NTT INDYCAR SERIES NEWS CONFERENCE

January 27, 2026

Felix Rosenqvist

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Felix, how is your day going so far?

FELIX ROSENQVIST: Been very good. A lot of reading. I'm sharpening up my English skills. Talking Swedish all winter. This is the first day back in the game.

THE MODERATOR: Looking forward to getting back on track? Test coming up next month.

FELIX ROSENQVIST: It's going to be nice to be back in the car. No Daytona this year. It's been a long winter. But we've been busy. Me and my wife expecting a kid, so that's new. We just moved. Yeah, it's been busy doing other things outside of racing, which is good, because at least you're not just sitting and waiting to drive. I'm very excited.

THE MODERATOR: Have you thought much about goals for 2026?

FELIX ROSENQVIST: I mean, I feel like we're speaking on my own behalf and the team. I think we're raising the bar, for sure. Last year was the best year I've had. Also for the team. But we also look back at the accept and we think there's low-hanging fruit to sharpen up and come back even stronger, which is exciting. It's not like we're all celebrating.

Obviously, we did. We did have a great season last year. We're not like, how do you say, walking away from it like, Oh, we did it. We know there's more we can do.

The field is getting tighter. Last year with this regulation, which is going to make for a tight field. Everyone is just going to get better. So are we planning to do.

THE MODERATOR: Open it up for questions.

Q. You've had some good teammates throughout your career in INDYCAR. Really seems like you and Marcus match very well. How important is that? It really has helped elevate the entire Meyer Shank team.

FELIX ROSENQVIST: Yeah, it's always a bonus, right, when you have a teammate you get along with. I've been with quite a few at this point. Some exceptional ones. I feel like you don't really have room to have too much ego between teammates, even if you're obviously competing.

Especially when you're only two cars, you don't have the room to have the ego come between what is the ultimate goal, which is to put both cars in a situation where any of them could win a race.

There's been times where we help each other out on track. We try to play nice with each other, be smart, but still push each other really hard.

Yeah, Marcus is a fun guy to hang out with, as well. Yeah, certainly not a dull moment with him around, which I appreciate as well. We are not, like, hanging out every day outside the track. When we're at the track, like, we have a good time together, which is super important. The team atmosphere has been super good, to be honest.

Q. As far as the way the season shapes up, obviously Alex Palou is the guy everyone is chasing. There's no simple answer to it. How does the series catch up to Alex?

FELIX ROSENQVIST: You just got to try to reel him in in every area possible. He was definitely a step ahead of everyone last year. I feel like it was a clear kind of trend in the field where a lot of drivers had two or maybe three really poor weekends that kind of put them behind Alex or behind contention of winning the title.

Pato was maybe a little bit of a bridge between that and the rest of the field. Yeah, I think everyone's just realized that the bar has raised even one step higher. It's not like one massive thing either. I think all of us have been analyzing a lot. It's not like there's one big area where you can just like, Oh, there it is. It's just all the little things, right? Like always in racing.

You just got to come back stronger. Yeah, we'll try to get him.

Q. Last year seemed like you were having a little bit more fun. There's been some frustrating years in your career. Do you feel like you're having a little bit more fun last year and that ultimately led to the much more consistent finish?

FELIX ROSENQVIST: It was a really fun season, with all the different bands on my car, bands that I really like as well. It's definitely a luxury when you can do that. Having fun with it, as well. All of those artists that came out to support us, like Creed, for example, those guys were amazing. They were there for the whole week; had their families there.

Yeah, it makes it more fun. Also as I'm getting further into my INDYCAR career, you learn to relax a little bit. Especially since I came to Meyer Shank Racing, it's been a feeling of being in a family, pushing for the same goal.

We've been going on a very good trajectory. Finished 12th in my first season, now 6th. Me, Mike and Jim talked about it. As I say, we're not just complacent. We want to take it to the next level this year and push it a little harder. Specifically we want to win a race.

