IndyCar sensation Pat O’Ward revealed that Zak Brown offered the McLaren seat to multiple young drivers including Oscar Piastri.
Piastri’s potential move to McLaren has taken the world of F1 by storm. It all came after Alpine announced that the young Aussie would replace Fernando Alonso at the team next season.
Piastri however, soon revealed that that wasn’t the case. He clearly stated that he won’t drive for Alpine, but made no mention of where is future lies. According to multiple sources, the 2021 F2 Champion is headed towards McLaren, who want Daniel Ricciardo gone from the team.
Team boss Zak Brown has stated multiple times that he isn’t happy with how the eight-time race winner has performed so far. Now that they have a chance to sign Piastri up, they are willing to let Ricciardo go. The 33-year-old, however, is claiming a compensation of $21 million if McLaren decides to remove him with one year still left on his contract.
McLaren have multiple talented youngsters involved in their junior program. The likes of Colton Herta, Pat O’Ward and Alex Palou are all part of the team’s junior set up, and Brown has labeled all of them as future talents.
Pat O’Ward slams McLaren team boss Zak Brown
O’Ward did not hold back while criticizing Brown. He cited the entire situation involving Piastri and Alpine as laughable, and he is also understandably annoyed with the situation at McLaren.
According to the Mexican IndyCar star, Brown has promised the McLaren F1 seat to multiple young drivers in their own set up. In spite of that, he chose to offer it to someone who was part of Alpine’s junior team.
“I saw it and I laughed,” he said to ESPN. “The same prize has been put in front of many other drivers by Brown. In the end, there is only one seat and not five.”
Talking about his own F1 dreams, the 23-year-old admitted that he does not have high hopes. He feels he is performing really well, but it’s in vain because of false promises made to him.
“It’s not good for me to have that illusion,” O’Ward continued. “It’s a dream that’s very far away, because although I’m racing at a very high level, it’s still not enough to convince them. There are many things that come into play that are beyond me.”
Piastri is one of the biggest talents in F1, and Lando Norris is completely untouchable at McLaren right now. If they get the services of the former secured, their line up could be locked in for years to come.
