One of McLaren’s drivers found himself in an unfortunate position in Mexico City.
Pato O’Ward was suffering from illness in Mexico on Friday (Image: Getty)
Pato O’Ward, who replaced Lando Norris for the first practice session at the Mexican Grand Prix on Friday, nearly pulled out of the session due to food poisoning. The IndyCar sensation reportedly spent three hours in the medical centre after his fourth career F1 outing.
According to a report from ESPN, O’Ward was close to backing out of his FP1 appearance, which was his fourth in as many seasons for the McLaren team. The Mexican driver, who was his country’s only representative on track on Friday in Sergio Perez’s absence, was suffering from a number of symptoms throughout the day.
O’Ward still completed 30 laps behind the wheel of Norris’ MCL38 machine, posting the 13th-fastest time in a session that included nine rookies. However, after FP1, he headed for the medical centre, rather than the media duties that he had lined up.
O’Ward did not complete the media duties arranged for him, but did offer some words in a McLaren round-up at the end of Friday’s running. “Being back on track in Mexico is so special to me,” the IndyCar star said. “All week, the fans have been passionate and loud, making me feel right at home again.
Lando Norris returned to the cockpit for FP2 (Image: Getty)
“I want to thank the team for putting me in the seat. We ran through the programme we had planned for the day successfully, and I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to support Lando and Oscar on their championship runs with time in the car today. I’m excited to see the team finish up the weekend strong.”
Offering up his appreciation, team principal Andrea Stella said: “Thank you to Pato, who did a good job in place of Lando in FP1. He provided a valuable contribution to our data collection, which is appreciated by the team.”
For McLaren, O’Ward’s decision to fight through illness and fulfil his FP1 duties was a relief. All teams are required to run a rookie in both cars throughout the course of a season, and Friday’s outing completed the Woking-based squad’s obligations, after Alex Dunne replaced Oscar Piastri in Austria.
Had O’Ward not been able to complete his session, Stella would have needed to squeeze an extra rookie outing in during the final four rounds of the campaign. The nine-time IndyCar race-winner would likely have still been behind the wheel, though, given his series wrapped up on-track action in early September.
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