CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES
INDYCAR CONTENT DAYS
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA
PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
JANUARY 14, 2025

DAVID MALUKAS, No. 4 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet, met with members of the media at the NTT INDYCAR SERIES Content Days in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Press Conference Transcript:

THE MODERATOR: We continue this afternoon’s session, joined now by David Malukas, driving the No. 4 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet, beginning his fourth season in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, his first with AJ Foyt Racing after a couple of top 10s in the races you were in last year, 2024, brand new year. We all follow you on social media. We know you kind of enjoy that arena. What’s been going on?

DAVID MALUKAS: Well, I just finished up all the FOX stuff, which was so cool. They have a drone, and I even watched the guy, and he’s got these goggles on and he’s just flying around. He’s doing his own Indy 500. It’s just crazy. He’s doing like 10 donuts per person. I can’t believe it.

But it was so cool. We’re doing some cool poses, cool shots. They had the smoke machine, good music. I honestly was having a good time. I was so tired because I only slept five hours because of the early day, but that like my — that was a natural coffee boost over there. I was having a good time. That was awesome.

Q. New team, new year. I’m sure you can’t wait to get back on track.

DAVID MALUKAS: Yeah, I can’t wait. Last year was chaos, definitely a year of learning and maturing, and at the end of the season I had actually another surgery on my hand to clean up all the scar tissue because the movement was very limited, so I had to still do some PT for a few months until Christmas time.

Now the hand is doing really well. We did the seat fit, got the grip strength back up, and I’m excited to go out there and perform and forget this injury ever — well, it’s not perfectly back, but it’s a lot better, so I’m really excited.

Q. David, this is a chance to have a complete season with the same team after last year’s saga. How important is that going to be for you to really get a chance to get off the ground running? I imagine you’re probably going to be pretty careful in the next couple of weeks.

DAVID MALUKAS: Oh, 100 percent. I’ve been so careful. I think the craziest thing I’ve done this off-season is go zip lining with my nephews and the drop was only like two feet. I had to lift my knees up the just do the zip lining. That was the most chaotic thing I’ve done.

But no, like I said, I’ve matured a lot, and not just from individuality and outside of the car, but also in the car I’ve matured a lot. I’m excited to take that maturity, be consistent, have a full season, and actually build with the team that I have and the crew is incredible and I’m very excited to get some very good results. It’s going to be a lot of fun.

Q. Also, FOX is gearing a lot of their telecast to the Generation Z, the younger generation audience, a lot of good young talent in the INDYCAR Series. Do you see INDYCAR at a tipping point here where there’s a lot of young faces, a lot of exciting drivers, and it may be a chance to really excite some of the younger crowd that may not be INDYCAR fans?

DAVID MALUKAS: Yeah, I think you hit it spot on. I think the next generation definitely is starting to come in, and I think those fans are starting to come.

I’ve had a lot of experiences last season where fans would come up to me and tell me that they’re watching INDYCAR and they’re there because of me, and that made me feel incredible. It’s an incredible feeling.

I’m just really excited to actually be able to connect with my generation into racing and get them in. And I think with everything that FOX is doing, it’s incredible, because I am also Gen-Z, so it’s my generation, so it’s good.

Q. You’re one of the youngest drivers in the series dealing with one of the oldest people in racing, AJ Foyt. That’s got to be a little bit of a — are there times when the two of you kind of look at each other and try to figure out what the other is thinking?

DAVID MALUKAS: Yeah, actually it was a pretty good — I met him at the Indy test a few months back, and he was telling me all of his stories. He’s got so many cool stories. It was a really cool experience. It was a good time.

But I think with what we’re doing at AJ Foyt, being with AJ and being the new generation, I think it’s a perfect setup going into this season. We have a lot of cool ideas and content with how we’re going to mix all that together and mixing the new generation with history. It’s going to be awesome.

Q. Obviously you’re going into a team who have a lot of momentum behind them coming off a really strong season last year. Do you have any expectations going into the new year?

