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Pato O'Ward will take over Lando Norris' McLaren MCL39 for the FP1 session at the Mexican GP race weekend. This will mark the Mexican driver's fourth FP1 outing in the F1 realm.
O'Ward has been part of McLaren's IndyCar stable since 2020 and has had various outings with an F1 car for the Woking-based squad. Owing to his Mexican roots, he was confirmed earlier in the year to be handed the keys to the MCL39 for the FP1 session during the Mexican GP weekend.
Ecstatic with the opportunity, he had said back then (via McLaren):
"I’m excited to be jumping back in the car for FP1 at my home race in Mexico this year. The Mexico City fans were unbelievable last time out, and it was a great feeling being able to extract everything from the programme that the team had planned. I’m looking forward to going again this year, working with Zak, Andrea and the whole team."
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However, it was not revealed whose car O'Ward would be handed. A question, which is now answered as McLaren revealed that Norris would be benched for FP1 for the team's reserve driver to have a go around the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
On the other hand, for the 2025 season, the requirement for teams to field two FP1 outings for their rookie drivers was doubled. This means that even after O'Ward's FP1 participation at the Mexican GP, the team would still have to field a rookie driver for the remaining half of the season in an FP1 outing.
Moreover, the last FP1 outing would take place on Oscar Piastri's side of the garage, as Norris' side of the garage would have already completed this requirement by the Mexican GP race weekend.
Lando Norris has switched his focus to the Mexican GP after a decent result in the United States GP
Lando Norris has taken points out of Oscar Piastri's lead in the past four race weekends. He made an eight-point dent in his teammate's championship lead, bringing it down to just 14 points, which might be crucial by the end of the season.
Reflecting on his weekend in Austin, the Briton said (via McLaren):
"It was an interesting race today, and a good battle with Charles [Leclerc]. However, it took a little too long to get by and, as a result, we had to settle for second. It was tough, but the strategy was good, and it worked out well in the end. Full focus now switches to Mexico and doing the best job I can there."
While Lando Norris has made some inroads into Piastri's championship lead, the same can be said for Max Verstappen after he won three of the last four race weekends.
