Written by Dan Jones
2025 is set to be a critical season for Will Power. Entering his 17th consecutive season with Team Penske, and the final year of his current contract, he will need to prove to Roger Penske on why he should keep his faith in the two-time IndyCar Champion and 2018 Indianapolis 500 winner for 2026 and beyond.
The reason for the increased pressure heading into 2025? A.J. Foyt Racing's signing of David Malukas from Meyer Shank Racing, the driver believed to be the heir to Power's No.12 Chevrolet.
Foyt signed a technical partnership with Penske prior to the 2024 season, with Foyt being seen as temporary stepping stone for Malukas, whilst the Lithuanian-American waits for a seat to become available at Team Penske.
Josef Newgarden signed a multi-year deal after winning consecutive Indianapolis 500s, and Scott McLaughlin has been the highest performing Team Penske driver in consecutive years, and is expected to stay on with the team.
That leaves the only potential opening as Power's seat.
And Power is more than aware of this. The Australian signed with Fernando Alonso and ex-teammate, Oriol Servià's A14 Management company, the first time he's ever had a management representative in his extensive motorsport career.
When asked if it was important for somebody else to deal with that in a contract year, Power said: "Yeah, some of that."
He added: "But also I don't want to think about anything but driving. I've usually done it myself, but at the end of the day it's all about performance and enjoying driving and not thinking about the other stuff. That's kind of why I did that."
"Maybe I should have had a manager a long time ago. I think it's just generally now, every driver has one. It's just what drivers -- drivers focus on what they do, and they have a guy taking care of even business stuff for you."
Power comes into 2025 off the back of a much-improved 2024, and was eventual champion, Álex Palou's, only main title rival toward the closure of the 2024 season.
A seatbelt failure in the season finale in Nashville eventually cost Power a potential third title, which also saw him slip to fourth in the standings behind Colton Herta and McLaughlin.
Power did take the most victories of any driver in the field though, alongside McLaughlin and Pato O'Ward, with three, after returning to victory lane after two years out at Road America before further successes in Iowa and Portland.
From Power's perspective, it's critical he does the same coming into 2025: "But at the end of the day if you're winning races and you're very strong, that's the best defense you have against any of that stuff.
"Honestly, the way I performed last year, if you did the same this year -- winning three races in a season in INDYCAR now is very, very difficult. The champion only won two, I believe. That's difficult to do, and if you're doing that, you probably should be driving in that series. You deserve a seat."
David Malukas is the rising star of the series though. A move to Arrow McLaren broke down after a pre-season injury left Malukas unable to fulfill his contract, but re-vitalised his career after impressing when returning to the field with Meyer Shank Racing, and attracted the interest of Penske, who was believed to help facilitate Malukas' move to Foyt.
And Power is aware of that threat: "I keep getting told that by various people [rumours of Malukas taking his seat]. Honestly I haven't been told anything by the team from that side of things. Yeah, I'm sure there might be some truth to that, I suppose, if it's out there.
"But yeah, I do hear that. Yeah, we'll see what happens. It's one of those things, huh? It's good to have someone knocking at the door."
Power believes that he could be 'absolutely competitive for another five years' though, with the 43-year-old re-affirming that IndyCar is his goal whilst he's still competitive. It was more than clear last season the Australian was still at the very top of his game.
But why else has Power opted for Alonso's management team at this stage of his career. He states that: "Those guys will do what's best for me at the time and that they're able to. They both have very good contacts and so on. So we'll see how it all plays out."
And as Power further notes: "Someone like Fernando Alonso certainly has a lot of good contacts in Europe."
Under Alonso's management, Power has made it clear that there is one key opportunity that could be provided by Alonso's team, the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Power states that if he wants to get into a team that can win Le Mans, 'that's very handy for me.'
When asked to expand his thoughts on the race Power said: "Yeah, I would love to have a shot at winning that race. I've won the Indy 500 and it's a very cool event that I haven't been able to do yet. It's definitely, definitely on the radar."
It was clear that the prestigious race is of key interest for Power, quite the surprise given the stage of his career that he is in. Power has never dabbled his feet in endurance racing, despite Penske's links in the IMSA SportsCar Championship.
The closest the Australian has been was his native race back in Bathurst, when he finished 18th with Mark Larkham, some 23 years ago.
But as for now, the focus remains on IndyCar for Power: "It's absolutely the goal, yeah, to definitely keep rolling while I'm really competitive. I was like very competitive last year. I won three races and seven podiums. No one else in the field but McLaughlin did that. So I'm still performance really high."
"Yeah, if I wasn't performing, I wouldn't want to do it. I'm still learning. It's crazy, but you're still learning stuff."
It's a major storyline to follow throughout the course of the season. Power seems fully aware of the threat that Malukas poses to his seat should the 23-year-old impress at A.J. Foyt Racing, but still believes he is more than capable of performing at the very top of his game.
Penske have been known to get contracts done early on in the season, so the races in the build-up to the 109th Running of the Indianapolis 500 will be absolutely vital in deciding what the future holds for Power. He knows what's at stake, as proved by his signing with A14 Management.
The next few races will be some of the most important of Power's entire career.
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