THE MODERATOR: Hello, everyone. Great to see you. As certainly you know, a very busy month of May begins this coming weekend with the much anticipated return to beautiful Barber Motorsports Park. Felix Rosenqvist had a top five last year at Barber, one of his three top-10 finishes in just his five starts in Birmingham. He's had really a fantastic start to his 2025 season. Sits fourth in the championship with three straight top-10 finishes.
The driver of the No. 60 Sirius Meyer Shank Racing Honda. You might be one of the hottest drivers in the series right now.
FELIX ROSENQVIST: Really, wow?
Q. No pressure.
FELIX ROSENQVIST: No pressure (laughter). It's good to hear.
THE MODERATOR: It's been a great start to 2025 so far, coming off of fourth at Long Beach. What do you make of the beginning of the year for you?
FELIX ROSENQVIST: No, as you say, it's been solid. We haven't really had any bad weekends. We definitely stepped up a bit from last year. Last year also had a good start of the season. I think it's always how you maintain that through the season.
Still early days, but we're feeling pretty good about things. We think our race pace is a bit stronger this year. Yeah, we feel like we're in a good spot to actually do a bit better, as well. I think all of us, we're always looking. We can improve things here and there. That certainly goes for this season as well.
It's not like we've been perfect. We still have a long ways to go in certain areas. But very exciting start.
THE MODERATOR: Worth mentioning, this weekend also marks your 100th start in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES. A bit of a milestone. Does it feel like 100? Really significant, right?
FELIX ROSENQVIST: It is, right. It feels a bit unreal, to be honest. It kind of brings you back a little bit to when you were a kid, you were dreaming about driving in INDYCAR. Even my first years in INDYCAR, obviously nothing you take for granted, racing in one of the top leagues of the world. Now, yeah, it's been like a fast forward.
100 is a big number. That's a lot of hours in the car (smiling). No, it's cool. It's cool. As I say, it's nothing that I take for granted. I think it's literally the coolest job in the world you can have.
It's also nice that I feel actually better than ever in the series, as well. I probably had my best start in a year that I had. Yeah, exciting stuff.
THE MODERATOR: Good stuff as we head into Barber, a busy stretch for the remainder of the 2025 campaign. We'll open it up for questions.
Q. Your test at Barber didn't go the greatest. Do you feel behind at all going into this weekend?
FELIX ROSENQVIST: Yeah, I mean, it was still a decent test. We got cut short. I hit the wall in turn one in the afternoon. We had to pack up after that 'cause we had some damage on the car.
No, I mean, it's just a test at the end of the day. I feel like testing is testing, and racing is racing. It's nothing that really discourages us going into the weekend.
I think we had a similar thing last year where we weren't at the, what was it, the March test at Barber. It was actually our strongest race of the year.
That's the thing in INDYCAR, man, you're not better than your last session. Things evolve and change all the time. The weather, the track and the tires, competitors, things just always moving, evolving.
I don't really think about that test at all, to be honest.
Q. Looking ahead to next week, how much does the Indy Grand Prix mean for the Indy 500 weeks, if anything?
FELIX ROSENQVIST: I think it's a good little starter. It's kind of settling into May. You settle into your bus in the bus lot. It's kind of like the place, your little office for a month, I guess. Same goes for you guys. You're going to hang out there all the time in May.
Just getting comfy. A nice little starter event with the GP, which effectively pays as many points as the 500, which is kind of ironic. That's the reality of it.
I think it's a cool race. I've always liked the GP, to be honest. I think it's good that we do one instead of two. Always enjoyed going there and always been a pretty good track for me, as well.
Q. This year you're off to a really good start, like last year. We know there's a different technical partner this year. What have you learned from last year where the hot start kind of tapered off to mitigate that from happening this year?
FELIX ROSENQVIST: As you say, that's a big thing we've been working on in the off-season. We know we've had speed, which we had all year, all season, last year. We probably were one of the strongest qualifiers in the field. We maintained that part this year.
But I feel like we're better in the races. We got to the point now, okay, we have this speed, how do we get the points. It's always in the small things. It's pit stops, strategy, tire deg, race pace, just how you flow through the weekend.
I think the work has paid off so far in that aspect. I think sitting fifth in points last year around this time, it was kind of hard to see what we could have done better because I feel like we just kind of nailed the first weekends.
