(Reuters) – IndyCar young guns Alex Palou and Pato O’Ward will drive for McLaren in free practice at the U.S. and Abu Dhabi Grands Prix, the Formula One team said on Friday.
Spanish driver Palou will step into Daniel Ricciardo’s seat for the first free practice on Oct. 21 at the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin.
Mexico’s O’Ward will take over Lando Norris’s car for a free practice session at the final event on the F1 calendar, the Nov. 18-20 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Both drivers have tested in McLaren F1 cars but the practice sessions mark the first time they will have participated in a Grand Prix weekend.
“With Alex’s great successes in IndyCar, it will be useful for the team to get his feedback on the car and for us to continue to evaluate him as a driver,” said McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl in a statement.
O’Ward and Palou, along with American Colton Herta, have not been shy about their ambitions to move to Formula One.
Earlier this year, 2021 IndyCar champion Palou had announced he would be joining McLaren for the 2023 season but the 25-year-old was blocked from the move by his IndyCar team Chip Ganassi Racing, who said they would be exercising their option to retain the driver.
Ganassi filed a lawsuit against Palou for breach of contract which was later withdrawn, with the Spanish driver agreeing to see out his deal and the team allowing him to take part in tests with McLaren, as long as those opportunities did not conflict with his IndyCar duties.
“I’m so excited to be making my F1 weekend debut. It’s great to be driving in the United States in front of fans that may have seen me race in IndyCar,” said Palou in a statement.
O’Ward, 23, had two wins for Arrow McLaren last season and is under contract to the team through to 2025.
Herta, the youngest race winner ever in IndyCar when he won at Circuit of the Americas in 2019 at 18-years-old, had been linked to a move from Andretti Autosport to AlphaTauri next season but the 22-year-old American did not qualify for the necessary F1 super licence.
(Reporting by Steve Keating in Toronto. Editing by Christian Radnedge)
