{"id":277998,"date":"2025-07-20T18:23:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-20T18:23:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/277998\/"},"modified":"2025-07-20T18:23:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-20T18:23:10","slug":"mclaren-star-issues-update-on-rumoured-f1-driver-transfer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/277998\/","title":{"rendered":"McLaren star issues update on rumoured F1 driver transfer"},"content":{"rendered":"

McLaren<\/a> star Pato O’Ward has provided an update over his chances of signing a full-time contract with an F1 team. <\/b><\/p>\n

\nThe 26-year-old currently races for Arrow McLaren in the IndyCar racing series<\/a><\/b> and after 12 rounds of the 2025 campaign, sits second behind Alex Palou in the championship. <\/p>\n

\nO’Ward has also served as a McLaren F1 test driver<\/a><\/b>, having officially joined the papaya squad’s reserve pool in 2024. <\/p>\n

\nO’Ward most recently took to the track for the F1 team during last year’s FP1 session at the Mexican Grand Prix<\/a><\/b>, sitting in for British star Lando Norris. <\/p>\n

\nIn the past, the Mexican racer admitted he still harbours hopes of securing a full-time drive in the pinnacle of motorsport, although it doesn’t appear as though the chance will be coming next year when Cadillac join the grid<\/a><\/b>. <\/p>\n

\nSpeaking to ESPN Mexico<\/a>, O\u2019Ward was asked whether there had been any truth to the rumours of him being a candidate for one of the two Cadillac F1 seats in 2026, to which he replied: “That one was pure smoke… pure social media. <\/p>\n

\n“I think that rumour of Cadillac, of me going to Cadillac, was like the rumour of Fernando Alonso<\/a> hanging out with Taylor Swift,” he quipped, referring to a social media rumour from last season. <\/p>\n

Pato O’Ward made an FP1 appearance at his home race in 2024
\nHas Pato O’Ward been ruled out of Cadillac F1 seat?<\/p>\n

\nThough the papaya IndyCar star may have lost hope of securing a full-time drive with the American outfit, he hasn’t officially been ruled out by the new F1 team. <\/p>\n

\nNext season, Cadillac will become the 11th team on the F1 grid<\/a><\/b> and as a result, open up two opportunities for a racing star to sign a full-time contract for 2026, and potentially beyond. <\/p>\n

\nAs the General Motors-backed squad prepares for their first season in the sport, they are eyeing up a large pool of candidates to complete their debut driver duo. <\/p>\n

\nCadillac are yet to make an official announcement over who they have decided to sign, but team principal Graeme Lowdon<\/a><\/b> recently admitted his F1 squad had a very long list of candidates to assess. <\/p>\n

\nWhilst that means that O’Ward may still be in with a chance of a shot at F1, that chance is extremely thin given ex-F1 drivers Valtteri Bottas<\/a><\/b> and Sergio Perez have been tipped as the favourites<\/a><\/b> due to their wealth of experience that could prove invaluable to the team as they navigate the sport. <\/p>\n

\nF1 HEADLINES:<\/b> Horner tipped for Ferrari success as Red Bull risk being \u2018SLOWEST\u2019 team on the grid<\/a> <\/p>\n

\nREAD MORE:<\/b> Oscar Piastri signs mid-season contract… but not with McLaren<\/a> <\/p>\n

\nREAD MORE:<\/b> F1 2025 driver lineup: Big names on the move as full grid complete<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRelated\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"McLaren star Pato O’Ward has provided an update over his chances of signing a full-time contract with an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":277999,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4103],"tags":[5621,4199,707,4200,1710,27669,104818,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-277998","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-f1","8":"tag-cadillac","9":"tag-f1","10":"tag-formula-1","11":"tag-formula1","12":"tag-mclaren","13":"tag-mexican-grand-prix","14":"tag-pato-o","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114886960962570693","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=277998"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277998\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/277999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=277998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}