Alex Palou and Pato O’Ward will make their Formula 1 practice session debuts for McLaren over the final four races of the season.
The team confirmed 2021 IndyCar champion Palou will drive Daniel Ricciardo’s car during the first practice session at the Circuit of the Americas one week from today.
O’Ward will drive for the team at Yas Marina, taking over Lando Norris’s car for the first practice session ahead of the season finale. The four-times IndyCar race winner drove for McLaren in the young drivers’ test at the track last year.
Palou has also previously tested for McLaren as part of the team’s programme of runs using its 2021 MCL35M chassis. The team recently settled a dispute with Ganassi over Palou’s services which will see him stay at the IndyCar team next year, having previously announced a move to the McLaren SP squad O’Ward races for.
Palou said “it’s great to be driving in the United States in front of fans that may have seen me race in IndyCar.
“Having driven the 2021 McLaren MCL35M in a few tests now, I can’t wait to put the MCL36 through its paces.”
McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl said the two drivers impressed them when they tested at the Circuit de Catalunya and Red Bull Ring earlier this year.
“It’s a great chance for them to showcase their skills on Formula 1’s global stage, where the focus will be to help the team prepare for the race weekend and not on ultimate lap times.”
With only four races left for teams to meet the quota of running at least two drivers with little F1 experience in practice sessions, many have seized upon the US and Abu Dhabi rounds as the best opportunity to complete the mandatory runs. McLaren is one of four teams which has confirmed it will run a junior driver in practice next week.
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F1 teams’ junior driver practice schedules
| Team | Event | Driver | Event | Driver |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mercedes | French Grand Prix | Nyck de Vries | TBC | TBC |
| Red Bull | Spanish Grand Prix | Juri Vips | TBC | TBC |
| Ferrari | United States Grand Prix | Robert Shwartzman | TBC | Robert Shwartzman |
| McLaren | United States Grand Prix | Alex Palou | Abu Dhabi Grand Prix | Pato O’Ward |
| Alpine | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC |
| AlphaTauri | Belgian Grand Prix | Liam Lawson | TBC | Liam Lawson |
| Aston Martin | Italian Grand Prix | Nyck de Vries | Abu Dhabi Grand Prix | Felipe Drugovich |
| Williams | Spanish Grand Prix | Nyck de Vries | United States Grand Prix | Logan Sargeant |
| Alfa Romeo | Bahrain Grand Prix | Zhou Guanyu | United States Grand Prix | Theo Pourchaire |
| Haas | Mexican Grand Prix | Pietro Fittipaldi | Abu Dhabi Grand Prix | Pietro Fittipaldi |
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