Hours after piloting the MCL35M at Yas Marina, it seemed that Duck O’Ward he would have gotten off a space shuttle. “What a machine!” The 22-year-old Mexican won a test with the F1 McLaren after his great season with the other McLaren in IndyCar. But not many expected that a driver accustomed to high speeds in a first-rate car would end up so amazed with a morning of testing in Formula 1: “At the limit, incredible, nothing in the world comes close. I’m still freaking out, to date Next I woke up with a gigantic smile. It’s an incredible experience that makes you want more. “
AS asked him directly, how is it different from IndyCar? “The downforce, the weight, the power … the car does everything you want, it turns, brakes, accelerates. There are limits, but when it comes to what is possible from an engineer point of view, it is the maximum that It can be created.While the IndyCar is heavier, it has less power and much less downforce. You can feel the differences and they are much crazier than I had imagined. Both have their point, but to go as fast as a human can go in a race car, on a circuit, the IndyCar does not come close to F1. Nothing. “An F1 engine develops around 1,000 hp, compared to 700 for the IndyCar. In Austin, a track that both championships have visited in recent years, there is about 20 seconds per lap in favor of the Great Circus.
It would be difficult to compete with an F1 in the American championship circuits, “they are too bumpy. If anything, even if they were narrow, it could be in Barber and Elkhart Lake”. Among the particularities behind the wheel, “on the Yas Marina back straight, with the F1 you brake after the 100-meter mark. With the IndyCar it would be, at best, over 150 meters.” “As soon as I got in the car and touched the brakes I said to myself, my God! And with the same power, and they told me that it was not even at maximum power. When I put it, in qualifying simulation, it is fantastic,” he summarized Pato, happy with the experience and wanting to repeat: “I’ll see what the bosses think, but I want more of this, because it’s addictive.”
He was only affected by the physical plane, and that he is a first-rate professional pilot. “I am surprised that my head is still in place. I am happy because I know that I was no longer the limit. Unfortunately, my neck was. I will remember it for a long time, it was a long time since I got in the car and I really felt like the car was laughing at me. At some points it is as if he said to me: ‘Don’t be so lazy’. Other times he says: ‘Let’s see what you can do’. I hope to try again and be able to complain, if I need one thing or another. “” Looking at the data for the weekend, I knew that turns two and three were deep, so I challenged myself to do it like that from the first time , so as not to be lazy. On my first lap, when braking, I knew I was stepping too early. But in the fast corners, I hit hard and the direction change… ‘wow’. A roller coaster making eses at 300 kilometers per hour “, closed Patricio.” It’s amazing. “
