How Patricio O'Ward fits into Red Bull F1's Dan Ticktum reshuffle

O'Ward is undertaking a one-off outing in Formula 2 this weekend for MP Motorsport replacing the banned Mahaveer Raghunathan.

He finished 18th, two tenths off his team-mate Jordan King, in Friday morning's free practice session.

Autosport revealed that Ticktum had lost his Super Formula seat on Thursday, while confirmation of his exit from the Red Bull junior squad became public on Friday.

O'Ward is due to compete in three more IndyCar race this season with Carlin but confirmed that programme could be cut short due to a lack of budget.

In May it was announced O'Ward would not take part in the two oval events originally on his schedule, leaving Toronto, Mid Ohio and Portland on his now uncertain schedule.

"I think there is some openings to do stuff in Europe because in IndyCar I'm not quite sure if I will be able to continue just based on budgets," O'Ward told Autosport.

"I'm really going wherever Red Bull wants me to go and wherever they can locate me in a seat."

Asked about the rest of the season specifically, he added: "I think it's going to be a few more races in F2, I saw the article yesterday about possibly Super Formula, I think there are more opportunities to do either Formula 2 or Super Formula than continue in IndyCar.

"I have to take what I can get. I don't really have a secure ride for the rest of the season.

"It [Super Formula] is somewhere where I can get quite a bit of seat time and work on my technique and get better overall."

O'Ward could contest Super Formula or F2 again this season.

F2's Spa round clashes with the Portland IndyCar race on September 1, while Super Formula clashes with the Sochi F2 round in September.

While the move to Super Formula seems an obvious swap for Ticktum at Team Mugen, the F2 move is more unclear.

MP is expecting Raghunathan to return for the remainder of the season, leaving only possible seats at Trident Racing and Campos Racing as it stands.

Trident has signed Ryan Tveter for a one-weekend-deal only for Austria, while Arjun Maini has taken over Dorian Boccolacci's Campos-run machine in a deal which ends after the Silverstone round in July.

There is some confusion over the number of super licence points O'Ward has, which will affect how quickly he is able to step up to F1.

O'Ward explained his Red Bull deal was done with the aim of getting licence points as quickly as possible.

"Everything was signed based on the possibility of a Formula 1 seat," added O'Ward.

"I should have enough [super licence points] but they don't want to count my Indy Lights points as in some races there were less than 12 cars. I can get a super licence this year if I get 15 points. I don't know from where.

"The focus is to get the license points as quick as we can."

As well as his unclear Indy Lights points situation, there is confusion over whether his IMSA Prototype Challenge championship win warrants super licence points.

Asked what his preference would be if he didn't get a super licence during 2019, O'Ward said: "I think Formula 2 is a better way to go because I don't know any of the [F1] tracks, so it would be great practice to get to know the tracks and tyres at a Formula 1 event."