Pato might have seven months to wait until the start of the 2023 INDYCAR season, but there's no such thing as too much practice, and there are few more enjoyable ways to keep one's hand in than firing a Formula 1 car around the Austrian mountains.

Adding to his ever-growing mileage count in F1 machinery, Pato got back behind the wheel of the MCL35M at the Red Bull Ring in Austria as part of our Driver Development Programme.

The Mexican racer shared driving duties with fellow INDYCAR challenger Alex Palou, the pair punching in 171 laps and 375km over the two days, increasing their understanding of the car and general adaptability as racers.

"The more cars you test, the more experience you have in your memory bank of driving different cars and experiencing different feelings," said Pato. "It makes you better in every way. It makes you more adaptable, and that is a useful skill for when you step into a car that is a bit more alien, and you need to adjust.

"We worked on a bit of everything: high-fuel, low-fuel, long-runs, short-runs, continuous laps, non-continuous laps, and all of that can go into the memory bank. I think that in every aspect, I keep getting better and better.

"I have really enjoyed the test and the track. It has some interesting characteristics with up and downhill sections, it is fast-flowing with hard braking zones and gives you a great appreciation of what an F1 car is all about."

The test in Austria follows on from a similar outing in Spain just under a month ago, where Pato and Palou completed 1,242km and 267 laps at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

The running will help to prepare the pair for their F1 race weekend debuts, with Palou set to drive Daniel's MCL36 during FP1 at the US Grand Prix, whilst Pato will get behind the wheel of Lando's car for FP1 at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Stepping back into the 2021-spec McLaren so soon allowed Pato to continue learning and make the most of the track without the usual adjustment period. The change of scenery provided the opportunity to learn new skills on a circuit with different characteristics, challenges and conditions.

"Every track is different," Pato continued. "Every track responds to wind and temperature very differently. For example, Barcelona was a real tyre eater and changes massively from the start to the end of the day.

"That is before adding wind into the equation, which can make it pretty hairy - it was a bit more friendly at the Red Bull Ring, which was very enjoyable. I had never reversed an F1 car before, but we did a reverse check, and I did that correctly. We also did some launches, which we didn't do in Barcelona, and that went well too."

Phil Thomas was the lead engineer for both tests and said he has been pleased with Pato's progression in the MCL35M and the work that he had done away from the circuit.

"Pato has really impressed," said Phil. "He has taken on board the lessons in how this car needs to be driven, which is quite different from what he has driven in the past. He started strongly and clearly did a lot of thinking during and after his Barcelona test, which has allowed him to exploit the car in this test.

"A lot of this test has been based on carrying over the work we did in Barcelona. We set a really good foundation there with both drivers, and we are now just trying to see how they take that learning to the track and how they adapt to different circuits."

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