DAVID MALUKAS: I think just from all the chaos, for sure 100 percent just having that consistency being up there. I think with the way the team’s success has been, especially this last season, I think it’s very, very strong. Expectations are definitely very high.

I think with the team that we have, we definitely want results. I think with my teammate as well, Santino, on the ovals we’re going to be a pretty strong suit.

Expectations are high going into it. But at the end of the day, it just feels good to do a full season and have a consistent season.

Q. We saw you’re going to have car No. 4.

DAVID MALUKAS: That is correct.

Q. How cool is that for you?

DAVID MALUKAS: Yeah, it was a little bit last minute. I mean, I knew for a while. I wanted to say it really badly, and then I decided to just sneakily just do a post, just DM 4. I think that has a good ring to it and I’m really excited. I am just excited from constant side of things because I can just replace the “a” in Dave and just No. 4. I think it will be really cool. It’s good merch.

I’m just really excited because then I can wear it. Imagine little Dave but then the A is a 4. It’s pretty cool. I’m not gonna lie.

Q. Last year you didn’t really have a chance to get the season started like you wanted. You just kind of had to watch from the sidelines and everything. How important is that to have a defined start point and just do it as you planned from the beginning?

DAVID MALUKAS: Yeah, sitting on the sidelines watching, that was really tough. That was hard. I definitely had to keep some emotions in watching everybody go around.

It was good. I learned a lot, especially being on the sidelines, just seeing what the engineers have to deal with, all the screens, the strategy. There’s a lot that I learned that as a driver you don’t really know much of what’s going on, so I think it was good by the time I got in the car I didn’t get angry at the engineers or the strategy on what’s going on because they can see a lot more than the driver can see.

So I think that was the No. 1 thing that I learned and that I will take going into this next season.

Q. The transition going from a Honda to a Chevy, I know you don’t have experience inside the cockpit yet, but what’s that transition in a simulator been like and how excited are you to join the Chevy family?

DAVID MALUKAS: Well, I did a lot of off-season testing just when the hybrid system was coming out with Arrow McLaren, so I did have a lot of Chevy testing done. I think that was their previous version before the hybrid came in, so it definitely was different.

So I have some familiarity with some of the Chevy engineers, as well. So going it, it’s not completely going fresh. I think we have something to already start going off of.

But as of what I remember and going into it, I think it’ll be fine. I know there’s some talks about the engines being a bit different, but from when I went into the car they felt very similar. I couldn’t tell major drastic changes.

Q. I don’t think the results, especially at Gateway last year, showed what you’re capable of doing with obviously running up front. I know you’re going to take it a race at a time and talk about the race that’s coming up, but you’ve got to be champing at the bits with Santino, with how fast the Foyt cars have been at Indy to get back to IMS, and that starts in April at the test.

DAVID MALUKAS: Yeah, anytime I start thinking about it, the nerves and the excitement starts building up. I’m really excited, man. The car is going to good. Good teammates, good engineers, good crew. Everything is lining up, so a little bit of luck, who knows, it’s going to be really exciting.

Q. I’m excited to see what Santino and you can do at AJ Foyt Racing. You may not have been in the car with the team yet to figure out if both of you are similar in setups or different; how do you anticipate getting along with Santino?

DAVID MALUKAS: Yeah, I’m very excited and interested to see how the setups and things are going to be. We did do some simulator work together, but as of now the driving doesn’t seem too far off.

Of course it’s not going to be until the Sebring test we’ll know the driving styles and how to compare. But talking with the engineers, it seems that we are in some form similar in some ways, especially on the ovals.

I think it’ll be pretty good. I think we’ll be good teammates and definitely be able to pick on each other and be able to do two different setups. I think that’s the main goal is having two drivers with the same driving style so we can use two different setups with the limited practice sessions that we have so we can clear two birds with one stone. I like to put it that way.

Q. I’m just curious on how much time you’ve spent with AJ Foyt and can you talk about what that experience has been like?

DAVID MALUKAS: I mean, it hasn’t been too much. It’s been short. I’ve probably had two conversations with him so far. But each conversation has been amazing.

