TORONTO – Being the new guy is never easy. When the Verizon IndyCar Series team you join has been built around another driver who is still there, it can mean change on all sides of the equation.

When Takuma Sato left Andretti Autosport at the end of 2017 to return to Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, he arrived at what was previously a one-car outfit synonymous with driver Graham Rahal. The RLL team went through an adjustment period before the 2017 Indianapolis 500 winner found his stride.

“It kind of took a long time to get the No. 30 Mi-Jack/Panasonic Honda car to get up to speed honestly,” said Sato, who started the season with three finishes outside the top 10, while his teammate was no worse than ninth in those races. Sato has reeled off four top-seven finishes in the past five races and on Saturday qualified seventh for the Honda Indy Toronto.

“You really need to take time build it,” Sato continued. “We are hooking up more speed in the second half of the season, so we hope to carry this momentum. Graham and I work very well together and I hope we can start showing what's possible.”

While it took Sato some time to assimilate back into the Rahal program, Robert Wickens barely missed a step after he joined Schmidt Peterson Motorsports alongside one of the series' biggest stars, James Hinchcliffe. Wickens said he never felt it was “Hinchcliffe's team” when he joined his long-time friend.

“From the moment I walked into the shop as an official driver, I always got the feeling that it was James and Robbie's team. I never felt like it was James' team and the second car,” Wickens said.

“They did a great job of making me feel welcome right from the beginning and, honestly, it's been phenomenal. The team's been great, I've gotten fantastic support, and I've never felt like I wasn't getting enough attention.”

Wickens made an immediate impression, winning the Verizon P1 Award for pole position in his first race and dominating in the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg until an accident on a late restart. He has two podiums and five top-five in his first 11 races. Wickens qualified 10th on Saturday for the Honda Indy Toronto and will start alongside his teammate in Row 5.

While Wickens was new to the Verizon IndyCar Series, it certainly helped that he and Hinchcliffe have been close friends for two decades and that the team's established star lobbied hard to have his buddy join the outfit.

A big difference in the situations of Sato and Wickens is that Schmidt Peterson was already a two-car program. Rahal Letterman Lanigan hadn’t run two full-season entries since 2012, Sato’s final season in his first stint with the team. Expanding back to two cars brought significant internal change and had an impact on team performance early on.

“When you expend from one to two cars, it's different,” said Graham Rahal, who qualified 13th on Saturday in the No. 15 Rousseau Honda. “There's a bit of a different mindset, so it takes a little while to get used to, no doubt.

“SPM was already two cars, well-oiled, and obviously Hinch and Robert are best buds so that helps. And I wouldn't put aside the fact that you have to give it to them. I mean, SPM has done a heck of a job this year, especially rebounding from last season when they were pretty mediocre.”

At Chip Ganassi Racing, Ed Jones also joined a team with an established star this year, just as the team downsized from four cars to two. His teammate is four-time champion Scott Dixon, who has been with CGR since 2002.

Dixon understands things from the other side of the equation. The 43-time Indy car race winner knows that standing in the shadow of the team's long-time leader presents a challenge to new arrivals.

“It can be difficult for the new guys, but I think our team does a pretty good job of not getting stuck in our ways,” Dixon said. “With Ed, they've done a good job listening to him and understanding what he likes because very seldom do you get a driver that actually likes the same thing (in car setup).

“In Taku's situation, he's been there before because he's moved around to a few different teams, so he knows the ropes and he knows the circuits and probably a lot of the people as well. I feel for Ed and Robert because it's a lot different, they are coming in to an atmosphere they don't know that well.”