O'Ward impressed on his latest appearance in McLaren's F1 machinery by finishing second in Abu Dhabi's post-season test, completing 103 laps in the 2023 MCL60 to put himself just 0.269s behind Alpine's leading Esteban Ocon.
His outing came days after being announced as one of McLaren's 2024 reserve drivers, having already completed private tests in the 2021 MCL35 as well as several FP1 sessions.
O'Ward will focus on his 2024 IndyCar campaign before joining the F1 team in his reserve role from September's Singapore Grand Prix onwards.
His Abu Dhabi test is the latest step towards a dream F1 seat, although the 24-year-old Mexican says his priority remains to win an Indy 500 for McLaren after narrowly losing out to Marcus Ericsson in 2022.
When asked if he felt closer to an F1 seat than ever, O'Ward said: "Absolutely, every time you do more FP1s or more testing, that's just more time in the car.
"And that means someone is ultimately believing in you and giving you that opportunity to be ready if those doors do open.
"I'm fully focused on what I have to do in IndyCar because I want to give the 500 win to McLaren, I want to be the one that gives it to them because I've been with them for four years, starting my fifth next year.
"And then it would be quite the Cinderella story to tackle the challenge in Formula 1 and be a contender, not just to come here and have fun."
Source: Autosport