INDYCAR MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 12, 2023

Will Power

Press Conference

Q. You've been a veteran of hybrid testing. A lot of miles at Sebring. You probably have as much experience at this thing as possible. How does it feel here?

WILL POWER: I've not had that many laps here. That's what really matters, is the regen-ing and the draft from all the cars. We'll see that.

I can't see there will be any issues. I mean, it's pretty straightforward. You pull the paddle, you press a button.

Q. But it's one more tool you have to manage inside the cockpit.

WILL POWER: I have to say, like, in qualifying, you're going to be pretty busy on that first lap. Pretty sure you regen on that lap, decide when you deploy. Between that, the weight jacker, switching the fuel slot, and the bars, yeah, pretty busy qualifying.

Q. Between the extra horsepower, the added weight, several drivers have said it does not equate into more speed.

WILL POWER: No, not this year, not next year it won't. It's got more capability, but I think reliability comes first. Creep up on the amount of power that we use and deploy.

Q. Maybe this is something you're still working through, but right now do you know what the longest (indiscernible) deploy of that extra horsepower is, if that's a constant thing or something that's fluctuating?

WILL POWER: You can play with that a lot actually. You can have a lot of power for a short time or you can spread that out. I think on road and street courses, you pretty much get all the way through fifth gear, which is a key area of getting power for lap time.

Yeah, that's all stuff you can really play with a lot. The series can, yeah. Just depends how much they want to utilize it.

Q. Push to pass, if I'm right, the previous system, was 100% for however many seconds you wanted.

WILL POWER: Yeah.

Q. This will be more personalized?

WILL POWER: Yeah, yeah. You'll still have push to pass as it was. Yeah, it won't be any different. You'll still have that button. This thing is just adding more power. I'm hoping that it's used out of every single corner on a road and street course just for more horsepower.

Q. How many times a lap here do you think you'll be regenerating?

WILL POWER: Yeah, well, as soon as you're in the draft of someone, you're going to be regenerating. Then you're going to be trying to time that deploy of what you want to pass. Maybe you're not going to get him and switch off and regen again, wait for a better run.

I think that will be really based on how you're running. Yeah, I think you'll try to keep that tank full. Instead of hitting the limiter or lifting, you'll grab the paddle to regen. Yeah, it will just be a constant changing thing.

Q. When you lift or when you regenerate, will it take some touch? I don't want to do it too much, I'll lose the draft. Is that something where it's important?

WILL POWER: Yeah, I think you'll have to judge your draft. Like, that will just be as if you were lifting. I mean, it's always different, depending on where you are, how the car is struggling in front, is it not, trying to hang on to the pack. There's so many variables that go on when you're out there.

Q. As a driver, do you like that?

WILL POWER: Oh, yeah, we'll see when we run. It's, yeah, part of the game, another tool that you've got to be good at, pretty smart with the way you use it.

Q. The idea of how do you do a lot of this testing for Chevy is because of two systems available. All that information is being sent out to all the Chevy teams. You being able to use this and run lap after lap this last month or so, do you feel inherently by having more days in the car, you will have an advantage having more time using the system in the early days?

WILL POWER: I think the way they're going to use it on road and street courses, it's not going to matter. The auto regen, won't have too much interaction with the driver. To me, it's a good thing.

I think, yeah, they're still playing with the rules, because you may have it where you have auto regen and deploy, but you also have the ability to pull the paddle. Instead of getting into the hard limiter in top gear, you use that as a regen tool.

Yeah, it's still a lot of stuff to go through. Yeah, I mean, I have had a lot of miles in that thing. I think if you're having to pull that paddle, it would be an advantage because that is quite awkward on a road course to be grabbing that, hitting it every time out of a corner.

I don't think that will be the case. The last test we weren't doing that. It was auto everything. I think they're still kind of trying to understand how best to use it, which I think the best way to use it is to get the most out of it for lap time, which is using it as much as we can.

At first, it's going to be reliability.

Q. (Indiscernible).

WILL POWER: Well, I did a couple days here, too. I've done quite a bit. I mean, honestly, my teammates have not wanted to do it. They are doing Petit Le Mans, that's why they're not here. They've had conflicts. Yeah, I've been getting a lot of the days. They've got some days coming up here, yeah.