A top IndyCar driver got a chance to drive an F1 car, and his reaction showed just how ‘mind-blowing’ they are compared to all other race cars

• F1 cars are by far the fastest cars on the planet, and IndyCar driver Pato O'ward showed that Tuesday.
• O'Ward, one of the fastest drivers in IndyCar, took part in F1's post-season testing in Abu Dhabi.
• The forces involved in F1 cars are so strong that by the end of the day O'Ward struggled to keep his head upright.

A top IndyCar driver has said piloting a Formula One car is "mind-blowing" to drive and unlike anything else in the world after getting a rare chance to test one this week.

Pato O'Ward finished third in the 2021 IndyCar championship driving for McLaren Arrow team, and was given a chance to test a McLaren F1 car by CEO Zac Brown as a reward for winning his first race.

O'Ward took part in post-season testing in Abu Dhabi just two days after F1's frenetic 2021 season finale, and immediately realized quite how different driving one of the sport's cars is to anything else in motor racing.

Speaking to the official F1 website, O'Ward said that the forces involved in driving an F1 car are so strong that by the end of the day he was in pain and struggling to keep his head upright.

"I didn't want it to end. I have to say, towards the end of the day, it's not because I didn't want to go more but my head actually can not withstand it anymore" he told the official Formula One website.

"I was fine for the morning then did some race runs, it started to get a bit tough holding it [his head] up when I put the softs on at the end. My limitations to not going quicker was actually my head and not being able to see where I was going. 

"This thing is mental in the quick corners, it's ridiculous. Ridiculous."

O'Ward also said it was "no comparison" to the cars he was used to driving in IndyCar.

"There's no comparison to be honest," O'Ward said. "It's not to trash IndyCar, but what this car is capable of doing downforce wise is insane. 

"There is nothing in the world that comes close to it.

"It's unlike anything you've ever imagined, then times it by 10. That's what it feels like. 

"It feels like you're in a roller coaster going 200 and something miles an hour and the thing doesn't move. It was mind-blowing how much grip there was and how much you can lean on the car in the quick corners."

The 22-year-old told Insider in August that it is his dream to race in F1 some day. After his first test he joked that he was going to make that happen.

"I'm going to call Zac [Brown]!" he said.