Meet the 2025 IndyCar Grid | FanAmp Fast Lane

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Pato O’Ward

Arrow McLaren

What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever received? Who gave it to you?

“The best investment you’ll ever make will be you” - Pato’s Father

My dad goes to every race. Every. Single. One. He’s never missed one in my career ever. From go-karts up until now.

What has been the biggest challenge you’ve faced during your IndyCar career other than racing?

I feel like IndyCar has the ability… we call it the IndyCar reality check. Sometimes you arrive, you're like, “wow, I'm very competitive. I'm doing really well”.

Then you go to the next race and you're like, “oh shit, what happened?”

You're racing against guys that are very good, and they've been here for a long time.

Kaitlin - You’re also very good.

We try.

Most of the season is back to back race weekends - what are you doing on Monday after a race weekend to reset for the next race?

I'm going to be with family. I'll be in Texas after this weekend because it's my mother's birthday, so I'll be spending that with her there with my dad and sister. I think we've got some testing in between St. Pete and Thermal.

I just spend time with my family or relaxing wherever I am.

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Nolan Siegel

Arrow McLaren

What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever received? Who gave it to you?

“Only take criticism from people that you would take advice from.” -My manager, Charles Cruz

What has been the biggest challenge you’ve faced during your IndyCar career other than racing?

In the off season I got my pilot's license, so that was a challenge that I set for myself. That was a fun little thing to. I was studying and working on that apart from racing.

Most of the season is back to back race weekends - what are you doing on Monday after a race weekend to reset for the next race?

Starfish in bed. Nothing. Like as LITTLE as possible.

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Christian Lundgaard

Arrow McLaren

What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever received? Who gave it to you?

"Hard work beats talent and talent doesn't work hard.” -Christian’s Father

What has been the biggest challenge you’ve faced during your IndyCar career other than racing?

I think being competitive every single race because it's such a competitive racing series and you have to be very complete overall.

Most of the season is back to back race weekends - what are you doing on Monday after a race weekend to reset for the next race?

I play golf and hang out.

Kaitlin - Are you good, or is it just for fun?

Getting there. I dropped my handicap by 18 last year, so I’m down to a 10, but I’m not sure many people will understand that. My ultimate goal is to beat my dad. I’m still a bit away from that.

Kaitlin - Is your dad very good?

He has 15 years on me with golf, so I’ll get there eventually. It’s good that a lot of drivers play as well, so we can play together. That’s what I like about IndyCar. We compete on Sundays and then we go out on a random Wednesday and play golf together. It’s always nice.

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Marcus Ericsson

Andretti

What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever received? Who gave it to you?

“There’s no such thing as bad luck. The harder you work, the more luck you get”. -A Swedish Downhill Skier from Ingmar. He skied in the 1980s and was one of the most successful from Sweden.

He had this cool mantra that was like, “I never have bad luck”.

What has been the biggest challenge you’ve faced during your IndyCar career other than racing?

I think for me, living in a different country is always a challenge. I think that side of things, being away from family and friends, is the biggest challenge.

Most of the season is back to back race weekends - what are you doing on Monday after a race weekend to reset for the next race?

Mondays, I'm always super low energy. It is almost like having a hangover after the weekend. I always try to just chill, and take it very easy on the Monday. Then, Tuesday, you ramp up for the next race, but Mondays is always super chill for me.

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Callum Ilott

Prema Racing

What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever received? Who gave it to you?

“Stay calm. Keep calm and carry on.” - As they say in London… so the London Underground

What has been the biggest challenge you’ve faced during your career other than racing, especially coming back to IndyCar after a year in WEC?

I'd say traveling and time management. It's actually a lot tougher than people expect. It’s not really THAT BAD -  we have it quite easy in a lot of ways, but in other ways you can have 36 hour days and stuff like that. Managing yourself and not overdoing it is so important. There are a few of us who go from one side of the world to another for race weekends (not in IndyCar). From there its another test, another simulator - so just not overdoing it.

Most of the season is back to back race weekends - what are you doing on Monday after a race weekend to reset for the next race?

I think for this one we’re going fishing in the morning…

Kaitlin - Ok, but you’re not going fishing after every race.

At the moment, in my schedule, it’s gym at 11 AM… before that a nice breakfast.

Kaitlin - What’s for breakfast?

Have to have a cappuccino and lots of water. Could be a yogurt. Could be a chocolate croissant.

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Marcus Armstrong

Meyer Shank Racing

What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever received? Who gave it to you?

This may be recency bias but, “eat loads of protein”. -“Mumsy, Mama Bear, Mummy”

What has been the biggest challenge you’ve faced during your IndyCar career other than racing?

Perhaps it's the ordering water on a plane.

For whatever reason people don't understand my accent. It's not that bad, but I suppose with the ambient noise or something - I ask for a water and they're like, “what?" So I have to say, “I want a WAHTER”.

Most of the season is back to back race weekends - what are you doing on Monday after a race weekend to reset for the next race?

It sounds very generic, racing driver, blah, blah… but I am normally in the gym on a Monday morning. It’s like therapy to me. I also enjoy having a nice bath and sauna’ing. It’s an acquired taste for sure.

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Scott McLaughlin

Team Penske

What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever received? Who gave it to you?

“There's no finish line to perfection.” - Scotty’s Father

What has been the biggest challenge you’ve faced during your IndyCar career other than racing?