Now it's more like, hey, we can probably be a bit better still. Even as we're sitting good in the points, we still see some low-hanging fruit. That's the big difference. We know now we're kind of quick. We're working on all the important areas.
It's so hard to explain, but in INDYCAR, one little thing... In some of these races, if you lose one second on the in-lap, it can spiral you into losing five positions if you're fighting in the top five. We're focusing on that. We know we're fast. We also have the race pace that we had last year. It's pretty exciting.
Q. You've been with some strong teams at the 500. The affiliation last year with Andretti, there was some pace. Ganassi has been at a different level in the month of May. What are your feelings after the open test of where you feel the program is, maybe how you feel in terms of confidence and whatnot going into next month?
FELIX ROSENQVIST: I think Indy this year seems different somehow, with the hybrid and everything. It's a harder car to drive. I don't think that's our car specifically. I think it's just across the field. It's a more unforgiving package that we go into May with.
Actually, might be some drivers who struggle with knowing how good it has felt, and now you just got to get used to it. I think for some rookies, it might be a good thing because you don't have to know how good it felt in the past.
Q. You don't have to unlearn something?
FELIX ROSENQVIST: Exactly.
I think that's been my approach and the team. You have to kind of forget a little bit the last year and start fresh and just build up this new package from the ground up. We were pretty encouraged about our test last week. I don't want to take too much out of it, but we think we're at least in the upper half of the field. We think the car works pretty good in both race trim and qual trim.
Still early days. But it's a different challenge, for sure. I think as far as our partnership goes, (indiscernible) has been very focused on May. I think a lot of resources has gone into that. They had a worse year than they liked last year. It's pretty exciting. I think we're all on all parts feeling pretty ready for what's to come.
Q. Your teammate this year Marcus Armstrong, your association goes back many years, doesn't it?
FELIX ROSENQVIST: It does. It does. The first time I met Marcus was when he raced in Formula 4. I think it was the Italian or European championship, I don't remember. I was racing with Prema at the time in Formula 3. René, the team owner, asked me if I could coach the F4 kids in Italy. I think it was Vallelunga.
He was pretty similar to how he is today, to be honest. He seemed pretty mature for his age. I think he was like 14 maybe, 15. He seemed to be very, like, mature for his age. That was the first memory of him. I guess that's kind of stayed in a way. He's older than he looks in a way mentally.
But it's been good. We've been enjoying working together. Very easygoing. I think I get along with all Kiwis, Aussies of the world. Swedish mentality might be pretty similar. Relaxed, calm, take every day as it comes. It's been pretty good so far.
Q. You get an additional teammate at the 500 with Helio. How much influence does that come into with the team debriefs at the end of the day? Is he vocal or on par with what you're all bringing to the table?
FELIX ROSENQVIST: I think he has a good mix of being that. You always listen when he talks because I think he's one of the most special drivers at the 500. He has a very special feeling for just his driving in the car around there.
But I think also he's very different from the other drivers there. Like he drives differently. He needs something different. He's figured out his key to that place. So I think it could be also deceiving to, like, follow his setup and footsteps too much.
You listen in a bit. But he always does his own thing. He's such a talented driver. He impresses me when he comes back the last two years. He's been on the sidelines. I think he's over 50 now, if I'm not mistaken. He jumps in. It's like riding a bike for him.
It's not easy. As I said before, these cars are super hard to drive. He's competing with guys who race every week. He just goes out. I think he was one of the strongest guys at the open test, from what I heard. It's pretty impressive what he does.
Q. You're a bit of a coffee aficionado. You need to get the Armstrong boy to bring you to New Zealand and taste some of the coffee down here. I know you'd enjoyed it.
FELIX ROSENQVIST: Nice. Good to hear. I'll look into it.
Q. I'll bring some beans for you when I come up for the 500.
FELIX ROSENQVIST: Would love that. Thank you very much.
THE MODERATOR: Coffee hookup out of that.
FELIX ROSENQVIST: Love coffee.
THE MODERATOR: Helio is still 49. He turns 50 May 10th, so 11 days away.
FELIX ROSENQVIST: I'm going to have to eat that up.
THE MODERATOR: Don't rush it, please, if you're him.
We'll continue with questions.