I think that's the one thing that there's a lot of hunger to get back in Victory Lane.

Q. What driver in the paddock are you not going to go to for fatherly advice?

FELIX ROSENQVIST: Maybe Helio (smiling).

Q. He has the most experience.

FELIX ROSENQVIST: That probably makes it even harder when you get older.

I mean, Alex seems to be nailing it, though, I have to say. Everyone thought he was going to get slower. Maybe that was the key, to be honest. You ask me before, how do we beat Alex. Pop out the kid and there you go (smiling).

There's actually a lot of dads in INDYCAR. If you compare to F1, there's only one or two. Yeah, I'll definitely fish around for some advice.

Q. Due date?

FELIX ROSENQVIST: 14th of May (smiling). Fast Thursday.

THE MODERATOR: You may or may not be there for that day.

FELIX ROSENQVIST: I may or may not be there. At least we're at home, which is nice. I'm not in Portland (smiling).

THE MODERATOR: Montoya always said it costs you 2/10ths when you become a dad.

FELIX ROSENQVIST: He was wrong.

Q. This new independent officiating board, what are your thoughts on it going into the season?

FELIX ROSENQVIST: I think it's good to put some distance between Penske and the series. I think they've been doing a good job. With the situation, you need to create like a barrier between the two. I think they're doing the right thing. It's probably going to turn out to be, yeah, a good product, as we've had.

You can sort of defend that fact more that Penske is running the series, which has been a big topic. I'd rather go on Twitter reading about great racing been reading about Penske this, Penske that. I think it's good.

Q. A couple podiums last year. Knocking on the door of some race wins. What does it have to take in the late-race execution?

FELIX ROSENQVIST: Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of areas. You can always improve. I think qualifying in the end of the year was pretty good. The ovals were hit or miss. I'd say especially the short ovals, we had some really good ones and some where I definitely wasn't happy. I think that's sort of the most low-hanging fruit.

I think honestly strategy was pretty good last year. We didn't have any breakdowns, as well, which was probably the highest on our priority list to not have a DNF because of a mechanical failure.

But yeah, there's always details in the background that's going on that we're working on. Pit stops is one area that we really, really worked hard on. I know there's been some really promising results back at the shop.

Yeah, we just keep always digging away. I think the moment you just hope that things will get better, you get eliminated pretty quickly from INDYCAR. You just got to keep working on everything.

Q. You mentioned the time away from the car. Something you did last year, the Rolex, you didn't do this year. Why didn't you do the Rolex this year?

FELIX ROSENQVIST: I didn't have a chance to do it with MSR. I wasn't really able to find a seat that I thought was good enough, to be frank, in order to do it. I did it with Shank last year. I thought it was good to do it with a pro, pro, pro lineup. There just wasn't really anything out there.

Q. To be out of the cockpit that long, it's kind of you're used to it now, how do you keep in race shape to perform when we get to St. Pete?

FELIX ROSENQVIST: I mean, physical training, which has been really good for me this year. Working on your physical fitness. Simulator. Spending probably seven to 10 days in the simulator in the off-season, which are big, long days. It's not the same, but it gives you something.

Otherwise you have to be creative. You have to do like Marcus, go to Italy and run a go-kart championship. Yeah, I haven't really been in a car. I'm not super worried about it. I feel like it's good to get laps, but also those laps will always be very different from an INDYCAR anyways. Once you kind of get going in INDYCAR, it gets busy. You get into it quick.

I think the important thing is to have your mind in it in the off-season and think about what you want to improve, think about driving even when you're out of the car. I think that's the bigger key than actually doing the miles.

Q. When you look at where the team was when you joined two years ago, can you describe the journey that you've been on, the evolution that you've seen from within the team.

FELIX ROSENQVIST: It's been a cool journey. When I jumped on board, we all looked up. We said we just want to get better. We want to win. We want to do a lot of things, right? It's easier said than done.

