One of the most gifted open-wheel drivers on the planet was asked if Formula 1 is still a dream. His answer said everything about who he is.

Pato O’Ward does not chase things he does not believe in. That quality, more than any lap time or podium finish, defines the Arrow McLaren driver at 26. And this week in Long Beach, ahead of what promises to be one of the most compelling IndyCar rounds of the season, O’Ward delivered a statement that reframes the entire conversation about his career trajectory.

Formula 1, he said, no longer interests him. Not because he cannot get there. Because he does not want to.

“Every year it has changed more… honestly, the new Formula 1 cars, what the series has done has been a mistake. The truth is, when you look at them, they are artificial,” he told FOX Deportes.

This is not a bitter assessment from someone the sport passed over. O’Ward sat in a McLaren Formula 1 car at the Abu Dhabi test in 2024 and crossed the line in a excelling position. He was fast. He was ready. The path existed. What he is saying now is that the destination no longer matches the journey he wants to take.

His original hunger for F1 was rooted in something pure. The cars, the challenge, the limit. A driver pushing a machine to the edge of physics through a fast corner, fighting for position under late braking (the art of delaying the moment of deceleration as long as possible before a turn to gain track position). That is what drew him to the idea. That is what, he argues, the current regulations have removed.

“The hunger I had to get to Formula 1 wasn’t for fame or money… it was because the cars were something impressive; driving those cars was something impressive.”

What replaced that impressiveness, in O’Ward’s view, is a system built around push-to-pass deployment (pre-programmed energy release that gives a driver a temporary power surge on demand, typically used on straights to close gaps or defend position). A tool, not a skill. A switch, not a battle.

“You don’t want to be flipping a switch to say, ‘Oh, I’m going to press it to pass him artificially.’ It’s not Mario Kart; we’re racing here. Honestly, I have zero desire to be part of that.”

What makes O’Ward’s position genuinely admirable is the courage it takes to say it out loud. Formula 1 remains the most commercially powerful motorsport platform on the planet. Walking away from that, publicly, at the peak of your career, is not a move made for optics. It is a move made from conviction.

IndyCar, he made clear, is where the driving still matters on its own terms. Where a pass is earned, not activated. Where the sport rewards the complete racing driver rather than the best system manager.

“I feel that right now, today, this is the best series for a driver who wants to race. Formula 1 right now is an artificial show, and honestly, I have zero desire for it; it doesn’t grab my attention.”

O’Ward is not closing a door out of bitterness. He is choosing a category that matches his values as a competitor. In a paddock full of drivers who would say anything to get a Formula 1 seat, that kind of clarity is rare. And it is worth a great deal more than a race suit with the right logo on it.

Thumbnail credits: Penske Entertainment: Joe Skibinski