McLaughlin is increasingly confident of beating “Professor” Palou for the IndyCar title

Scott McLaughlin has identified the areas he needs to enhance to beat 'The Professor' Alex Palou for the IndyCar title and is now more confident he can do it.

Palou has dominated the American Championship in recent times, winning three of the last 4 titles, while McLaughlin is trying to find a maiden crown after joining from Australian Supercars.

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The 31-year-old's best championship finishes got here within the last two seasons, ending third in each of them, but consistency was a problem. For example, in 2024 he won three races like Palou, but had five fewer places in the highest five, leaving McLaughlin 39 points behind the champion.

“I think in the end we were as fast, if not faster than him,” the Kiwi said. “It was nearly summing up the 12 months he had.

“As we all know, half the things he does, he acts like a professor. He's superb and really consistent, so I actually have a variety of respect for him.

“But we don't give it some thought an excessive amount of. I feel there are also loads of other superb drivers. I feel so [2024 runner-up] Colton Herta had an incredible 12 months.

“It's only a matter of specializing in ourselves and what we are able to improve. This is all we are able to control and I hope what we now have done is enough.

Scott McLaughlin, Team Penske Chevrolet, NNT P1 award, Pole

Photo: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images

McLaughlin's title fight in 2024 was hampered by 4 very poor results: Long Beach, Detroit, Laguna Seca and Toronto.

At Long Beach, a gearbox problem forced him to retire. He crashed from second place in Detroit, and collisions with Penske teammate Will Power in Laguna Seca and Toronto also resulted in low results there – and McLaughlin believes he can't run those sorts of races if he’s to turn out to be champion.

“We all know the way to go is just consistent results and a few wins along the way,” said McLaughlin, who also missed the rostrum within the season opener at St. Petersburg for incorrectly using the push-to-pass technique on restarts. “I feel you actually should win just a few times, but a very powerful thing is consistency and everyone knows that.

“You have to eliminate those really bad results and we had a few last year that really hurt. We can all learn from this and become better.”

McLaughlin stays optimistic for 2025, especially since he scored his first oval track wins at Iowa and Milwaukee last 12 months.

“From where I started at the end of 2020 to now, I am a completely different race driver,” he said.

“I believed I had the ingredients to win last 12 months and I still think so. I just haven't won the oval yet, we were close, but winning the oval obviously gave me a variety of confidence.

“But I'd be lying if I said I felt any different than last 12 months. I actually feel like I'm in the identical boat, it's only a matter of circumstances and the indisputable fact that I put myself in numerous positions. Sometimes you furthermore may need a little bit of female happiness.