Who is Pato O'Ward? The IndyCar sensation replacing Lando Norris at Mexican Grand Prix

is set to miss out on FP1 at the , but the man sitting in his MCL38 machine on Friday will be attracting plenty of attention. This weekend will mark Pato O'Ward's first F1 outing in front of his home crowd.

The 25-year-old has been on the periphery of McLaren's F1 operation for some time, having built a reputation as one of IndyCar's fiercest competitors during a five-year stay at Arrow McLaren.

In this time, O'Ward has notched up seven race victories - including three during the 2024 campaign - and came excruciatingly close to claiming a maiden Indy500 win this year, only to lose out to Team Penske's Josef Newgarden after he pulled off a sensational last lap pass to mark back-to-back triumphs at the Brickyard.

Friday won't be O'Ward's first experience of a Grand Prix weekend. The Monterrey-born racer completed two FP1 sessions in Abu Dhabi over the past two campaigns, impressing with his performances. Now, he will get the opportunity to join compatriot Sergio Perez on track at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

Speaking to about his opportunity on home soil, O'Ward said: "I'm just so excited to be there. I'm excited to enjoy the experience of that Grand Prix weekend without just being there to walk around - I will actually get to drive the car at least once! So that's pretty special.

"I haven't really had the chance to do that in a professional manner in so many years. The stage doesn't get any bigger than Formula One and it's really a great opportunity for me to be there with the team and obviously help them any way I can to get everything sorted out for Lando and make that as smooth as possible, but also get what I need out of it and really get to enjoy it.

"That's my main goal - I want to enjoy that as much as possible. I feel like naturally, you would expect it to, but I don't feel the extra pressure really. I think it's cool.

"I actually think it's the other way round - I think it's fantastic that I'm going to get to drive the Constructors' Championship-leading car. That's awesome. I've never had the chance to do that, so that's a first!"

He later added: "I'm curious to see the stadium section because every time Checo goes through there I hear everybody just screams, and I can hear it from the box. Obviously, I don't think it will be the same for me when I go through there, but maybe some people will be like 'Hey!' I think that will be really cool."