"Spent a lot of time on phone trying to convince him": When Michael Andretti revealed that Pato O'Ward rejected his IndyCar offer

Michael Andretti had offered Pato O'Ward a full-time IndyCar seat with his team for the 2019 season. The Mexican driver was set to make his debut in the series with Hardin Steinbrenner Racing that year, but had to abruptly depart the team before the season started.

Before that departure, Andretti had offered O'Ward, who won the 2018 Indy Lights (now Indy NXT) championship with his team, Andretti Autosport, a part-time IndyCar seat for eight races. However, the then-19-year-old rejected the offer, hoping to get a full-time drive. In an interview with Autoweek in February 2019, Michael Andretti talked about the whole situation.

"I offered him a ride in one of our cars for eight races this year and he turned it down. He wanted a full season. He had a pretty good offer on the table, and he turned it down. I offered that to him this past weekend. I don’t know what he is going to do now. Maybe he has something else."

Harding Steinbrenner had signed two drivers, Pato O'Ward and Colton Herta, for 2019, but couldn't find sponsorship to run two full-time entries. O'Ward, who didn't want to run a partial season, left the team. Andretti spoke about that predicament, explaining:

"It’s always dependent on cars and money. He had an opportunity and decided he thought he could do something better with someone else. Good luck. Maybe he’ll find it. I spent a lot of time on the phone with him trying to convince him to do it, and he dug in that he had to do a full season. I told him I can’t do that. I wish I could offer it to him, but I couldn’t."

O'Ward eventually had to settle for a part-time season with Carlin after finding no full-time opportunities so close to the season. He scored a Top 10 finish at COTA, but couldn't get more such success in the following six races. Eventually, Arrow McLaren signed him on a multi-year deal beginning in 2020. He has been with the team since and has recorded seven race wins and many podiums.

Meanwhile, Michael Andretti left IndyCar after the 2024 season. Co-owner of Andretti Global, Dan Towriss, took over the team.

Pato O'Ward's explanation for why Michael Andretti's offer wasn't the "priority"

Pato O'Ward at the INDYCAR Bommarito Automotive Group 500 - Source: Getty

When Michael Andretti made the offer of an eight-race contract to Pato O'Ward, Andretti Autosport (now Andretti Global) was already a well-established team with 85 wins in IndyCar. Around 60 of those wins came after Andretti bought a stake in the team (initially Team Green) in 2002.

However, O'Ward was bent on getting a full-time seat. He also had a $1 million scholarship for three races in 2019 for winning the 2018 Indy Lights championship. Though he was "grateful" to Michael Andretti and his team, he explained the rejection.

There are reasons why (the Andretti ride) wasn't the priority offer to take. I wanted to see what options I had, but I never did. I never said no to Michael's eight-race offer. Unfortunately, this whole thing has left me without a ride, but I won't give up in trying to find something," O'Ward was quoted as saying by IndyCar.

O'Ward had made his IndyCar debut with Harding Steinbrenner with a one-off appearance at the 2018 season finale in Sonoma. He qualified an impressive fifth for the race and secured a ninth-place finish.

In 2025, after nine races, he stands third in the championship standings behind leader Alex Palou and Kyle Kirkwood.