Scott Dixon has highlighted the highly-competitive nature of the IndyCar championship as he bids to overcome the “problem" of trying to defend his title.
Dixon has taken five titles in the series, second in the all-time list behind A.J Foyt, but has never managed to retain his crown, having won in 2003, 2008, 2013, 2015 and 2018.
The Kiwi came closest to retaining the series title in 2009, he went into the final round in Miami leading the standings by five points, but ultimately finished just 11 points behind then Ganassi team-mate Dario Franchitti after the Scotsman won the race and Dixon finished third.
When asked on how he deals with the pressure of being the reigning champion and how he would prepare for another season, he said: "Yeah, I've never gone back-to-back so obviously I've got a problem with that. It's something I need to figure out.
"It's something that's obviously at the forefront of not just myself but the whole team. But yeah, it's always difficult. I think as everybody has spoken up here and everybody knows, just the competitiveness and how tough the competition is right now, there's never one stand-out.
"There's four, five, six teams that have the possibility of winning with many drivers, so that's what drives me every day of wanting to train harder, prepare better and obviously work with our partners to try and get a bit of a leg up.
"It's definitely not going to be easy, but going into the season, we know that's definitely the goal."