It's been a good momentum. You have that feeling when you go to the shop that we're on a mission. You can all probably relate when you've been part of an organization or a team that everyone's kind of pulling the same direction. It's hard to describe. But when you have it, it's a really cool thing.

It's been the same in other areas of the team, as well, with the IMSA program, just a future outlook for the team, ever-evolving and getting brighter, I'd say.

Yeah, super cool to be part of it. I really, as I said before, I think it's truly become a family to me. We're all sort of speaking the same language in terms of what we want and what we expect out of ourselves.

Q. Maybe more so than previously in your career, it's been a leadership role for you. How has that helped you evolve as a driver?

FELIX ROSENQVIST: Yeah, I mean, yes and no. I think we always talk about leadership. In the end of the day, there's a hundred people or so working in the team. We all need to work together. That's the most important thing.

I think when Mike called me back in 2023, the thing that he needed was speed, right? He wanted to bring speed into the team, to be able to be up front in the field again. We achieved that. I think with that came trust from the team to me. When I say something, I feel like they trust me and they're on board, both when it comes to general direction and also car, setup and so on.

Again, it's teamwork end of the day. It's more important that everyone just works together, I think, and also with me and Marcus, I think that's been a key, as well.

Q. What is one feeling that you're particularly looking out for in the car to know when you've reached the limit?

FELIX ROSENQVIST: I mean, I feel like you have to go over the limit a lot of times to actually reach the limit (smiling).

These cars have become so incredibly tough to drive, I think we've all noticed that the trend from the previous years is that you have to drive the car in an area where it's very uncomfortable. So in a way, yes, you almost have to drive over the limit to be where you want to be.

So yeah, I think you just always try to push yourself as hard as possible, but what you're comfortable with. That's essentially your limit of how fast you can go. It's not really complicated than that. Obviously there's a lot of other moving parts that need to work. But yeah, just need to be comfortable with uncomfortability.

Q. What was your biggest takeaway point from last year? How are you going to use that to shape your 2026 season?

FELIX ROSENQVIST: I think a big takeaway was just that all these big teams, drivers, some of the absolute best in the world, everyone is making a lot of mistakes. We talk about this here every year. Alex was definitely, that was something different, something game-changing. I feel like that was the biggest takeaway from the year. We all have to learn from him.

I think what was required to win five years ago has changed, where you can just kind of finish every race in the top 10, top 6, and that would put you in contention. Now you actually have to be on the podium almost every race to challenge for the win.

That's a new thing. We all aspire to win. As I said before, we're not happy with being P6 or whatever. That's something we learned from a lot.

Q. There are two new tracks and a returning track. Out of those three, Phoenix, Arlington, Markham, which are you most looking forward to this year?

FELIX ROSENQVIST: I think Arlington looks like a cool event, one that we talked about a lot in the off-season. I think it's always fun as well when it comes to a new street track because it becomes a bit of a puzzle to figure the track out in the beginning.

The first two practices become really important for teams and drivers, just kind of getting comfortable.

There might be some tricks, funny lines and stuff that will make a difference to be up front. But yeah, the event itself looks really cool. So does all the others. I hear we're getting new tarmac, which is lovely to hear as a driver.

Q. Obviously last year you had the technical partnership with Chip Ganassi Racing. What do you think you took away from that going into this season? Is that partnership continuing this year?

FELIX ROSENQVIST: It is. It's continuing. I thought it was great. I worked with Ganassi many years ago now. I think that organize is unchanged in terms of leadership role and stuff like that. I really enjoy working with my engineer Ross, my assistant engineer Rebecca, as well, and Ben. I think they're all great engineers. The partnership was super smooth from the first day onward.

Yeah, it's nice to kind of have a year for the team. All that stuff remains the same. We got the same engine, same partnership, same car. My crew is pretty much unchanged as well. Riding into '26 with a lot of consistency is going to be I think a big key to go forward.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.