'Ward was signed to the Red Bull Junior Team and the following month, was placed on a one-event deal to compete at the Red Bull Ring in Formula 2, substituting for the banned Mahaveer Raghunathan, and was announced as Dan Ticktum's replacement in the Super Formula Championship.

Pato O'Ward held up his end of the deal with McLaren after winning the XPEL 375 and Brown subsequently confirmed Pato O'Ward would get the promised F1 test.

On 14 December 2021, Pato O'Ward tested the MCL35M at the end of the season in Abu Dhabi, where he finished fourth-fastest after completing 92 laps.

In July 2022, Pato O'Ward was confirmed for additional Formula One tests with McLaren along with late season race weekend practice time being a possibility.

In September 2022, it was announced that Pato O'Ward would carry out another test with McLaren at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya together with Alex Palou.

Pato O'Ward made his free practice debut with McLaren at the 2022 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

In September, McLaren announced that Pato O'Ward will participate in the 2023 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix free practice session.

In November, McLaren announced that Pato O'Ward would be one of their reserve drivers for the 2024 season.

Pato O'Ward made his first free practice appearance of the 2024 season during the Mexico City Grand Prix, and finished the session in 13th.

In 2017, Pato O'Ward competed in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship with Performance Tech Motorsports in the Prototype Challenge class.

Pato O'Ward went on to win the 2017 Prototype Challenge drivers championship, alongside James French, and the North American Endurance Cup, alongside French and Kyle Masson.

In 2022, Pato O'Ward participated again in the 24 Hours of Daytona in the LMP2 entry with DragonSpeed, partnered by Colton Herta, Devlin DeFrancesco, and Eric Lux.