Being a dad for the first time! That’s been pretty exciting. It’s character building - you’re learning what it’s like being a dad AND enjoying it.

Kaitlin - I’m assuming you ARE enjoying it because you’re beaming right now.

I am. I love her.

Most of the season is back to back race weekends - what are you doing on Monday after a race weekend to reset for the next race?

It has definitely changed. I'm going to go play golf. That has not changed. I'll hang out with Lucy in the morning and then I'll go play golf in the afternoon.

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Will Power

Team Penske

What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever received? Who gave it to you?

You interact with so many people, and I like to take a little bit of something from everyone. I can't actually even put my finger on a piece of advice. You just learn from every encounter with people every day. That's why by the time you get in your forties, you’re so perceptive.

What has been the biggest challenge you’ve faced during your IndyCar career other than racing?

The danger of the sport. I’ve been seriously injured before and had some pretty nasty wrecks.

Also, being on the road. You have a family, but you're on the road a lot. At a certain point, you also think about having a normal life where you're just at home. My personality might not like that, I’d want to find something else.

Most of the season is back to back race weekends - what are you doing on Monday after a race weekend to reset for the next race?

I’m just sitting on the couch. It’s the one time that you actually don’t feel guilty watching Netflix or YouTube.

I also like getting the sauna. You've gotten sauna from a few people, I'm sure. So sauna, ice bath, those are great. I just left my ice bath and it's full of dirty water, to be honest. I've never used it. I bought this thing and left it.

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Alexander Rossi

Ed Carpenter Racing

What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever received? Who gave it to you?

“You can do anything that you want if you work hard enough”- Rossi’s Father

What has been the biggest challenge you’ve faced during your IndyCar career other than racing?

Media. I’m so sorry.

Most of the season is back to back race weekends - what are you doing on Monday after a race weekend to reset for the next race?

I’m going out on the bike and just chilling for a couple of hours… because of the schedule; because of the ‘back-to-backness’, it’s hard to keep the training level where it needs to be and incorporate recovery into that.

So, just a nice ride outside in the good weather.

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Louis Foster

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever received? Who gave it to you?

“Soak it in” -An old friend

I fall victim to sometimes not taking a breath and enjoying the moment.

What has been the biggest challenge you’ve faced during your IndyNXT career, now being an IndyCar rookie, other than racing?

Ohhhh… racing is basically all you do.

** He proceeded to ponder this question for well over 2 minutes.***

No answer was ultimately given - we’ll circle back on this one, Louis!

Most of the season is back to back race weekends - what are you doing on Monday after a race weekend to reset for the next race?

Cold plunge helps with recovery. That's nice. Then honestly, probably stay home and play some video games. I just hibernate for a day. It's quite nice after a weekend of so much entertainment to go home and just chill.

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Rinus Veekay

Dale Coyne Racing

What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever received? Who gave it to you?

“Finish every f*cking race.” -My manager, Fefr

It has helped me a lot throughout the season. In your head, you just know that you have to finish and get some points for finishing.

What has been the biggest challenge you’ve faced during your IndyCar career other than racing?

I actually think that this off season was tough. Having no seat and working on getting that final IndyCar seat with Dale Coyne Racing just 2 weeks prior to season starting. I know all of my friends were very excited when I was in. I was just very happy to have it done.

Most of the season is back to back race weekends - what are you doing on Monday after a race weekend to reset for the next race?

I mean it's always great weather during the season because it's always summer or spring, so I like to play golf. Sometimes with other drivers.

Other times, I’ll have a slow day. I’ll just do anything but racing to get my mind off of it. Absolutely no racing.

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Santino Ferucci

AJ Foyt Racing

What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever received? Who gave it to you?

“Control what you can control.” -Someone a very long time ago when I was a kid racing in Europe. His name was Adrian.

Author’s note: As an F1 fan, who knows of Santino’s racing history, conclusions can be drawn that this advice is from THE Adrian Newey.

What has been the biggest challenge you’ve faced during your IndyCar career other than racing?

The bigger challenge is learning how to control emotions. It’s very tough - being in sport - you can be very hot headed. Obviously, it has its up’s and down’s but ESPECIALLY out of the car.

Most of the season is back to back race weekends - what are you doing on Monday after a race weekend to reset for the next race?

I am driving across the country all the time. So, my unwinding will be me, the three dogs, driving to the next event on the open road

Kaitlin - What are your dogs' names?

I have Lenny after Lenny Kravitz. Kodak after Kodak Black (or Kodak Cameras). Cleo after Cleopatra.

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Sting Ray Robb

Juncos Hollinger Racing

What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever received? Who gave it to you?

“Nothing good happens after midnight, so you better be home.” -Sting Ray’s mother

What has been the biggest challenge you’ve faced during your IndyCar career other than racing?

There's a lot of criticism when you're at the top level motorsports and a lot of competition that you have to deal with, as well. I think, for me, it's just learning to stay in my own little bubble a little bit and not listen to the critics because everyone has something to say. I don't really have to listen to them.

I have to focus on people around me and what my job is.

Most of the season is back to back race weekends - what are you doing on Monday after a race weekend to reset for the next race?

Most of the time, I go home. Then, I make dinner with my wife and play some pickleball.

Kaitlin - Are you good at pickleball or do you just enjoy it?

No, I'm a race car driver for a reason. Not a pro pickleball player.

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