{"id":215517,"date":"2025-10-15T15:17:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T15:17:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/215517\/"},"modified":"2025-10-15T15:17:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T15:17:10","slug":"after-a-career-best-indycar-season-pato-is-ready-to-step-back-into-mclarens-f1-fold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/215517\/","title":{"rendered":"After a career-best INDYCAR season, Pato is ready to step back into McLaren\u2019s F1 fold"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A hero\u2019s welcome <\/p>\n<p>After two FP1 appearances at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Pato was unleashed around his home circuit in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mclaren.com\/racing\/formula-1\/2024\/mexico-city-grand-prix\/2024-mexico-city-grand-prix-practice-report\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Mexico City last year<\/a>. Watched by a jubilant, packed-out home crowd, driving the MCL38 around the Aut\u00f3dromo Hermanos Rodr\u00edguez was the realisation of a childhood dream for the Monterrey native.<\/p>\n<p>In the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mclaren.com\/racing\/formula-1\/2024\/mexico-city-grand-prix\/pato-on-his-evolving-reserve-role-as-he-prepares-for-special-drive-in-mexico-city\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">lead-up to last year\u2019s race<\/a>, Pato attended a meet and greet inside a Mexico City shopping mall that went viral when he was greeted by a frenzy of passionate supporters, who had packed out the mall and were desperate for a glimpse of their hero. He described it as \u201cthe loudest screams I\u2019ve ever heard in my life.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Twelve months on, the 26-year-old is returning for another FP1 outing at this year\u2019s Mexico City Grand Prix and is excited to be back in front of his home crowd.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt will be great, they go crazy,\u201d he says with a grin from ear to ear. \u201cThe fans really make you feel like you\u2019re a superhero. Mexico City has a very special atmosphere.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>No words. \ud83e\udd79<\/p>\n<p>Mexico, your love is felt all around the world. \ud83c\uddf2\ud83c\uddfd\ud83e\udde1 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/VAnYY3l9VN\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/VAnYY3l9VN<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Arrow McLaren IndyCar Team (@ArrowMcLaren) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ArrowMcLaren\/status\/1849528296897380709?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">October 24, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Before and after the appearance, he\u2019ll dedicate time to soaking up the atmosphere, but during his FP1 outing, he\u2019ll be helping our F1 team nail down the specifics of our setup ahead of Qualifying and the race.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI try not to think about [the crowd] much when I am in the car, because the team will be telling me what I need to do and be asking for feedback, so you cannot be looking around too much. But on my in-lap, I will definitely have a look. It is really cool.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI can remember hearing the roar when Checo [Sergio Perez] drove through the stadium section. I\u2019m not sure if it\u2019s like that for me \u2013 but I\u2019ll ask my sister if it was, as she\u2019ll be in the crowd.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Despite his star status in Mexico, as one of the country\u2019s leading and most recognisable athletes, Pato says he can still get around without being noticed, helped by a cap and some sunglasses.<\/p>\n<p>Although sometimes, it\u2019s even easier than that\u2026<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere have been times where I\u2019ve spotted people wearing my merch and I\u2019ve gone up to them and asked where they got it from, and they\u2019ve not realised it\u2019s me,\u201d he says, laughing. \u201cMaybe they don\u2019t have a face to the name, it\u2019s funny\u2026 but, as soon as one person spots you, that\u2019s it, you are done!\u201d<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A hero\u2019s welcome After two FP1 appearances at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Pato was unleashed around his&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":215518,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,817,813,816,85],"class_list":["post-215517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=215517"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215517\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/215518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=215517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=215517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=215517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}