Obviously for me it was a little bit hard because I’m going into it as, like, it’s AJ and you’re trying to have a normal conversation, but the entire time it’s like I’m talking with AJ, so I’m kind of trying to act normal, act normal, you’re not acting normal, and I think he could sense like what is wrong with this kid, what is he doing. I think he could sense it a little bit.

But he was very chill. It almost felt like we were good friends and he started talking about the stories and the past and the history. To say that he’s had me on the team, that meant a lot, too. Both conversations we’ve had have been great, so I just hope to give him some results in return.

Q. What did you get AJ for his birthday?

DAVID MALUKAS: I don’t know, can we say what we did? Unfortunately we can’t.

Q. An Indy 500 win would be the perfect gift.

DAVID MALUKAS: Yeah, a little bit delayed but I don’t think he would mind. I think he would take it. That would be very cool.

About General Motors

General Motors (NYSE:GM) is driving the future of transportation, leveraging advanced technology to build safer, smarter, and lower emission cars, trucks, and SUVs. GM’s Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, and GMC brands offer a broad portfolio of innovative gasoline-powered vehicles and the industry’s widest range of EVs, as we move to an all-electric future. Learn more at GM.com.

CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES
INDYCAR CONTENT DAYS
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA
PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
JANUARY 14, 2025

ALEXANDER ROSSI, driver of the No. 20 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet, met with the media at the NTT INDYCAR SERIES Content Days in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Press Conference Transcript:

MODERATOR: Switching to the No. 20 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet in 2025, Alexander Rossi, beginning his 10th season in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES. Of course eight-time winner in the series with a bit of a new look team, a lot of changes for Ed Carpenter Racing heading into 2025.

I know you’re ready to get back on the track. You’ve got to wait a couple weeks before you do that, but are you looking forward to getting started?

ALEXANDER ROSSI: For sure. I think the team is changing at a rapid rate, which is pretty exciting to witness and be a part of, and I think that there’s a lot of excitement internally about the things that are going on. It’s certainly a busy time for everyone involved, and I think we’re all still trying to find our place a little bit in somewhat of a totally new organization. But it’s going really well, and experience that I’ve had so far has been nothing short of awesome. Looking forward to getting on track in February at Sebring and then seeing where that takes us for the first week of March.

Q. You did have an opportunity to hop on the Indianapolis oval with the team. Did that help break the ice a little bit as you look into this off-season?

ALEXANDER ROSSI: Yeah, for sure. That was a good one to get under our belt kind of right before the super long break kicked off. The car and team operated at a level that you would expect based on their previous results and past performances at Indianapolis, so that was a pretty seamless day and an exciting day for everyone, to have our new partners in Splenda and Java House on board and represented. As I said, it’s growing and changing every day, so what you saw in October, it’s going to be a very different look come February and March.

Q. What is a successful season for Alexander Rossi this year? What does it look like at the end of the year?

ALEXANDER ROSSI: You know, it’s being in the conversation and having an opportunity to win at Indy, which I think is to be expected of ECR and myself. I don’t really have an expectation quite yet because I haven’t driven the car, so I don’t really know what I don’t know at this point. I’ll be able to answer that question a little bit better after the test in February.

Q. Kind of a related question, this is a very different challenge, a different team dynamic than what you’ve been a part of, I imagine, since you joined INDYCAR, an Andretti team that was used to being at the top of the sport, an Arrow McLaren team that wasn’t quite there but had high aspirations, and now you join ECR where this team has won races, been towards the top of the championship a time or two but maybe haven’t quite been, from a consistent performance standpoint, at a level that you’ve competed at the last couple years. Is this an intriguing, exciting new chapter for you, joining a team that’s a little bit different and trying to maybe take it to a different place than what you’ve been doing the last couple years?

ALEXANDER ROSSI: That’s a good question. I don’t really look at it that way so much as I think if you ask everyone at the organization where they’ve been the past couple years is not where they want to be, where they expect to be, so there was the effort and the search, I guess is the right term maybe, for how do they and we now as an organization change what the past couple of years have been.

