Countdown to IndyCar 2026: Oriol Servia on the pursuit of Palou, faces in new places and more

In looking ahead to the 2026 NTT IndyCar Series, there is a clear call to action to everyone but Alex Palou and Chip Ganassi Racing to try to get on terms with the combo that so comprehensively crushed it in 2025. IndyCar veteran turned driver manager Oriol Servia joins RACER's Laurence Foster and David Malsher-Lopez to discuss how they need to approach it.

"Yeah, that's what they're all scratching their heads about, right? It was such a dominant performance of the whole No. 10 Ganassi/Alex Palou group," says Servia. "I mean, even even Scott [Dixon], that is right there, I'm sure has been scratching his own head, like, 'Wait, how did that happen that way?' I'm sure Alex knows all he has to do is just do the same again, which only means work as hard and dedicate yourself and have as much or as little expectations as he had last year to do it. And it worked.

"They have a very solid group. I know them really well. I've known them for a long time. That same solid group has not put those performances before the way they did last year. So obviously, everything came together in a very good way, and Alex made all the right choices when it counted. They're going to be the guys to beat. There's no question he wasn't a fluke. Everyone has to work really hard, but I think we are going to have a little more movement at the top of the podium.

"Again. It's going to be really hard for those guys to execute as perfect as they did. And then you have the other teams, that either have made internal changes or last year, they were in the process, like Penske. They had extremely odd headwinds.

"And we have to remember, the IndyCar season schedule is so crazy. In the summer, it's one race after the other. It's not like you can even have a break. 'OK, let's, let's have a kumbaya, team, let's recess.'"

Penske has had a long break to do that now, of course, and has a key change on the drivers' side with David Malukas joining Scott McLaughlin and Josef Newgarden, in place of Will Power. Servia warns that it could be difficult to judge the effects of this major change.

"It's going to be difficult to directly compare how he performs, because Dave Faustino is now moving deeper into the engineering group and will no longer be the No. 12 race engineer," he notes. "He is going to remain as its strategist, though, interestingly, but he's going to be heading up R&D, and I'm shocked that Ben Bretzman is also moving one step away from that as well, because I think he and McLaughlin have been very, very effective.

"Malukas can certainly put it together for a race weekend. I think we have seen that. He can still make errors but, hell, even the veterans can, if you're trying to catch Alex Palou. I think he could cause some surprises."

And what does he think about Power's prospects with his new Andretti team, in place of the Formula 2-bound Colton Herta?

"Will is an obsessed human that all he thinks about is about driving better than yesterday, and how can the car help me drive better than yesterday," Servia says. "That's what made Will Power, Will Power the last 17 years, right? That hasn't changed. I know that for a fact, and that energy, that fire, doesn't matter if he's 40-something or 20-something, is the same. And wherever you go, any team, you bring that to the table. Is that what he is? And same with my boss, Fernando Alonso, right? That's what always has defined these two characters. They're just so driven, so competitive. So that's the first thing.

"He obviously brings 17 years of knowledge of the work he has done developing the Penske car. And, I mean, they only get two test days before the beginning of the season, which is crazy. It's really like so limited testing for everyone not just the rookies. It's such, it's such a tough, competitive series, and then you only have two test days to get used to a new car or a new team. So I think he's gonna bring a lot, a lot of energy, a lot of knowledge and hunger and and and for his teammates, you know, Kyle [Kirkwood] and Marcus [Ericsson], like everyone wants to see, like, where do I stack up?

"The team you know, they won races last year, but not to the level of Palou, and they haven't won a championship in decades, right? The team knows they have to improve, and they're going to be listening some more to Will than if he was a rookie, obviously. And when Ron [Ruzewski] starts working there Jan. 1, he also comes with knowledge from the last 17 years that he and Will worked together at Penske, right? So that team we should see... I don't know if we should expect performance immediately, although they were fast in street races already."

Catch all the insights from Servia in the full video interview below.