"Reminds me of Adrian Newey": Rinus VeeKay hails new lead engineer at Dale Coyne for transforming 2025 challenger

IndyCar driver Rinus VeeKay recently applauded the efforts of his lead engineer, Michael Cannon after emerging as one the standout performers in the 2025 season. After the first seven rounds, he currently finds himself in 16th place in the standings, an impressive position for a driver of the relatively smaller Dale Coyne Racing side.

In his recent interview, VeeKay praised Cannon and even compared him to the legendary Formula 1 aerodynamicist, Adrian Newey. Via an interaction with The Race, the 24-year-old driver said:

"It's like he invented this car. So he's like, 'no, we shouldn't do this because if we go too far this way, that doesn't work, we should do this'. And he's right, exactly that. When I'm on the track, that translates and it makes sense."

He further added:

"I would say 90% of our changes are positives, barely a negative in there. He reminds me of Adrian Newey, that everybody wants to work with him because whatever he does is right. That's kind of similar with Michael Cannon."

Rinus VeeKay, driving the #18 Dale Coyne Racing car under the guidance of Michael Cannon, who returned to the team last month, has registered one top-five and three top-ten finishes in seven IndyCar races this season.

Rinus VeeKay suffered from a mechanical issue in the Detroit GP

While Rinus Veekay has applauded the efforts of Michael Cannon in transforming the 2025 Dale Coyne Racing car, the former did not have the best of outings during last week's Detroit Grand Prix.

After starting the 100-lap event from P7 on the grid, he had to unfortunately retire from the race during the initial stages because of a mechanical issue on his #18 racecar. In line with this, Veekay came up with an update via his Instagram account.

"So bummed. Mechanical issue ended our day on lap 8. We had great pace all weekend, wish we had a little bit of luck at our side. St. Louis is up next!" Veekay wrote.

Rinus Veekay has been competing in America's highest class of open-wheel racing since the 2020 season. He has so far managed to amass 80 outings, during which he has put on board a solitary victory, four podiums, and two pole positions.

In the 2024 IndyCar season, he was able to manage a 13th-place finish in the drivers' overall standings with 300 points with the help of one top-five and seven top-ten finishes.

Taking into consideration that he is currently in 16th place in the standings this year, VeeKay would ideally want to end the ongoing 17-race campaign in the top 10. He has so far managed to amass 110 points in his #18 Dale Coyne Racing car.