Felix Rosenqvist has commented about how IndyCar drivers have to push their cars uncomfortably far in order to find where the safe limit is.
The Swedish driver is about to begin his eighth year in the series, and has been present through a few changes that have made the current DW12 chassis less nimble.
The most recent large-scale change, the addition of a hybrid system in 2024, placed additional weight at the rear of the car and changed the balance considerably.
Multiple drivers have previously reported how the weight took away what little forgiveness there was pushing the limits at speed. A few have described their cars suddenly losing control, often oversteering into a spin with little notice.
Speaking at a recent preseason media session, Rosenqvist described just how difficult it is to find the right balance with the current ruleset.
“I mean, I feel like you have to go over the limit a lot of times to actually reach the limit,” said Rosenqvist.
“These cars have become so incredibly tough to drive, I think we’ve all noticed that the trend from the previous years is that you have to drive the car in an area where it’s very uncomfortable.
“So in a way, yes, you almost have to drive over the limit to be where you want to be.
“I think you just always try to push yourself as hard as possible, but what you’re comfortable with. That’s essentially your limit of how fast you can go. It’s not really [more] complicated than that.
“Obviously there’s a lot of other moving parts that need to work. But yeah, just need to be comfortable with uncomfortability.”
Rosenqvist earned one podium in 2025 at the sweltering and chaotic event at Road America, helping lead him to his career-best sixth place championship result.
He continues to look for a path towards more victories, with his only IndyCar triumph coming in 2020 while driving for Chip Ganassi Racing.
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