2024 title contender Will Power is entering his 21st IndyCar season. The Penske driver opened up to Pit Debrief and other media outlets on his emotions and where he stands ahead of the 2025 season.
“The expectations? Yeah, based on the performance the second half, really most of the season last year we were very strong. A very disappointing end, obviously, there to drop back a couple in the championship standings.”
An unfortunate end to his title charge last year
In fact, Power had entered the 2024 final round in second place behind eventual championship winner Alex Palou, only for him to pit for a seat belt issue in Nashville, resuming several laps behind and dropping to fourth in the final drivers’ standings.
All the trouble has only left the Australian wanting more in the new season, set to begin in March at St. Petersburg.
“Yeah, very determined to come back and have a strong 2025. I think we’ll have the car, engine package to do it, and I think Penske is in a very good spot right now.
“Obviously everyone goes back and works on their stuff. I’m sure Honda has gone away and worked, and Chevy has also, and other teams.”
A stronger IndyCar grid for 2025
However, Power reckons that it’ll be an ever tougher season compared to 2024, as all the teams gain more experience on the new hybrid technology introduced during the past season.
Andretti made progress last year as Colton Herta kept himself in the mix throughout the campaign. Pato O’Ward is always there for Arrow McLaren as well.
“Obviously Colton seemed very strong last year. I think Andretti will be strong. I think McLaren will be strong. They’ve got Lundgaard there now with Pato, so that’s two very strong guys as well. It will be a tough year, as it is, and that’s why I enjoy it. I love that stuff.
The 43-year-old is among the most experienced drivers in the field alongside six times champion Scott Dixon. Asked about his feelings on the matter, Power highlighted the adrenaline and the joy he still takes out of his job.
“It’s not just — so about being impressive, it’s like necessary. You’re certainly not sticking around if you’re not doing that. You’d better turn up or else it’s over. That’s just the way it is. But I love it. I love the competition, I love the preparation, I love finding new little details and things to be better every year.”
Experience makes everything better
In spite of the years passing by, he still feels at his prime and able to perform at the highest levels, combining the deep knowledge of the series and its technicalities with the raw speed and talent the two-time champion has always had.
“Yeah, it’s kind of funny you get to this point in your career and I feel you’re at your absolute best as far as putting a whole series together, weekend together, races together. You kind of have the same speed that you had but you don’t really build on speed.
“I think it’s just a natural thing that you have. But the whole other package takes a long time to get unless you’re Palou, like some of those guys that just mature and they work that out very early.
Starting ahead is often great
The best qualifier in the history of IndyCar with 70 pole positions, Power did not manage to secure any P1 awards in 2024 despite contending for the championship. IndyCar is incredibly close these days, as Santino Ferrucci’s pole in Portland proved.
The Australian recognises the importance of a good starting position and the value it carries over to the entire length of the race on street and road courses, although it was a different story on ovals.
“Yeah, I think you put yourself in a great position if you win poles. You qualify in the top 6, you put yourself in a really good position. I wasn’t heavily focused on that. I really wasn’t.
“In some respects I didn’t want to get poles on ovals because I think it kind of in some ways hurts you a little bit at times, just being out front in nice clean air. Car feels great, then you get put back and it takes you another sort of stint to get your head around a car in dirty air. So there’s some good and bad in that.
“But for sure on road courses qualifying at the very front is a big deal, which I was sort of getting more top 6s than ’23. It’s hard to get poles these days. It really is. No one is like pumping out multi-poles in a year anymore. It’s very difficult.”
Pole master on the importance of starting up front at certain venues
Power’s driving style and racing mentality approach has evolved over the span of the seasons, including 2024.
“Very race focused. I have been more recently. But yeah, you can’t — like I said, you can say all these things, but you cannot leave anything on the table in this series anymore. There’s no place where you can go, well, ‘be a bit conservative here’; those positions will be filled anytime you are basically.
Power is the only driver since 2021 to have won a championship other than three-time winner Palou.
Asked on what differences him from the others and how has he achieved such a feat, the Penske driver brought up the hardships of balancing his natural aggressiveness on track with the more conservative approach who has led him to many successes during his career.
“It’s that sweet spot of a balance. Definitely when I look at some of those moves, when I think about Toronto [the contact with McLaughlin], that was just worth sitting there. There’s no question in my mind.
“The thing that sort of suckered me into doing something like that is I had done that move multiple times even in that race because people have to brake a bit early and you’re kind of put in a position where they have to lift out.”
Balance is essential to be successful
Chip Ganassi Racing looked a touch behind Penske on raw pace as the season went on. However, mistakes from McLaughlin and Power, combined with Palou’s consistency, meant the Spaniard came out on top.
“But that’s that sweet spot where you’re sitting in fifth and Palou is behind you at that point, you should be sitting there. That was a mistake. They’re the things that you’ve got to weigh up. It’s just walking that tightrope perfectly.”
However, speed and controlled aggression are also requirements in order to be able to perform at high levels and achieve podiums and wins.
“I think if you’re too conservative in this current field you won’t get the performance you need to get the points. The field is too stacked. There will be too many people filling those gaps where you’ve just sort of let off a little bit. It’s become harder to put that together.
“But yeah, I would say for our speed in the second half or the last quarter of the season, we had the potential to win like three more races or something, and it just didn’t happen.
“I would say Palou didn’t have the outright speed and performance that those guys were sort of a little bit on the back foot, and it was sort of there for us as a team for the taking. We didn’t do it, and the team provided everything we needed to do that, and it didn’t happen.
“So yeah, certainly reflecting on that stuff,” Power concluded taking notes on what to avoid in his next title challenge.