This series is so competitive, and there is every year more cars and drivers that are capable of winning. Like what do we need to do from a staffing, investment, procedure, mindset standpoint to bridge the gap and make the step that everyone else is making.

That’s a work in progress. That doesn’t happen overnight. But I certainly think that steps are being made in the right direction, steps that are very cool to see.

I think there’s the potential to surprise a lot of people at points in 2025. Obviously, as I said, nothing happens overnight. We’re not going to go from the results that have existed the past couple of years to all of a sudden winning every race sort of thing, but I do think that everything in this sport is very small margins.

We’ve often talked about this car has been around for so long. It’s not that there’s some magic thing out there. It’s about putting puzzle pieces together correctly and executing efficiently, and that can add up to results pretty quickly.

We have the tools and resources and are gathering the tools and resources that didn’t necessarily exist in the past, and that’s opening doors and opportunities for what should be a step forward for the organization in ’25.

And then obviously to answer the first part of your question, yeah, this is a long-term thing that I’m a part of and something that’s very exciting to be a part of, to contribute to, and to do it alongside someone that I have a very good working and personal relationship with Ed, something that I feel like we as a group, Ed (Carpenter), myself, Christian (Rasmussen), Ted Gelov from Heartland Food Products Group, we can all do as this kind of foursome and push things forward and get the results that we want.

Q. This may be a tough question to answer because you were onboarded at ECR as Ted was coming on, as well. With the influx of support from him and Heartland, as best you know, how much — how big of an improvement can funding and new ideas and a partnership like that bring to this team and what you guys can do in ’25 in the future versus where they have been the last couple years?

ALEXANDER ROSSI: Yeah, it’s a little bit of a hard question. I think that what we’ve seen in this sport and we’ve seen in other championships, funding and money isn’t the solution to everyone’s problems. It certainly gives you the capability to have a better rate of development. It gives you the opportunity to maybe entice people into your organization and that sort of thing.

But it’s still about the people, and I do think that a lot of the main people that have been at ECR — sorry, that are at ECR currently have been there for a very long time.

There’s a lot of loyalty in that organization, and there’s a very close-knit group of individuals that, in their own right and together, are very, very good at what they do. They’ve maybe just not had all of the tools, resources and people to help them deliver the results that they are capable of.

I think number one is people; number two is growing the good people and creating that environment; then number three is having the available funds to go do the projects and build the things that you need to do.

Q. I imagine you may have seen the commercial that FOX put out on Sunday with Josef. A lot has been said and celebrated on that type of marketing and the angle they took in trying to promote Josef and lift the sport up as this new relationship gets going. What were your thoughts on what you saw on Sunday and what you’ve seen over the last couple of months as this momentum has built toward FOX airing INDYCAR for the full season in ’25 and beyond?

ALEXANDER ROSSI: I didn’t know Josef was — I just thought it was a Tom Brady commercial. (Laughter). My guy. No, I thought it was great. I think is a commercial with Josef or a commercial with Pato or Alex going to change the perception of INDYCAR racing? No. Is it a huge step in a direction that we’ve all been looking for in terms of out-of-the-box thinking and cool, trendy marketing and all of the buzz word stuff that you want to be a part of and be doing? Yeah, 100 percent.

So I think this partnership with FOX has been talked about at length in terms of the positivities that it’s going to bring from a TV viewership standpoint, but I think the thing that’s possibly the most impressive/most important in my mind and I think a lot of the drivers’ minds is the kind of push that they’re putting behind it with their other properties, bringing in people like Tom Brady who are FOX employees, pushing it during the biggest sporting weeks of the year in the NFL playoffs and really using their other avenues of promotion to elevate the NTT INDYCAR Series is what we’ve needed and wanted.

Obviously it’s going to take more than a couple commercials, but this is a huge step in the right direction and something that is very, very awesome to be a part of. I don’t think any of us could be more excited and thankful for what they’ve done, and can’t wait to see what they do in the future.

