Zak Brown insists no guarantees have been made to either Álex Palou or Pato O’Ward about possible chances to race in the FIA Formula 1 World Championship despite both being a part of the McLaren F1 Team’s driver roster.
Palou has already been confirmed as one of McLaren’s reserve drivers, although a lack of a Superlicence means O’Ward is unable to take up a similar role. However, the Mexican will still join the Spaniard in being a part of the test driver line-up for the 2023 season.
Both drivers experienced free practice sessions during the 2022 season, Palou participating in the opening session of the United States Grand Prix weekend and O’Ward the same in Abu Dhabi. Both had also had opportunities to drive the 2021 MCL35M at various times throughout the year.
Brown, the CEO of McLaren, hopes that O’Ward will finally be eligible for a Superlicence of his own by the end of the 2023 NTT IndyCar Series season, but neither he nor Palou are in line for a move to Formula 1 at this moment in time and no assurances of that happening have been given.
“We announced Álex as our reserve driver because he has his Superlicence,” said Brown to RacingNews365.com. “He’ll continue testing with us and Pato will continue as well once we solidify our testing plans, but he doesn’t have a superlicence.
“I would think and hope that he’d be eligible for it at the end of the IndyCar season [in 2023], but [there are] no promises other than opportunity.
“As we know, the sport moves fast and things happen. So to have two guys in IndyCar that carry a Superlicence and have both been very impressive in a Formula 1 car gives us great depth in our racing and driving possibilities.”