A 25-year-old Connecticut native, Ferrucci has come out with three top 10s in the opening five points-paying rounds of the 2024 IndyCar Series season.
For comparison, he only had one top 10 (third, Indianapolis 500) through the first six races last year – his first with AJ Foyt Racing.
The results for Ferrucci reveal a clear benefit with the team’s technical alliance with Penske.
But there was also a clear return on investment as Foyt’s qualifying prowess in the Indy 500 (fourth, 2023; sixth, 2024), highlighted by technical director and engineering maestro Michael Cannon, aided a front row sweep for Penske, its first since 1988.
Additionally, Penske’s Josef Newgarden snatched his second consecutive victory in ‘The Greatest Spectacle in Racing’.
“Yeah, so obviously the race cars are the race cars,” Ferrucci said. “The Q [qualifying] cars kind of showed that alliance in full form.
“We were missing something. We couldn't quite figure out what was going on with our car. We couldn't get it above the 233.2[mph] mark all day. Not quite sure what that was. Same thing in the race. We were just missing a little bit of speed.
“But those guys did an excellent job. They built quality cars, man, and they showed up. I was really surprised, we built some really good race cars. We were on their dampers. We were running our own setup but their equipment.
“Honestly, worked both ways for us pretty well.”
Ferrucci, who resides in Dallas, Texas, went further in depth on how the partnership has paid dividends for his team.
“St. Pete doesn't really count because we didn't make it more than three corners last year,” Ferrucci said. “But look at a race like Barber, last year we finished 18th, 19th, kind of nowhere. This year we were leading, running up front.
“Slightly different strategy but we ended up seventh in points going into Indy. We've had a much better year so far. A lot of that is thanks to the Penske alliance.
“We still have our own things that we're sorting out. All of our engineering department is brand new with the exception of Michael Cannon and one of our DAGs [data acquisition engineer]. It's been quite a learning process for us. I feel like the continuity of just the driver, unfortunately. It's a lot to learn in not a lot of time”.
Last year, Ferrucci came into the Detroit Grand Prix 15th in the championship standings. As it stands this time around, he sits 12th and with clear goals of trying to push into the top 10 by year's end.
“We were always of the mind of this being a two-year program,” Ferrucci said. “It's definitely more challenging than I anticipated with Penske.
“I think a lot of us were thinking plug-and-play. Unfortunately that's not always the case.
“I do drive similar to one of the three, but I am kind of in between on my own little island with my driving style. I do like a very loose race car mid corner. This year it's been really good because it's made me drive a bit more of a pushy race car and it showed when I've been able to do it correctly.
“Last year we only had one top 10, and that was at the Speedway. This year we now have three, one at a street course, one at a road course, and obviously Indy.
“I think the team's consistency is getting much better. The two races we didn't do so well, one of which we missed the strategy, the other one we had a couple of failures in the race.
“It's not for lack of trying. We definitely could be fighting for top 10 in points the rest of the year.”
