O’Ward staying calm ahead of front row start at Indy 500

Written by Jackson Lambros, Edited by Gabriel Tsui

Credit: Titus Slaughter

If every loss is a lesson, Pato O’Ward has learned more than any other driver at the Indianapolis 500 over the past half-decade. Over the past six years, the Mexican’s relationship with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway has been nothing short of complicated. 

O’Ward’s story at the 500 began in 2019, where he would fail to qualify for his first running, being bumped alongside his Carlin teammates Max Chilton and Fernando Alonso. In the following off-season, he would sign with Arrow McLaren for the team’s first full season in the IndyCar Series. With three Indy 500 wins to the team’s name in the 1970s, the quest was on for O’Ward to bring a fourth to the McLaren Technology Centre.

O’Ward and Arrow McLaren would come out of the gate swinging, earning top 10s in the Mexican’s first three starts at Indianapolis, with a sixth-place finish in 2020 and a fourth in 2021.

It was a strong start for both O’Ward and Arrow McLaren, and as the years went on, the No.5 machine would continue to inch closer and closer to victory. 2022 would be his first opportunity, as O’Ward and teammate Felix Rosenqvist closed down the distance on leader Marcus Ericsson with three laps to go. In the final lap, O’Ward fired his car to the outside into Turn 1 but backed out as Ericsson held on for his first win at Indy.

O’Ward was on the other side of the battle in the following year. Leading the field to green with eight laps to go in the 107th Running, O’Ward looked on as Ericsson and Josef Newgarden overtook him on the restart. 

Determined to make up lost ground, O’Ward launched his car to the inside of Ericsson heading into Turn 3. Dropping a wheel in the grass, O’Ward would spin and back his car into the wall, marking his first and only failure to finish in an Indy 500.

Credit: Matt Fraver

Then there was the incredible duel for the win in 2024, when O’Ward passed Newgarden for the lead as the white flag flew, only for the Penske driver to go around the outside in Turn 3 for a spectacular back-to-back Indy 500 win.

The results and moments speak for themself. In less than a decade, victory at Indianapolis for Pato O’Ward has gone from impossible to painstakingly close. 

“I treat it as a new thing every time I come back,” O’ward told the press this week. “I would say the one last year would be the last one that I would have expected to be fighting, but somehow managed a way to get the car there. It's a really long race. 

“Many things can happen. But I'm focused on what we can do to put ourselves into a position to win, and the strive is obviously to get that right. We have a pretty good track record here in the past.”

That track record has only improved after qualifying weekend, as O’Ward put together a four-lap average of 232.098 mph. He is set to start on the outside of Row 1, the furthest up he has ever taken the green at Indianapolis. He stays confident but aware of the road ahead.

“I’m just calm. It’s such a long race, man, you've got to be there in the end just to even have a shot,” he said. “I think it’s safe to say you never know what to expect… just be ready for anything”.

Word to live by from a young man who, in only six years, has seen the highs and the lows.