Q. On what you said about the hybrid, when you're running in the pack, do you sort of feel a significant difference if you're the fourth or fifth car down the pack? How easy do you think it will be to pass? Do you think the boost will make any difference to that?
FELIX ROSENQVIST: Yeah, good question.
I think that's what we all try to figure out. I was kind of torn between... The weight of the hybrid obviously makes it harder. It's not just like it's more oversteer. Obviously the weight is in the back of the car.
But it just feels like there's something pushing on the car. You just have a little bit less margin. You can't flirt with the edge as much as you could do in the past, which I think leads to more mistakes, which makes the racing better.
That was kind of my feeling when I was in the pack, that it was kind of hard to just pass someone on pace, but there was a lot of mistakes going on, like people pushing wide on the exits and stuff that you could capitalize on.
With the actual usage of the hybrid, I think that's actually a bigger thing. If you're really smart, you can definitely have that play in your advantage, how you regen and deploy. It takes a long time to regen up. That was something that struck me. I kind of picture it as being like this, you can charge your battery in an instant. It actually takes quite a long time. Especially the speed you're traveling, you're passing a lot of football fields before you go from zero to a hundred charge. That was something that I wasn't really prepared for.
But it's a fun game, to be honest. I thought it was pretty interesting. Also the way electric power works, you have so much torque, so it's actually doing more than you think.
I think the push to pass, this is almost comparable to that. Yeah, it's pretty cool. We'll see how it plays out. I think for the leader, it will be tough, because he will have a tough time recharging because he's just flat out. Probably way more passing at the front, I'd say.
Q. This weekend marks number 100 for you in your INDYCAR career. When you started off in 2019, did you expect to reach 100, seven seasons, still be fighting at the front?
FELIX ROSENQVIST: I don't know. Yes and no. It's a pretty big number. Time just seems to fly by. I didn't think at the time I'd get this old. Seven years.
But it's cool. It's a special series in that way. I've done some other series for a long time. This one just seems to keep you on your toes all the time. You just keep learning and keep digging. In a way you always feel like a rookie because it's kind of hard to just rely on your experience.
I think Indy is one of the places you do. For other tracks, you just have to go clean sheet into every weekend and adapt. There's always a different tire, different this and that.
I think it's impressive the guys have made it really long in the series, like 10-plus years. It's definitely tough to compete with the young guns coming into the series, all the challenges that the series throws at you every weekend. In that sense I feel proud about it. I'm also planning to stay for another hundred.
Q. Regarding tires, do you prefer it where the tires had a longer window and wear a bit closer, do you like the differences we've got this season?
FELIX ROSENQVIST: Personally I think it's different from a competitor to a fan point of view. I think the fans normally prefer when it's chaotic, unpredictable.
I think from a competitor standpoint, I like when it's more, like, even, I guess. If you start on reds or blacks, it's kind of the same. I think that's nice because the quickest guy will end up winning.
I think it ended up like that anyways this year. The way the races have played out, it hasn't really mattered that much. I think St. Pete was a bit of a clear winner starting on the red. Apart from that, it's just kind of been green racing, and anyone can really win.
I think it's cool. I know people complain about it, think it's boring. I think every now and then it's cool we disagree in racing to see who beats the line quickest.
THE MODERATOR: Outside of the caution, full course yellow at St. Pete, we've had one or two other local yellows. That's been it. You think about the stamina that is takes in these cars to pull off an all-green race, it's pretty remarkable, isn't it?
FELIX ROSENQVIST: It is. It's one of those things that, again, from the cockpit it's a very different challenge and a different race compared to the TV.
Honestly, I think it's just a fluke. I don't think there's any reason why we would go green more than any other time. It's probably just like a, yeah, random thing that will end up being caught up pretty quick at some race with six or seven yellows, like Detroit last year.
I wouldn't get used to the fact that we're having a lot of green laps. I think it's going to change very soon.
Q. What is your best highlight of the first races?
FELIX ROSENQVIST: I don't know. I think winning my only race in Road America is the highlight. It was a pretty cool race. I think it was almost green the whole way. I had a good battle with my buddy Pato in the end of the race. It was a special race, for sure.