Q. You touched on this, I think when you got here in 2016 you probably didn’t know a lot of people and had to learn three or four different teams when you went to McLaren as far as all those employees. Do you feel you’re maybe a little bit ahead of schedule? You have that test from October, you and Ed are close friends, live down the road, the close-knit community that ECR has. Do you feel like you’re closer to having those results earlier? Sometimes for drivers they go to a new team and it takes a half season or full season to start seeing results. Do you feel like that camaraderie is there because it is such a small group?

ALEXANDER ROSSI: Yeah, I think we have a couple things going for us. Number one, it’s as you mentioned, I’ve known Matt Barnes for a really long time, as well, so having the relationship on the engineering side right out of the box is huge. We already kind of speak the same language in a lot of different ways. But also I think the other big thing is, yes, in 2023 going to Arrow McLaren was a big transition, but the bigger transition was really Honda to Chevy. So being able to stay in the Team Chevy family and not have to go through that driving style transition that I kind of had to do from ’22 to ’23 I think is really the thing that’ll put us on the front foot more than anything else.

Q. Have you set yourself any targets for the upcoming season?

ALEXANDER ROSSI: Probably should. But no. Let me work on that.

Q. 10th season, hard to believe. Now that you evaluate your previous nine, have you accomplished what you’d like to accomplish? I know you’ve won the Indy 500, but I’m sure a championship would be on the line, too. How would you evaluate the first nine years? Just your thoughts on nine years in the series and now you’ve got No. 10 coming this season.

ALEXANDER ROSSI: Yeah, it goes fast. I think that it’s very easy to look back on — I think, any athlete looks back on the missed opportunities more than the success. That’s just the nature of the business. But, you also have to remind yourself that you’re entering 10 years, a decade of driving race cars, and being able to have a pretty good understanding of what my future is going to be for quite some time, it gives you the foundation to really have an unlimited view of what is possible.

I think that there’s certainly challenges ahead. I’ve certainly dealt with my share of challenges the past couple of years. But to be able to do it with ultimately friends is a pretty unique opportunity and one where I think it’s going to be able to push each other forward to go do the things we want to do.

I think there’s a lot of lessons learned. I think there’s some good times. I still lose sleep over the bad times. But it’s all motivation for what we have coming up in the future.

Q. Speaking of lessons learned, it could be nothing, but I noticed you went to a lot of IU football games this year. You’ve got a horse. Is that kind of the underrated story and coming to ECR could be the underrated story. Any lessons learned from watching IU football, seeing that culture, owning a horse?

ALEXANDER ROSSI: Interesting. That’s a very good question. Owning a horse, probably not. I don’t think so.

Motorsports and horse racing are very similar, though. There’s so many variables that exist, right. In racing we all know about you add into that racing plus an animal, there’s obviously a lot you can’t control, but it still takes a team and a common goal and a common culture, which ties in very well to the next part of your question with IU football.

I didn’t really go to traditional college, so my knowledge of college sports was none, and then my friend group got very excited about IU football this year for obvious reasons, so I went to my first two college games this year, and not knowing anything about really IU’s college football past but seeing and understanding what the power of one person can do — we often talk about culture.

We often talk about it’s the people that are the most important element, and all of those things are true, but it really only takes one person to offer a new approach, a new way of thinking, and getting people to buy into that, and you can see the results that come from that.

That’s an inspiration, I think, for anyone that is either an athlete or looking to do something in business or in life, that it just takes one to make a difference.

I’m now a Hoosier fan for, I guess, life because that’s how college football fandom works, and look forward to next year.

Q. Season tickets?

ALEXANDER ROSSI: My buddy already has them, so I think we’re locked in there.

Q. Do you have a sweatshirt?

ALEXANDER ROSSI: I do have a sweatshirt, yeah.

Q. Do you tailgate? What’s the experience?

ALEXANDER ROSSI: So we were supposed to tailgate — the one time I went down to Bloomington, we were going to tailgate and it was the hurricane that ran through Nashville when we were there, had Helene, so we didn’t tailgate, but we still went to the game. Then I went to IU playing Ohio State, and that was really underwhelming because I was sold that that was this amazing magical place, and it’s just fine.

