David Malukas is betting on a new level of maturity to help him climb the standings in his fourth season driving in IndyCar.
The 23-year-old is coming off a less than ideal season that saw him sit out the first seven rounds while recovering from a hand injury.
His extended time out of the car led to Arrow McLaren releasing him from his contract, and forced Malukas to find a ride with Meyer Shank Racing for the latter half of the season once he was able to drive again.
Having now secured a contract with AJ Foyt Racing for the upcoming season, Malukas is hoping to have a more stable year ahead of him.
He is using knowledge learned while he was sidelined to be a more well-rounded driver behind the wheel.
“Yeah, sitting on the sidelines watching, that was really tough. That was hard,” said Malukas. “I definitely had to keep some emotions in watching everybody go around.
“It was good. I learned a lot, especially being on the sidelines, just seeing what the engineers have to deal with, all the screens, the strategy.
“There’s a lot that I learned that as a driver you don’t really know much of what’s going on, so I think it was good by the time I got in the car I didn’t get angry at the engineers or the strategy on what’s going on because they can see a lot more than the driver can see.
“So I think that was the number one thing that I learned and that I will take going into this next season.”
Staying healthy over the break
Malukas also was sure to stay healthy over the past few months, toning down his physical activities and reducing his risk of another injury.
He completed a final surgery on his injured hand just after the 2024 season ended, and has worked hard to get his grip strength back over the winter.
It has been a conscious effort on his part to make sure he is ready to go when the 2025 season starts in six weeks’ time.
“I’ve been so careful. I think the craziest thing I’ve done this off-season is go ziplining with my nephews and the drop was only like two feet. I had to lift my knees up the just do the ziplining. That was the most chaotic thing I’ve done.
“Like I said, I’ve matured a lot, and not just from individuality and outside of the car, but also in the car I’ve matured a lot. I’m excited to take that maturity, be consistent, have a full season, and actually build with the team that I have and the crew is incredible and I’m very excited to get some very good results. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”
Malukas will be driving the historic #4 with AJ Foyt Racing alongside Santino Ferrucci as his team-mate, with the first race of the new partnership taking place on the streets of St. Petersburg on March 2.
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