Seems like ages ago. I feel like the hunger for a new win is greater than the joy of the last one. Yeah, I think that's the biggest one. I always enjoy doing Indy 500. I think I'm super privileged to be in a position to be a competitor there, having some chances at least to have the car enough to win the race, which is very rare. That's also brought me some very special memories.
Again, I think the biggest memories are probably to come, so...
Q. How do you see this weekend, turn five and turn six? Remember the situation on the bridge.
FELIX ROSENQVIST: The bridge situation?
Q. The mannequin.
FELIX ROSENQVIST: Mannequin.
THE MODERATOR: Georgina.
FELIX ROSENQVIST: I think she's gone, unfortunately.
THE MODERATOR: I think she's back.
FELIX ROSENQVIST: She's back?
THE MODERATOR: Yes.
FELIX ROSENQVIST: Love that.
THE MODERATOR: Maybe in a different position, but I understand she's back.
FELIX ROSENQVIST: Okay, so welcome back, Georgina. We're happy to have you back. A lot of story behind that now, so... I think she got more TV time than most of us last year. Yeah, no, I think it's perfect.
Q. You talked about a little bit more of a leadership role that you've been able to take on, particularly this year, between your relationship with Ross, the relationship with Marcus, being able to mentor him. What has that been like for you? Have you had to adjust your mindset because the teams you've been with previously you weren't necessarily number one on the pecking order, so to speak?
FELIX ROSENQVIST: Yeah, I mean, I think as I joined with Shank last year, it's kind of been the natural thing, I guess. I'm not sure if I said that, but I don't feel necessarily that I'm, like, making all the shots. We're a team organization. I think everyone's input goes. We take everyone's input in and discuss it. Everyone kind of pulls their weight in different ways.
But I think probably having a bit more confidence as a more routine driver now has made a difference, for sure, like making decisions when it matters. Sometimes you're in a tricky position where you have to go this way on a setup, that way. You have to make the shot.
I think before it was easier to just kind of do, my first year in INDYCAR, what Scott does because he's experienced. Now you actually have to make that decision.
I think the more I've been in that situation, it seems to pay off pretty well, which gives you more confidence. It's kind of like a spiral in a good way.
No, I think also the team really believes in me, they value my feedback, and they really trust in my opinion when it comes to most things like strategy or setup or approach in general. It's been pretty cool to have that support behind me, kind of free rein on what I want to do, how to approach things. They just try to give me the tools they can to do the job.
Q. The relationship with Ross, the communication has been positive. You alluded to him telling you like it is. What has that been like and how has he from an engineer and radio standpoint been able to benefit you this year?
FELIX ROSENQVIST: Well, I think Ross is kind of a jack of all trades. If I could only bring one guy to the track with me and the car, I would definitely pick him 'cause he's not only a great engineer, but he has a very good mechanical knowledge, team leader knowledge. He's a good team guy. He knows how to talk to people and to motivate people.
It's also kind of like he takes no shit basically. He stands up for himself, stands up for the team, for our car. I like that. He's a good guy to have in your corner.
I think he's pushed me and Adam, my strategist, a lot with his knowledge. We sat down with him in the winter. Especially in the races, how do we improve and can you help us with your experience, especially working with Dixon for quite many years.
I think he's really pushed us in many areas and he kind of has that personality where he wakes up every day and just pushes very hard. He pushes people around him, which has given a lot of results already on our group, which is super cool.
Again, we are kind of just getting started. We're starting to talk the same language now. There's always that thing when you have a new engineer, it takes some time to kind of understand what you mean, your mood swings, whatnot. You have to be more like a psychologist more than anything when you're an engineer.
I feel like we're vibing really good and have a good thing going on.
Q. How are you, Felix?
FELIX ROSENQVIST: Great. Living the dream. How are you?
Q. Fine. Pleasure to be with you and the rest of my colleagues. Your season has been, the start of your season, has been incredible, one of the most consistent drivers on the INDYCAR grid. You haven't score a podium yet. You are fourth, you score more points compared to other guys like Scott, Pato, or Josef who scored a podium. How important is it for you that consistency that you have shown in this first few races? How possible do you think it will be a podium in your 100th race this week in Alabama, how important will it be for you?
FELIX ROSENQVIST: Yeah, I think the podium was very close in Long Beach, to be honest. We had a fuel reading error in the end, which definitely didn't help. We were sitting third for most of the race.
