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Pato O’Ward was suffering from food poisoning during his Mexican Grand Prix FP1 stint in Lando Norris’ McLaren on Sunday but still turned in 30 laps before a trip to the medical centre
Pato O’Ward, who stepped in for Lando Norris during the opening practice session at the Mexican Grand Prix on Friday, nearly withdrew from the session due to food poisoning. The IndyCar star reportedly spent three hours in the medical centre following his fourth career F1 outing.
According to an ESPN report, O’Ward was on the verge of pulling out of his FP1 appearance, which marked his fourth in as many seasons for the McLaren team. The Mexican driver, who served as his nation’s sole representative on track on Friday with Sergio Perez absent, endured various symptoms throughout the day.
O’Ward managed to complete 30 laps in Norris’ MCL38 car, recording the 13th-quickest time in a session featuring nine rookies. Nevertheless, following FP1, he made his way to the medical centre instead of attending his scheduled media obligations.
The 26-year-old reportedly remained in the medical centre for three hours receiving treatment as he battled dehydration and ‘severe diarrhoea’. O’Ward was administered IV fluids whilst waiting for his condition to improve before being discharged.
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O’Ward missed his arranged media duties, but did provide some comments in a McLaren summary at the conclusion of Friday’s action. “Being back on track in Mexico is so special to me,” the IndyCar sensation said. “All week, the fans have been passionate and loud, making me feel right at home again.
“I want to thank the team for putting me in the seat. We ran through the programme we had planned for the day successfully, and I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to support Lando and Oscar [Piastri] on their championship runs with time in the car today. I’m excited to see the team finish up the weekend strong.”
Expressing his gratitude, team principal Andrea Stella said: “Thank you to Pato, who did a good job in place of Lando in FP1. He provided a valuable contribution to our data collection, which is appreciated by the team.”
For McLaren, it was a relief that O’Ward decided to battle through illness and fulfil his FP1 duties. All teams are required to run a rookie in both cars throughout the course of a season, and Friday’s outing completed the Woking-based squad’s obligations after Alex Dunne replaced Piastri in Austria.
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If O’Ward hadn’t been able to complete his session, Stella would have needed to squeeze an extra rookie outing in during the final four rounds of the campaign. The nine-time IndyCar race-winner would likely have still been behind the wheel, though, given his series wrapped up on-track action in early September.
In the second practice session, Norris returned to the cockpit and demonstrated some impressive pace on the long-run simulations, although team-mate Piastri struggled, languishing well outside of the top 10 and punching in a fastest time that was six-tenths slower than the Brit.
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