Q. I think a few people have asked this today to various drivers, but I’d like to get your take on the discussion of maybe a new car in 2027 —

ALEXANDER ROSSI: It’s not a maybe, man. It’s happening.

Q. What do you believe are kind of the keys that they kind of need from this new car compared to what there has been for the last however many years?

ALEXANDER ROSSI: I have to weigh my answer to not get in trouble.

Here’s the thing. I’ve actually talked to quite a few people at length about this. There’s some people that have the belief that it needs to be this super futuristic crazy looking ultra modern car. There’s other people that are like, okay, it needs to be this super light, high-horsepower thing that does track records everywhere.

Ultimately what I think needs to be done is we already have, and I don’t think it’s a debate, we already have the best product on track that exists globally, so to reinvent the wheel I don’t think is something that in my mind that needs to be done. I think it needs to be an evolution of the car we’ve had.

Obviously technology has developed, materials has developed. We have added a lot on to the DW12. So integrating all of that is going to have benefits from a cost standpoint, from a safety standpoint, from a workability standpoint for the mechanics to have things that fit and flow and work a bit better together.

But ultimately I don’t think we need to do anything that’s beyond what we already do because I think what we already do is pretty good. It just needs to be an updated version of what we have. So that’s my opinion.

Q. Have you seen the initial plans —

ALEXANDER ROSSI: Yes.

Q. Are you allowed to share any thoughts on that?

ALEXANDER ROSSI: Probably not. You’ve got another 20-odd drivers to ask that question to, so I’m not going to be that guy.

About General Motors

General Motors (NYSE:GM) is driving the future of transportation, leveraging advanced technology to build safer, smarter, and lower emission cars, trucks, and SUVs. GM’s Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, and GMC brands offer a broad portfolio of innovative gasoline-powered vehicles and the industry’s widest range of EVs, as we move to an all-electric future. Learn more at GM.com.

CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES
INDYCAR CONTENT DAYS
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA
PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
JANUARY 14, 2025

PATO O’WARD, driver of the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, met with members of the media at the NTT INDYCAR SERIES Content Days in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Press Conference Transcript:

THE MODERATOR: No better way to kick things off in the NTT INDYCAR Series content days than with Pato O’Ward, back driving the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, beginning his sixth full season in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, seven-time race winner winning three times this past season. Off-season, or non-racing season, because there is no off-season in INDYCAR because we’re always doing something —

PATO O’WARD: Are we, though? I’ve missed INDYCAR. I’ve been craving getting back here.

Q. What’s it been like the last couple months for you?

PATO O’WARD: Happy new year, everybody. Happy to be here. To me, it’s been a lot of traveling. I’ve done a lot of hours from Nashville all the way to like December 20th, I think, was kind of my first day off.

I haven’t had a lot of chance to chill out, but I have some time at the end of the month, which the team has been very courteous and generous in giving me a couple weeks off.

But yeah, I did a lot of traveling with the Formula 1 team, obviously. It was really cool to be part of their Constructors’ Championship and seeing that.

But FP1 in México, it feels like a whole year’s worth happened in three months. But it’s been great. But definitely happy to be back.

Q. (Indiscernible) it seems like they have a partnership with FOX Sports that’s knocking it out of the ballpark. What do you think so far of the marketing effort?

PATO O’WARD: Yeah, I want to publicly state that I think what FOX and INDYCAR are doing is freaking phenomenal. Like the commercial that just came out with Josef I think was so well done. It’s fun. It’s edgy. It’s flirting with that line where people do get engaged and you’re like, hey, this is different.

I have filmed mine. I have not seen it. I don’t know when it’s coming out. But it was — I would say it felt like I was doing a movie shoot. It really felt like the first time I was ever shooting a movie with all these different scenes.

I think it’s going to be a really, really cool commercial. I think you guys are going to enjoy it when you see it. Can’t wait for that.

I’m just excited to see what they come up with during the year. They really seem to be, first of all, on it, and secondly, they know what works, and I think that’s going to be probably one of the best decisions INDYCAR has ever done.

