O'Ward was born in Monterrey, Mexico. He attended high school in San Antonio, Texas, and has stated his surname originates from his Irish great-grandfather while identifying as "full-blown Mexican." He began karting in 2005 and continued until 2012. In 2013 he competed in Latam Fórmula 2000, Formula Renault 1.6 NEC, and Pacific F2000. In 2014 he raced in the French F4 Championship. He joined Team Pelfrey in the Pro Mazda Championship in 2015, finishing sixth, then returned in 2016 to finish as championship runner-up.
In 2018, O'Ward signed with Andretti Autosport for the Indy Lights championship. He won nine of seventeen races, was named Rookie of the Year, and clinched the drivers' title at the penultimate round at Portland, defeating runner-up Colton Herta.
Two weeks after the Indy Lights title, O'Ward made his IndyCar debut at Sonoma Raceway in a second Harding Racing entry, qualifying fifth and finishing ninth — tied with David Martínez for the best debut result by a Mexican driver in American open-wheel racing.
For 2019, O'Ward was scheduled to drive the No. 8 Harding Steinbrenner Racing entry full-time but was released in February after sponsorship issues. He joined Carlin on a part-time deal for thirteen races. He failed to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 alongside teammate Max Chilton and Fernando Alonso's Carlin-prepared entry. A Red Bull deal signed in May limited him to eight of the thirteen events. He finished 26th in points, his best result an eighth at Circuit of the Americas.
In 2020, O'Ward joined Arrow McLaren SP partnered by Oliver Askew. He clinched his first pole and first podium at the second Road America round (second place), and finished sixth in his Indianapolis 500 debut, earning Rookie of the Year honours. He reached third in the standings before results at Mid-Ohio and the Harvest GP dropped him to fifth; he closed the season second at St. Petersburg to finish fourth overall.
The 2021 season was O'Ward's breakthrough campaign. He took his maiden IndyCar victory in the second race at Texas Motor Speedway, becoming the first Mexican driver to win an IndyCar race since Adrian Fernandez in 2004 and the first Chevrolet driver outside Team Penske to win since 2016. A second win followed at the Detroit street course double-header. He led the championship briefly after a second-place finish at Gateway, but a 14th-place result at Portland allowed Álex Palou to retake the lead. At the season finale at Long Beach, O'Ward needed to win from pole while Palou finished outside the top thirteen; after failing to advance to the Firestone Fast Six and qualifying eighth, he was eliminated early by Ed Jones with a broken driveshaft. He finished third in the championship behind Palou and Josef Newgarden. He also won the A.J. Foyt Cup as the highest-scoring driver on oval courses in 2021.
In 2022, O'Ward won at Barber (his first win on a permanent road course) and Iowa (his first on a short oval), and signed a three-year contract extension with Arrow McLaren SP on 27 May. He ran second at the 106th Indianapolis 500, briefly leading on the final lap before Marcus Ericsson completed a pass. He finished seventh in the championship.
In 2023, O'Ward posted three second-place finishes in the first five rounds. He qualified fifth for the Indianapolis 500, his best starting position in the race, before crashing while fighting for second against Ericsson. An attempt to overtake Scott Dixon at Long Beach caused Dixon to crash, drawing criticism. He finished fourth in the championship with no wins but his most podiums and top-five finishes to that point.
In 2024, O'Ward was awarded the St. Petersburg win after Newgarden was stripped of the victory for violating push-to-pass regulations. He finished second in the 2024 Indianapolis 500 after a last-lap pass by Newgarden. He won at Mid-Ohio ahead of Alex Palou, becoming the first driver to win a race in IndyCar's hybrid powertrain era. A third win followed at the Milwaukee Mile, giving him his first season of more than two victories.
In 2025, O'Ward finished third in the Indianapolis 500 behind Palou and David Malukas. He won his eighth career IndyCar race at Iowa 1 on his one-hundredth race in the series, and also won at Toronto.
In 2017, O'Ward competed with Performance Tech Motorsports in the Prototype Challenge class of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. He and his co-drivers won the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring in the PC class, making him the youngest driver to win both races at seventeen years old. He also won the 2017 Prototype Challenge drivers' championship alongside James French and the North American Endurance Cup alongside French and Kyle Masson.
In 2022, O'Ward entered the 24 Hours of Daytona in the LMP2 class with DragonSpeed, co-driving with Herta, Devlin DeFrancesco, and Eric Lux. The team won after Herta overtook for the lead with eleven minutes remaining.
In May 2019, O'Ward was signed to the Red Bull Junior Team and substituted for the banned Mahaveer Raghunathan in Formula 2 at the Red Bull Ring. He was also named as Dan Ticktum's replacement in Super Formula. A FIA decision to award fewer Super Licence points for his Indy Lights title meant he could not race in Formula One in 2020; Helmut Marko granted him early release after three Super Formula rounds.
Before the 2021 IndyCar season, McLaren CEO Zak Brown promised O'Ward a test of the MCL35M if he won at least one IndyCar race. After the Texas win, O'Ward drove a McLaren MP4/13 at Laguna Seca on 14 November 2021, with two-time world champion Mika Häkkinen present. He beat his own Dallara DW12 lap time at Laguna Seca by over a second. On 14 December 2021 he tested the MCL35M in Abu Dhabi, completing 92 laps and finishing fourth-fastest. Brown confirmed O'Ward would remain in IndyCar for 2022 but indicated further F1 tests were possible.
In April 2023, McLaren formed a Driver Development Programme with O'Ward signed to it. He made his F1 free practice debut at the 2022 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, and has since participated in free practice sessions at the 2023 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the 2024 Mexico City Grand Prix (his first F1 session in his home country), the 2025 Mexico City Grand Prix, and the 2025 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, followed by the young drivers' test at Yas Marina. O'Ward continued as McLaren reserve driver into 2026.
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