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Pato O’Ward got to drive in FP1 in Abu Dhabi with McLaren F1, and then during the Young Driver Test, behind the wheel of the MCL60. The IndyCar driver with McLaren was once again able to experience the differences between these two single-seaters, and was shocked by the performance of the Formula 1 car.
“The Formula 1 car is a rocket,” said O’Ward. “It’s a rocket compared to an IndyCar. The way it turns, the way it stops, the way it accelerates. The gearbox works really, really well.”
“But everything about the Formula 1 car is on a different planet, to be honest. There’s really no other way to describe what the car is capable of at high speeds. It’s truly a rocket on wheels.”
O’Ward admits that there is no chance for the IndyCar to beat the F1 car in terms of performance: “On a road course? Nowhere. F1 brakes better, turns better, accelerates faster.”
“The gearbox is much more effective. The IndyCar is certainly more physically demanding on the arms, but F1 takes the cake when it comes to the neck. But the F1 car is just more performance in all areas.”
“It’s hard to understand where the limit is.”
O’Ward felt the performance difference that a full year of development brings for a car responding to an entirely new set of regulations. He still finds himself surprised by the performance of the Formula 1 cars.
“The car seemed so much more performant than last year. I’m coming from an IndyCar which is a completely different beast from what it is in Formula 1. But these F1 cars are really performers. The hardest part about these cars…you have the ‘one-shot’ tire with the soft compound and you can easily cross that line.”
“But it’s also hard to understand where that limit is, because it’s very high compared to the norm. You can get an idea of it in the simulator, but once you start feeling all the G-forces from every angle, that’s when you really start to see what the car is capable of.”
“In the end, I did two laps on the medium, then went directly to the soft, and you only have one chance. It’s just something you have to work on and not overheat in the beginning and destroy a set of tires that would eventually help you improve.”