Formula 1 · Driver News

“It’s Not Mario Kart”: Why O’Ward Walked Away From His F1 Dream

Five years as McLaren’s F1 understudy, five FP1 outings, and a childhood dream kept on life support. Pato O’Ward has now ended it himself — with one of the most memorable resignations in recent memory.

Racing drivers don’t usually ask to be sacked. Pato O’Ward, in his own words, did exactly that — walking into McLaren CEO Zak Brown’s office and “politely asking to be fired” from all of his Formula 1 duties. The 27-year-old Mexican, one of IndyCar’s biggest stars and McLaren’s official F1 reserve, revealed the conversation on Conor Daly’s Speed Street podcast, closing the book on an F1 pursuit that began as a childhood dream, produced five grand prix practice outings, and ultimately lost out to something simpler: the desire to control his own life again.

Five years without an off-season

O’Ward’s reasoning is strikingly un-dramatic for such a dramatic headline. There’s no falling-out, no grievance with McLaren — the team has just confirmed him in its 2027 IndyCar line-up. What broke was the maths of serving two racing programmes at once. F1 reserve duties consumed the gaps in his IndyCar calendar with private tests, simulator work and travel, leaving him without a genuine winter break for half a decade.

I haven’t had an off-season in the last five years. I want to enjoy my life outside of racing because it does consume me and it has consumed me in the last five years. I’m in a different point of my life now and I really don’t care anymore. There’s really nothing in me that is aching to keep on as a reserve in Formula 1 because I’m in a great place in IndyCar. I love the series. That’s where I want to be. — Pato O’Ward, on the Speed Street podcast

The practical goals behind the decision are almost mundane — train more, eat better, and arrive properly prepared for a 2027 IndyCar season he describes as coming “fast”. But behind the simplicity sits a genuinely rare admission from a driver of his generation: that proximity to Formula 1 taught him he didn’t actually want it. “I know F1 is put on a pedestal,” he said, “but just because the plate looks like gold doesn’t mean what you’re eating is healthier for you.”

The 2026 cars sealed it

If the lifestyle cost eroded the dream, Formula 1’s new regulations finished it off. O’Ward has made no secret of his distaste for the 2026 ruleset’s emphasis on energy deployment and boost-button overtaking, delivering one of the year’s most quoted driver verdicts earlier this season: “You don’t want to be flipping a switch to say, ‘Oh, I’m going to press it to pass him artificially.’ It’s not Mario Kart; we’re racing here.” Asked now whether the current cars tempted him at all, his answer was final.

Looking at what the race cars are currently, I’m not really excited to drive one — so I have politely asked to be fired from all my services in F1. — Pato O’Ward

It means his FP1 appearance at last year’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix — the circuit where his F1 journey began with a young driver test in 2021 — now stands as his final outing in a Formula 1 car.

All-in on a blockbuster 2027

What O’Ward is clearing space for is arguably the most intriguing line-up in IndyCar. McLaren’s refreshed 2027 roster pairs him with six-time champion Scott Dixon — a landmark signing O’Ward greeted with unconcealed awe — and the returning Felix Rosenqvist, this year’s Indianapolis 500 winner, with Christian Lundgaard and Nolan Siegel making way. For a driver with ten IndyCar victories, a win at Mid-Ohio just last weekend, and an agonising list of Indy 500 near-misses including two runner-up finishes, the mission is unambiguous: the championship and the 500, with nothing else diluting the effort.

Just the idea of being able to learn from Scott, I’m so excited. Scott is the GOAT. Scott is the guy. — Pato O’Ward, on 2027 teammate Scott Dixon

An awkward mirror for Formula 1

The timing gives the story a resonance beyond one driver’s career planning. O’Ward’s cheerful indifference — a race-winning, marketable 27-year-old telling the world’s most hyped championship “I don’t really care anymore” — lands in the same season that drivers inside F1 have criticised the yo-yo deployment racing, and in the same week McLaren continues fielding questions about Max Verstappen’s interest in its actual race seats. One of motorsport’s rising stars looked at Formula 1 from closer than almost anyone outside it ever gets, and concluded the golden plate wasn’t worth the diet. For a sport accustomed to being every driver’s endgame, that verdict may sting longer than the headline.

• O’Ward has finished in the top seven of the IndyCar standings in every season with McLaren.
• He was briefly part of Red Bull’s junior pool in 2019 before joining Arrow McLaren SP in 2020.
• His departure leaves reigning F2 champion Fornaroli — also linked to the Haas seat battle — as McLaren’s lone reserve.
• O’Ward’s IndyCar campaign resumes at Nashville on July 20.