Ever since this news came out, I was really quick to text Bud Denker, and I said, man, this is freaking phenomenal. Congratulations. I think all of Penske Entertainment leadership is super excited to be working with them.

I think their imagination is kind of coming into truth, I would say.

Q. Down the road, a new car is being developed. What can you share with us from what you’ve seen of what that car will look like and what it’ll do?

PATO O’WARD: So I know you love me giving you headlines, but I have not seen anything. I have not talked to anybody about it because I’ve been, well, pretty much overseas a lot of this time.

But I know there’s a dinner somewhat soon or a couple drivers are going to get together with some of the leadership that hasn’t really had a chance to share with them, one of them being me, and I’m assuming I’ll hear more about it.

But I have no idea what it looks like, how heavy it is, how much power it’s going to have. I haven’t seen anything. But I hope that it’s just as good as Jay and everybody tells us.

We want to be low, fat, loud.

Q. I know you’ve had a busy off-season, but I imagine there’s been some reflection that you’ve done on this past INDYCAR season. There’s been a lot of changes at your team, as well. Now that you have some space from it, what do you make of the season that you put together in 2024 at Arrow McLaren?

PATO O’WARD: Inconsistent. I would say performance-wise, good days were great, bad days were horrible. It just seems to be the name of the game for us the last few years because I just don’t think we’re at the level where we need to be yet in terms of reliability. I’ve still made my fair share of mistakes.

There hasn’t been one thing that it’s like, hey, let’s just fix that, and it’s not simple because you go to these places and you’re so on the edge because if you’re not on the edge you’re 20th. Those joker cards, you will have to use them once or twice during the year, but you try and minimize that.

But I just think for us, we’ve had too many of those instances where we’re just throwing away points really. Cleaning that up and making our bad days better will have a significant impact in how we’re looking at the end of the season really.

Q. I know easier said than done, but as you look at it, is there anything that has led to that inconsistency, or is there something that you feel like you or the team is targeting to try and minimize that that is actionable in 2025?

PATO O’WARD: I mean, first off, development in the performance of the race car. I do think now that there wasn’t a lot of hybrid testing we’ve actually had a chance to hopefully find some good things to improve in the areas where we’re lacking the most in terms of circuits or whatever.

You can’t always — a season will always have its challenges. It’s never going to be perfect. It’s not going to be how you always want it to be. But you have to be as close to perfect as you can if you want to be a champion. You have to be close to perfect in an Indy 500 in order to win that race.

All it takes is just make sure that you’re well-prepared for the challenges that are coming ahead, because if you go into it being, I just want a chill season, that’s probably going to be a boring and slow season for you.

When you’re fighting at the top, there’s always going to be drama. There’s always going to be different highs and lows of emotions because that’s ultimately what makes it so special and entertaining for other people, as well.

I just think we need to be ready for that, and taking a page out of Andrea’s book, when you think about it, I think it’s such a privilege to be in such a high-pressure situation because that means you’re doing something well, and that’s what we’re going to try and do.

Q. Big changes within the team; Gavin Ward leaving as the leader of the INDYCAR program and Tony Kanaan stepping up to take on that role. You’ve worked with Tony for a couple years. What are your thoughts on Gavin’s exit and Tony stepping up to take over the team principal role for 2025?

PATO O’WARD: My job is to drive a race car and try and kind of help lead the team in terms of where we need to go. Engineering-wise and what we need.

But I think Tony is as qualified as anybody to be leading this group of people that — yes, he was a racing driver and he still says he’s a racing driver, but I’d call him retired. He is and has knowledge, experience of everything. He can dip his toes into marketing and communications. He can dip his toes with all the partners. He can dip his toes with his opinions with the drivers, especially with Nolan, that he’s coming into the team.

I know he did a couple races last year, but I think he will be a very good mentor for him, as I’m trying to be. It seems kind of weird, I’ve always been the baby of the team but now I’m the old guy. I want them to succeed, as well, because them succeeding means that — I know that’s just going to drive me forward and make me better, and when we’ve got two or three cars fighting, it’s very different to having one car fighting at the front, and ultimately that’s what you need in order to keep up with three strong cars.