I think our approach is just like if you keep knocking on the door, keep qualifying well, having good race pace, it's going to come to us. Not only a podium, but I think also a win at some point.
We're not really rushing into getting a big result or anything. We just kind of want to do what we do, improve the little things we can. It's going to come to us when the moment is there.
But yeah, I think honestly every weekend now it seems like we have a good shot at a good result. I think Barber is always a bit of a tricky one. It's one of those tracks you never really know what you're going to get when you show up.
I'm not going to tell you that I'm going to go and win Barber. There's nothing really saying we couldn't. I think we're getting stronger and stronger every race. I think we're definitely now a podium contender consistently. I think it's going to come. Just going to keep doing what we're doing.
Q. In motorsports in general, there has been recently a few changes in other series. With brands and teams that are in INDYCAR. But INDYCAR is a series that hasn't changed a lot in terms of brands, car brands, suppliers. Do you think that INDYCAR will have to make a move in terms of achieving more brands in terms of suppliers, power units, attract even more investment in that aspect with brands like Ford, a very important company in the United States, or maybe European or another Asian company who can work with Chevrolet and Honda?
FELIX ROSENQVIST: Yeah, that's a good question.
I think the main thing is how good is the racing product. I think INDYCAR has always excelled with that. We have a lot of private teams. If you take F1, Formula E, for example, almost every team is related directly to a manufacturer. In a way, we are also. We have a big affiliation with Honda and Meyer Shank, for example. Every team has to some degree.
I think it also shows the strength of the series when you have all these private owners actually making the business work, which is not easy. It's a super tough business. If a big manufacturer would like to join the series, I think we all would be very excited.
I think in the grand scheme of things, it's a self sustainable series, which is super cool. Some series, if you took out the manufacturer aspect, the whole series maybe wouldn't survive. I think we have good bones in the championship structure.
I'm not sure exactly what the plan is going forward. I know the series is always evaluating new things for the future. Maybe our pace has been a bit slower. I also think the number one thing is the fan product, how good is the racing, how exciting is the championship, how exciting are the drivers to follow, the teams, the team owners. In that regard we're probably number one, to be honest.
You have to ask Doug Boles or someone else what the grand plan is. But I think at the moment we have a pretty good package.
Q. INDYCAR has more European blood than ever, who are on the top of the INDYCAR championship. With the environment that INDYCAR has in terms of European drivers and teams, how close and if you would like to see an INDYCAR race, and Indy GP in Europe, a non-calendar race? Which country and track would you like to see first in INDYCAR?
FELIX ROSENQVIST: Yeah, it's kind of the same. If that were to happen, I would be very excited. Obviously I think everyone would. It has to make sense for everyone. Obviously in the end of the day it's a business. It's business decisions that matter.
I would love to take an INDYCAR around Spa, Nurburgring or Zandvoort. It would be amazing. There has to be an idea behind it, long-term plan. How would this help the series, do we have the fan base.
Honestly, in some places we do. Like places like Mexico, even if it's not Europe, I think that would be a very cool one to go to. Latin America, in general. Even the UK, Spain or Italy, I think they have massive motorsport followings in those countries. Even Sweden, it would probably show up a lot of people.
Again, it's a tough thing to pull off. It's a North American series, it has been for a long time. We had some series internationally. There's a lot of drivers, a lot of fans. You have to pull it off logistically, which is more complex than one might think.
I hope. I feel like soon we're going to venture outside of North America and have a race, which would be really cool.
THE MODERATOR: We'll leave you with this thought as you come up on your 100th start. If you could name one thing that has changed in your 100 starts, what would it be?
FELIX ROSENQVIST: One thing that has changed? Yeah, I mean, I feel like I'm a different guy than what I showed up. I'm a better person in many ways, not only a driver, but just in general. A lot of things have changed since I showed up 2019.
THE MODERATOR: You're the one thing that's changed?
FELIX ROSENQVIST: Yeah, probably.
THE MODERATOR: Marriage will do that. Getting older and wiser.
FELIX ROSENQVIST: Exactly. Not always a bad thing. If you shave, you still look young.
THE MODERATOR: We'll leave it there for now. Felix, thanks so much for your time today. Safe travels down to Birmingham.
FELIX ROSENQVIST: Thank you very much. See you soon.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports