Breaking news
FIA F2 Spielberg
O'Ward: F2 debut was "a proper ass-whipping"
Red Bull junior Patricio O’Ward says he “never felt slower” after an “ass-whipping” on his Formula 2 debut, but said the sprint race was a “major leap forward”.
Jack Benyon
Edited: Jul 1, 2019, 2:23 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Carlin IndyCar driver O’Ward joined the Red Bull junior programme in May, and stepped into the MP Motorsport F2 seat replacing the banned Mahaveer Raghunathan for one round.
He qualified two tenths off experienced teammate Jordan King, but fell away to last in the feature race amid a race where many drivers struggled with heavy tyre degradation.
“I got a proper ass-whipping today to be honest,” O’Ward told Motorsport.com after the feature race. “I don’t know what to say. I’ve never felt slower in my life.
“I have to learn to manage this tyre. I dropped 45 seconds in a matter of 40 laps.
“I thought I was saving the tyres, and I was going slow to save the tyres, but they still went off.”
In the sprint race, he took 14th, 22 seconds off the leader in a race with 12 fewer laps than the feature event.
“I thought that was a lot better,” he added. “Obviously it’s not where we want to be, but I think it was a major, major leap forward from yesterday and today we could actually race.
“I think it will help to start further forward next time, and obviously just keep getting better and better.
“I end the weekend a lot happier than what I was yesterday.
"Unlucky in the last few laps where a few people pitted and had fresh tyres. If it wasn’t for that we would have been around the top 10 mark, that’s great, starting last.”
It was confirmed over the weekend that O’Ward would take expelled Red Bull junior Dan Ticktum’s seat in Super Formula for the remainder of the season.
O’Ward said that his IndyCar season could be over, and there’s a possibility of more F2 rounds later in the year.
Raghunathan is expected to be back at MP Motorsport for Silverstone in two weeks.
There were two other drivers making season debuts at the weekend. Ryan Tveter is attempting to find the budget to return to Trident Racing at Silverstone, while Arjun Maini has one more round left on his deal with Campos Racing.
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Red Bull Ring F2: Sette Camara takes first win since 2017
Next article Silverstone F2: Ghiotto leads Latifi in practice
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Jack Benyon
Aitken, Samaia make up Campos' F2 line-up
FIA F2
FIA F2 Feb 17, 2020
Aitken, Samaia make up Campos' F2 line-up
DiBenedetto intends to “turn heads” with Wood Brothers
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup Feb 14, 2020
DiBenedetto intends to “turn heads” with Wood Brothers
Tanak "learned a very good lesson" from Monte crash
WRC
WRC Feb 10, 2020
Tanak "learned a very good lesson" from Monte crash
More from
Patricio O'Ward
Colton Herta backs Mexico IndyCar race following Pato O’Ward promoter callout
IndyCar
IndyCar 7 d
Colton Herta backs Mexico IndyCar race following Pato O’Ward promoter callout
Arrow McLaren signs multi-year engine extension with Chevrolet
IndyCar
IndyCar 1 mo
Arrow McLaren signs multi-year engine extension with Chevrolet
"He is full of sh*t": Pato O’Ward blasts departing Arrow McLaren teammate Christian Lundgaard
IndyCar
IndyCar
Laguna Seca
2 mo
"He is full of sh*t": Pato O’Ward blasts departing Arrow McLaren teammate Christian Lundgaard
More from
MP Motorsport
The Next Generation: Gabriele Mini
FIA F2
FIA F2
Monaco
5 mo
The Next Generation: Gabriele Mini
Alpine announces contract extension for Nina Gademan ahead of 2026 F1 Academy season
F1 Academy
F1 Academy
Shanghai
9 mo
Alpine announces contract extension for Nina Gademan ahead of 2026 F1 Academy season
Franco Colapinto: The unseen struggle of chasing an F1 dream
FIA F2
FIA F2 Jun 17, 2024
Franco Colapinto: The unseen struggle of chasing an F1 dream
Latest news
Why aerodynamics will become "even more important" under 2027 MotoGP regulations
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Qatar GP
20 min
Why aerodynamics will become "even more important" under 2027 MotoGP regulations
Sebastien Bourdais hopes latest WEC success will remind teams of his value
WEC
WEC WEC
Monza
2 h
Sebastien Bourdais hopes latest WEC success will remind teams of his value
"It's horribly painful" - Williams drops 2026 car upgrades to benefit 2027
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
3 h
"It's horribly painful" - Williams drops 2026 car upgrades to benefit 2027
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe