Marco Andretti ‘focused on having more fun’ in 2017 IndyCar season
The 2017 IndyCar season is about having more fun behind the wheel for Marco Andretti, who spoke to FanSided about what he’s looking forward to this year.
Perhaps no one in IndyCar has more pressure on their shoulders than Marco Andretti. The No. 27 Andretti Autosport driver knows the expectations that come with his last name and continues to fight to live up to them.
But with the 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series season officially underway as of the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, Marco is focused on not taking things so seriously that he doesn’t enjoy his work.
“From a driving standpoint, I’m just not over-driving anymore,” he told FanSided in an interview during the recent Barber Motorsports Park test. “I’m focused on having more fun and trusting myself.”
Marco notched a solid seventh-place finish in the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix, and he’s hoping to keep that momentum going with two of his favorite tracks coming up in the first half of the schedule. “Long Beach and Indianapolis,” he said when we asked which events he’s looking forward to the most. “They are both great events and tracks where I enjoy driving.”
That’s his major focus going into 2017. While he continues to search for his second IndyCar win, it’s not as if Marco has been a backmarker — he finished all but two races inside the Top 15 last season, including three Top 10 results. And no one is more aware of how high the bar has been set for him than Marco Andretti himself.
“I’m trying to always see the big picture,” he reflected. “If I am not having fun, I won’t extract the most from myself. I’m still being hard on myself, but in a more constructive way.”
He also has a new teammate to gain a different perspective from. Takuma Sato joined Andretti Autosport this year, with the veteran driver replacing Carlos Munoz in the No. 26 car. How has it been for Marco to work with a new colleague?
“Good. Takuma is very fast, and brave,” he explained. “He’s also very good on the technical side and knows what he wants from the car.”
With a new outlook, new teammates and even a new primary sponsor on the No. 27 entry Marco has a lot to be optimistic about. Even with all the shuffling that happened in the IndyCar paddock in the offseason, he told us that the one driver he’s most keeping an eye on this year, even as a fan, is Marco Andretti.
“I don’t say that to sound conceited,” he laughed. “I’m just really focused on putting myself in a better mental place in the car, and am excited to see where it takes me.”
As someone who has literally grown up in the world of open-wheel racing Marco has an informed perspective about not just his own career but IndyCar as a whole. He’s now in his 12th season in the league and he’s equally positive about the series’ forward progress, though he also admitted there is still room for improvement.
“IndyCar is for sure on the rise,” he said. “We’ve had great momentum over the past few seasons and need to keep that going. On track our product is amazing, and we have dedicated fans.
“But what I feel like we’re missing is that next generation and widespread awareness. We still need to capture the younger fans and [have] more eyes on the TV.”
“I don’t think people understand just how physical and competitive the IndyCar series is,” Marco explained. “In a semi-spec series, the grid is extremely tight with no weak drivers. It’s the most competitive racing series in the world, even over Formula One. In F1 there are big gaps between teams and even drivers.
“In IndyCar the competition is so tight and so close,” he concluded, “any driver could win on any given weekend.”
Hopefully one of those drivers will be a newly re-energized Marco Andretti.
Next: Charlie Kimball 'extremely excited' for new IndyCar season
The next race of the Verizon IndyCar Series season is the 2017 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach on Sunday, April 9. Until then you can keep up with the latest news and notes from all of IndyCar in the Motor Sports category of FanSided here.