McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown says that it is great for the Formula One team to have their NTT IndyCar Series drivers Pato O’Ward and Felix Rosenqvist with them at the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas this weekend. Speaking to Paddock Eye during a conference call on Saturday, Brown said that it was particularly important for Pato who is preparing for his Formula One test with the team which will come at the Abu Dhabi circuit at the end of the season and that it is good for him to experience how the team operates in terms of the engineering set up.
Speaking about the solid start to the Austin weekend, Brown echoed statements made by Andreas Seidl on Friday saying that he believes that for the final races of the 2021 Formula One season it is going to be an extremely tight battle with Ferrari as the two teams go head to head in the race to secure third place in the Constructors championship, a place that the Woking-based outfit currently occupies by seven and a half points.
Brown said that the team will see if their momentum carries forward from Friday into qualifying later today and then hopefully he says that it leads to a strong result for both Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris in Sunday’s race.
Nico Hulkenberg will test for the Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet team on Monday and Brown said that they wanted to evaluate the German and see how he gets on in the IndyCar. Brown reiterated that for the 2022 NTT IndyCar Series season, Arrow McLaren SP will run two cars full-time and will run a third car at select events but confirmed that they will run a third car at the Indianapolis 500 in May.
The American also confirmed that Nico Hulkenberg is high on their list of potential drivers to fill the seat next season and he also said that the aim is to run a third car full-time in the NTT IndyCar Series in 2023 when the series switches to hybrid power.