IndyCar: Patricio O’Ward poised to return in 2020 after Red Bull split?

By Asher Fair | Oct 21, 2019

SONOMA, CA - SEPTEMBER 15: Patricio O'Ward of Mexico driver of the #8 Harding Racing Chevrolet during qualifying for the Verizon IndyCar Series Sonoma Grand Prix at Sonoma Raceway on September 15, 2018 in Sonoma, California. (Photo by Robert Laberge/Getty Images) /

Patricio O’Ward’s 2019 has been crazy to say the least as it relates to his racing career. With Red Bull ending their relationship with him, could he return to IndyCar in 2020?

After winning the 2018 Indy Lights championship with Andretti Autosport, Patricio O’Ward made his IndyCar debut in the 2018 season finale at Sonoma Raceway for Harding Racing. He drove his #8 Chevrolet to a ninth place finish after qualifying in fifth, two season-highs for the team, in just his first career start.

After Harding Racing formed a partnership with Steinbrenner Racing to create Harding Steinbrenner Racing ahead of the 2019 season, the 20-year-old Mexican was confirmed as one of their two drivers alongside Colton Herta, the Andretti Steinbrenner Racing who finished runner-up to O’Ward in the 2018 Indy Lights championship standings.

But financial troubles reared their ugly head just one month before the season began, resulting in O’Ward losing his ride with the now Honda-powered team. He ended up securing a deal with compete in 13 of the season’s 17 races with Carlin.

He ended up competing in only seven of them, not including the Indianapolis 500, for which he failed to qualify.

More from IndyCar

In May, he signed with the Red Bull Junior Team, which led to him competing in two Formula 2 races for MP Motorsports and three races in the Japanese Super Formula Championship. He made his final IndyCar start of the season in June at Road America, and by then he had made clear that his goal was to eventually compete in Formula 1.

But now Red Bull have ended their relationship with O’Ward. With Formula 1 seemingly not in his future, at least not in his immediate future, could a return to IndyCar be in the cards?

O’Ward himself stated that Red Bull Racing team manager Helmut Marko told him that his best bet was look at returning to IndyCar since he “has options” there. Here is what O’Ward had to say about the matter, according to RACER.

"“My release from Red Bull was going to be November, but Dr. Helmut Marko called and said, ‘Hey you have options in IndyCar, take it. That’s your future’. I really appreciated him doing that.”"

Could O’Ward be back in America’s premier open-wheel racing series in 2020, and perhaps in a far more stable situation than he was in this season?

More likely than not, he will be back. Marko believes it, and O’Ward believes it, provided he remains patient for an offer.

There are several open seats in the 2020 driver lineup not quite one month into the roughly six-month offseason between the 2019 and 2020 seasons, but the one that stands out is with Arrow McLaren Racing SP.

James Hinchcliffe has a contract to return to the team, which were formed after Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports announced a partnership with McLaren and a switch from Honda engines to Chevrolet engines in August. There is, however, speculation that his ties to Honda will result in the manufacturer placing him with a Honda-powered team next year.

Regardless, at least one seat is open at the two-car Chevrolet-powered team for next year, and several drivers have been mentioned as possible candidates to land with the team, including but not limited to Santino Ferrucci, Oliver Askew, Felipe Nasr and Colin Braun.

But it is worth noting that even before McLaren formed this partnership with Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, they were aiming to join IndyCar on a full-time basis and acquire Herta.

Unfortunately for them, Herta’s contract as a Harding Steinbrenner Racing driver bound him to Andretti Technologies, and he is set to drive for Andretti Harding Steinbrenner Autosport next year, as Harding Steinbrenner Racing co-owners Mike Harding and George Michael Steinbrenner IV officially joined forces with Andretti Autosport after previously operating with a technical alliance with the team.

O’Ward was the driver who Herta finished behind in the 2019 Indy Lights championship, and he was driver whose true potential nobody got to see in the 2019 season.

Could he be the driver Arrow McLaren Racing SP call now that he is back in the IndyCar Silly Season picture and Herta is no longer available?

Next. Top 10 IndyCar drivers of all-time. dark

Will Patricio O’Ward return to IndyCar in the 2020 season? If he does make his way back, will he land his first full-time ride, and if so, where will he end up team-wise?