Zak Brown confirms IndyCar’s Pato O’Ward and Alex Palou will drive McLaren F1 cars in 2023

Zak Brown has got a lot of brilliant talent in his McLaren pool of drivers.

Zak Brown confirms IndyCar’s Pato O’Ward and Alex Palou will drive McLaren F1 cars in 2023

Pato O'Ward (Credits: Sports Illustrated), Zak Brown (Credits: F1), and, Alex Palou (Credits: El Confidential)

The McLaren brand has got a diverse presence in the world of motorsports that reaches from F1 to the various other categories taking place all over the world. Zak Brown, the McLaren racing CEO, understands the kind of talent he has got in his pool of drivers and has made it known that Alex Palou and Pato O’Ward will compete in a few F1 Free Practice sessions during the second leg of the season.

F1 is currently in its summer break, and Zak Brown understands that given the kind of talent he has at his disposal, he needs to test them out at the pinnacle of motor racing. Alex Palou and Pato O’Ward have already done a test for McLaren, and Brown believes it would be interesting to both of them in the MCL60.

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While shedding light on the Woking-based team’s plans for both drivers, Brown told Speedweek, “We haven’t made a final decision yet, but we have to use rookies in free practice.” After the IndyCar finals in September at Laguna Seca, you will see the two in the Formula 1 environment. Moreover, he was asked whether both have a future in F1 and responded, Brown added, “I see no reason to speak against it.“

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“We currently do not have a race cockpit available. I am absolutely convinced that both have Formula 1 potential. Palou’s form this season comes as no surprise but is nonetheless very impressive. He dominates in the IndyCars, where normally one cannot be dominant. And Pato can also become a champion.”

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McLaren F1 has already got two amazing drivers in its cars cockpit

McLaren (Credits: Autosport)
McLaren (Credits: Autosport)

While Zak Brown, on the one hand, has admitted that both Alex Palou and Pato O’Ward have got potential to have a career at the pinnacle of motor racing, he has also, on the other, made it clear that he already has got two brilliant racers. Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are two of the most highly-rated drivers in F1.

Norris, since he arrived in 2019, has taken the F1 world by storm with his brilliant racing skills behind the wheel of the McLaren machinery. He is considered the real deal, but Oscar Piastri, in his rookie season this year, has also impressed several people up and down the paddock in his stint with the Papaya team.

Zak Brown has got a lot of amazing talent at his disposal. Still, considering that both of his current F1 drivers are very young, it seems very unlikely that Palou and Ward can find a racing seat at McLaren in the coming years. However, F1 is an unpredictable world where peculiar things happen occasionally.

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