But easier said than done. But I trust the decisions that have been made, and I told Zak I’m completely behind everything that has been done, and I’m always up to take on something else if there is an area that needs a little bit of attention and help.

Q. What’s that been like through the off-season? We saw a lot of cool social videos with you and Christian and Nolan and that camaraderie through the off-season; how important is that now that you are the senior driver on this team?

PATO O’WARD: Yeah, I definitely don’t feel like the — I would say I don’t feel like the senior of the team, but it’s a different role, I would say, because I’ve always had guys with quite a lot more experience than me.

But it’s called moving with time. That happens. I’m 25. I’m going to turn 26 this year. That’s just something that I’m going to have to accept as time goes on.

But that just means you’ve got more knowledge in your memory bank that you can go back on and use to your advantage whenever you need it during the championship and during the season.

But yeah, I think we’re going to have a good thing going, and it’s all about just working well because I’ve worked really well with all my past teammates, so my focus is just making sure that we can all kind of find what each of us likes in a way but also find where we can all kind of come together and create a package that is going to be strong, especially at these big events like the 500 and stuff like that. We need that.

Q. Obviously you’ve got Christian Lundgaard joining the team this year. What do you think he’ll bring to the team in terms of his experience?

PATO O’WARD: I mean, he’ll bring knowledge that he learned over at Rahal. I haven’t been so attentive, I would say, with the off-season because there really hasn’t been a lot of testing. I think there’s only been like one oval test that he did, which obviously very different car for him and stuff. But I haven’t really kind of dug into it too much until we kind of really start going and start working together.

But I’m an open book. He will be able to see what I do and Nolan does. We’ll be able to see what he does. I think it’s important that — different to, for example, to Formula 1, in INDYCAR you can cater to your liking a little bit more in terms of car setup and stuff.

I’ve always been on my own island. Everybody whines about how I like my car. I’ve always kind of been a loner in terms of where I like my things. I’m curious to see if he likes it, if he doesn’t like it.

But yeah, just seeing how everything kind of usually falls in INDYCAR, he’ll probably have his own kind of direction, and what’s most important is just making sure that all three cars are fast because a lot of times we’re each in kind of our own island and we all have the same issue, and you know there’s a fundamental thing there rather than actual setup.

Q. Obviously sounds like we’re moving towards a race in México at some point. How huge would that be for you, and what kind of response will the Mexican fans have?

PATO O’WARD: Ooh, man, people are going to be pumped. I’m going to be pumped. I hope all of you are going to be pumped. It’s going to be a great event. It’s going to be the best event on the calendar outside of the Indy 500.

I know there’s talks going on. I know it’s quite more advanced than what it’s ever been. Yeah, I really hope we see it on the calendar in ’26.

Q. Have you been pretty involved in it?

PATO O’WARD: I will be very involved, and I want to be very involved. I want to make sure it’s a success. I want to finish that weekend and be like, wow. I wanted to say something else, but not this early in the morning.

It’s the perfect market for INDYCAR to go and just really experience what that aficionado, that fan can bring to the table because it’s such a special group of people, such a special community that really embraces not just INDYCAR back in the day but Formula 1. Anybody that’s there they always make them feel so welcomed and special, and I know they’re going to do just that for us.

Q. Speaking of México, last year at this content days, you had mentioned you took three weeks or a month to decompress and download. Did you get a chance to do that this off-season?

PATO O’WARD: No, I haven’t had the chance to do that. I will at the end of this month. Last week of January and first week of February is kind of my — going to have my off-season, which is less than maybe some other years than I’ve had in the past. But I had a lot of time, or at least it feels like it because I had nothing in the off-season before December.

So in the new year, I really enjoyed that, and I came to Indy a little bit earlier than what I have in the past and just have really enjoyed being here. I love being here. I really, really missed it. It’s been very recharging, I would say, but there’s still some to go.

But I’ve got enough to give all of you this amazing energy that I’ve brought this morning (laughter), and yeah, ready for a full week’s worth of media for us.

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