INDYCAR: Pagenaud thriving on Penske dynamic

IndyCar points leader Simon Pagenaud believes that being better settled within Team Penske has contributed to his excellent early season form.

The Frenchman finished a career-low 11th in the points in his first year with Penske in 2015, following on from three consecutive years in the top five with the smaller Schmidt Peterson Motorsport team. While he says that the dynamic between himself and teammates Will Power, Helio Castroneves and Juan Pablo Montoya is the same as it was last year, his early-season tally of two wins is the product of him having a better understanding of how the team works.

"It's interesting to complete yourself as a driver by watching what the others do, what they do better, how you can do something better than them, can you use their strengths," he said.

"I think that's what makes us [at Penske] so strong, and I think we all understand there's an advantage to be friendly off-track to each other and try to help each other. We don't hide anything. I think it makes for a great dynamic. Compared to last year, it hasn't really changed. There are years where you have luck on your side, years where you don't have any luck. That's just the way it is.

"But I certainly am 'better' in the system this year. I have a better relationship with everybody. Everybody knows me better. Things are going very smoothly. It's the best it can be right now."

Pagenaud heads into the Month of May optimistic about his chances of extending his current 48-point lead over Scott Dixon. He won the inaugural race on Indy's road course layout, and says that he now feels like a regular threat on ovals as well.

"In [testing at] Texas yesterday I really focused on race running," he said. "I feel like I've got enough experience now to know which way the tire is going to go during the stint.

"OK, it's not as much experience as [Tony] Kanaan, for example, but it's enough. It's what I have for now. I just need to use people like Rick Mears, Helio, on my side, Juan Pablo, they have so much experience on these kinds of tracks, they can be a great help.

"Last year was so strong, I don't see any reason why we couldn't reproduce. I think we'll be strong. It will just be a matter of preparing well during the month of May. I'm quite excited about it."