A.J Foyt Racing driver Santino Ferrucci has said his new teammate, Caio Collet, is “much easier to deal with than past rookies.”
Speaking at INDYCAR media day in downtown Indianapolis, the three time podium scorer has said the Brazilian is “similar to me” in terms of driving style.
Collet, born and raised in Sao Paulo, was promoted to INDYCAR by A.J Foyt after a successful 2025 INDYNXT campaign with HMD Motorsports. He finished the championship in second, 72 points behind Dale Coyne Racing’s new signing Dennis Hauger, with three race wins and nine podiums.
“Honestly, I really like him. He’s been much easier to deal with, in my opinion, than some of the past rookies I’ve had. Just very straightforward, easy.”
Ferrucci has been the permanent teammate of two rookies across the past few seasons, Benjamin Pedersen in 2023 and Sting Ray Robb in 2024.
The Connecticut born Ferrucci, who is due to make his 100th NTT INDYCAR Series appearance at the Indy Road Course, during the Sonsio Grand Prix, said he’s “looking forward to having someone with some very similar driving styles” and believes the duo “can be quite competitive together.”
“Expectations for him are going to be whatever he sets for himself. I think he’s a very talented guy. I think me, my advice would be just to start off, just trying to finish.”
When asked how he can lead his rookie teammate, Ferrucci laughed saying how “it’s kind of weird being called the senior driver at 27 years old.”
Consistency, Low Turnover, and Penske Assistance
In his Media Day press conference, Ferrucci spoke a lot about how he is looking forward to working with the same personnel that he did in late 2025.
“We had crew changes last year, with engineering changes… everything staying the same from the middle of ‘25 season going through the ‘26 season will be a big step forward for us.”
A.J Foyt entered a technical alliance with Team Penske at the start of 2023. What initially started as the Foyt team using dampers and technical support from the 20 time INDY500 winning outfit, has evolved into assistance with chassis builds and setup. It, on a surface level, appears to be one step off a traditional ‘junior/senior team’ partnership, like we see in Formula 1 with Red Bull Racing/RB.
Ferrucci confirmed to the press that everything will remain the same in terms of the partnership with Penske. “Everything is as it was for the last two years. Very much looking forward to working with them and sharing information and all sorts of fun things.”
written by Evan Dalton // Media Credit: Penske Entertainment
