O'Ward was placing as high as third in the driver standings before finishing eleventh and ninth at the double-header at Mid-Ohio and a disappointing 22nd place at the first race of the Harvest GP double-header at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which dropped him to fifth in the overall standings.
After signing a new deal with AMSP, he finished second in the season finale at St. Petersburg, securing fourth in the final championship standings.
O'Ward's second season with Arrow McLaren SP saw him partner Felix Rosenqvist, previously of Chip Ganassi Racing.
O'Ward emerged as a title contender in 2021.
He started the season off by earning his second career pole position at the season opener at Barber but was unable to convert that pole position into a win.
O'Ward took his first podium of the season with a third-place finish in the first race at the Texas Motor Speedway and took his maiden IndyCar victory in the second race the following day.
1926
He placed 26th in the final points standings, with the best race finish of eighth, achieved at the Circuit of the Americas.
1999
Patricio O'Ward Junco (born 6 May 1999) is a Mexican professional auto racing driver who competes full-time in the IndyCar Series, driving the No. 5 Chevrolet for Arrow McLaren.
2004
He became the first Mexican driver to win an IndyCar race since Adrian Fernandez in 2004 at Fontana and the first Chevrolet driver not from Team Penske to win a race since 2016.
After taking his first win, O'Ward never dropped lower than third in the championship standings, consistently fending off series champions Josef Newgarden and Scott Dixon while challenging Álex Palou for much of the season.
He started on the pole and finished third at the first race at the Detroit double-header and scored his second win of the season at the second race, his first win on a street course.
He achieved his third pole position of the season at the Big Machine Spiked Coolers Grand Prix, where he eventually finished fifth in the race.
He achieved another podium with a second-place finish at Gateway, taking the championship lead for the first time in the season.
2005
O'Ward began his racing career in karting at the end of 2005 and remained in karting until 2012.
2013
During 2013, he competed in open-wheel racing, in Latam Fórmula 2000, Formula Renault 1.6 NEC and Pacific Formula F2000.
2014
In 2014, O'Ward competed in French F4 Championship.
2015
In 2015, O'Ward debuted in the Pro Mazda Championship with Team Pelfrey, finishing sixth in the championship.
2016
In 2016, O'Ward returned to compete with Team Pelfrey in the Pro Mazda Championship, finishing the season as championship runner-up.
2018
He is the 2018 Indy Lights champion.
He is signed to the McLaren Driver Development Programme and McLaren's reserve driver for the 2024 Formula One season.
O'Ward was born in Monterrey, Mexico to Patricio O'Ward and Elba Junco.
He attended high school in San Antonio, Texas.
He explained on an episode of The Marshall Pruett Podcast that his surname comes from his Irish great-grandfather, adding that he considers himself "full-blown Mexican".
In 2018, O'Ward signed with Andretti Autosport to compete in the Indy Lights championship.
He won nine of the 17 races, was named Rookie of the Year and won the drivers championship at the penultimate race of the season in Portland, beating runner-up Colton Herta.
Two weeks after clinching the 2018 Indy Lights championship title, O'Ward made his IndyCar Series debut at Sonoma Raceway in a second Harding Racing entry, where he qualified fifth and finished ninth.
This tied him with David Martínez for the best finish on debut by a Mexican driver in American open-wheel racing.
2019
In 2019, O'Ward was scheduled to move up to the IndyCar Series full-time, piloting the No. 8 entry for Harding Steinbrenner Racing.
However, sponsorship issues led to O'Ward being granted his release from the team on February 11, 2019.
On March 7, O'Ward joined Carlin on a part-time deal that saw him drive in 13 races in the 2019 season.
O'Ward drove Carlin's second entry for 12 races and drove Carlin's third entry for the Indianapolis 500.
O'Ward failed to qualify for the Indy 500 along with Carlin teammate Max Chilton and the Carlin-prepared car of McLaren Racing's Fernando Alonso.
His Red Bull deal, which was signed in May, also saw him only compete in eight of the 13 events he originally signed for.
2020
On October 30, it was announced that O'Ward had returned to IndyCar by signing a deal with Arrow McLaren SP for the 2020 season.
In his first season for Arrow McLaren SP (AMSP), O'Ward was partnered by Oliver Askew for most races, with Hélio Castroneves replacing Askew at the Harvest GP and with Fernando Alonso in a third entry at the Indianapolis 500.
O’Ward had a strong start to 2020, clinching pole position and achieving his first podium finish at the second round of the Road America double-header, finishing second.
At Iowa, he finished fourth in the first race.
He was fourth in the overall points standings heading into the Indianapolis 500, which was held in August due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
O'Ward would go on to finish sixth in his first Indianapolis 500 start and won the Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year award for his performance.
He subsequently scored consecutive podium finishes in the double-header at World Wide Technology Raceway.
