{"id":130766,"date":"2025-09-09T17:50:17","date_gmt":"2025-09-09T17:50:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/130766\/"},"modified":"2025-09-09T17:50:17","modified_gmt":"2025-09-09T17:50:17","slug":"every-full-time-2025-indycar-driver-ranked-from-worst-to-best","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/130766\/","title":{"rendered":"Every full-time 2025 IndyCar driver ranked from worst to best"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alex Palou is the most nailed-on number one in a ranking in the history of sports rankings, we’re aware of that. <\/p>\n

But bear with us as we rank the rest of the IndyCar grid (full-time) behind him.<\/p>\n

It’s an even more important ranking than in previous seasons because Palou effectively turned IndyCar into two championships: one for himself, and one for everyone else…<\/p>\n

So who, in our opinion, won the IndyCar ‘B championship’? Read on to find out.<\/p>\n

27 Jacob Abel<\/p>\n

Dale Coyne<\/p>\n

\"Jacob<\/p>\n

Points: 123
Championship position: 27th
Best result: 11th<\/p>\n

Unlike last year, Dale Coyne has had a proper benchmark driver excelling in Rinus VeeKay, and while we wouldn\u2019t expect Jacob Abel to be reaching his level, this season has been poor.<\/p>\n

An 11th place at Iowa was really impressive but that was the only time Abel beat VeeKay all year.<\/p>\n

Very little evidence that Abel is a future IndyCar driver on merit.<\/p>\n

26 Devlin Defrancesco<\/p>\n

Rahal Letterman Lanigan<\/p>\n

\"Devlin<\/p>\n

Points: 171
Championship position: 26th
Best result: 11th<\/p>\n

I feel sorry for Devlin as he\u2019s a) always been very pleasant and b) shown glimpses of talent that you want to see from young drivers.<\/p>\n

But he needed to show more in what was his third full season in IndyCar than having the second-worst average finish in the field.<\/p>\n

25 Sting Ray Robb<\/p>\n

Juncos Hollinger Racing<\/p>\n

\"Sting<\/p>\n

Points: 181
Championship position: 25th
Best result: 9th<\/p>\n

An improvement on 2024 with a top-10 at Long Beach and a couple more top-15s.<\/p>\n

But Robb was still not on par with team-mate Conor Daly, or at a level where a third-year IndyCar driver should be.<\/p>\n

24 Nolan Siegel<\/p>\n

Arrow McLaren<\/p>\n

\"Nolan<\/p>\n

Points: 213
Championship position: 22nd
Best result: 8th<\/p>\n

Siegel was never likely to be an absolute sensation in his first full season, and his potential for the future is one of the reasons why McLaren signed him as well as the budget he brings.<\/p>\n

But there were very few glimpses of that promised star power in a team whose other drivers finished second and fifth in the championship. McLaren scored 25 top-10s this season in 17 races and he contributed two of them.<\/p>\n

The McLaren car is not the easiest to drive so I think you have to factor that in. But ultimately nothing we\u2019ve seen across this year as a whole points to Siegel being the superstar that deserved this seat over Formula 2 champion Theo Pourchaire.<\/p>\n

He only fractionally improved on his per-race totals from last season, and that\u2019s damning.<\/p>\n

23 Marcus Ericsson<\/p>\n

Andretti Global<\/p>\n

\"Marcus<\/p>\n

Points: 234
Championship position: 20th
Best result: 5th<\/p>\n

You could sum up Ericsson\u2019s season with one word or a million, it\u2019s been one of those years.<\/p>\n

Despite the switching teams and being the new kid on the block at Andretti, there\u2019s no escaping the fact that he trailed his team-mates. Ericsson’s so much better than what he\u2019s managed to show this year.<\/p>\n

I do want to note – remember he returned to victory contention at the Indy 500 this year until he was disqualified because of Andretti modifiying a spec part. The performance felt like a massive turning point but it wasn’t to be.<\/p>\n

22 Kyffin Simpson<\/p>\n

Chip Ganassi Racing<\/p>\n

\"Kyffin<\/p>\n

Points: 282
Championship position: 17th
Best result: 3rd<\/p>\n

Three top-fives points to a bit of a breakthrough for Simpson, and so does his fourth at Nashville in a weekend where he scored his best oval qualifying result and race finish of his career so far.<\/p>\n

Given it was his second full season, the expectation now has to be more consistency and a top-15 championship finish.<\/p>\n

Unlike the likes of Siegel or Robb, Simpson did actually reach the peaks of what his car was capable of on multiple occasions and fought inside the top 10 more often. That\u2019s all Ganassi really needs from him when it has a Palou\/Dixon combo leading.<\/p>\n

21 Louis Foster<\/p>\n

RLL<\/p>\n

\"Louis<\/p>\n

Points: 213
Championship position: 23rd
Best result: 11th<\/p>\n

Foster is arguably one of the toughest drivers to rank in this field, at least I found.<\/p>\n

He regularly competed with Graham Rahal to be the paciest driver in his team and his qualifying was outstanding at times, including pole position at Road America.<\/p>\n

But the races fell apart a little too predictably on many occasions, meaning Foster didn\u2019t actually notch a top-10 despite starting within the first 10 places six times.<\/p>\n

I think the team has to take a fair amount of the responsibility for that. Foster\u2019s searing pace in qualifying shows what the rookie is capable of.<\/p>\n

Robert Shwartzman is only ranked ahead because of driving for a worse team and without Foster\u2019s US feeder-series experience.<\/p>\n

20 Graham Rahal<\/p>\n

RLL<\/p>\n

\"Graham<\/p>\n

Points: 260
Championship position: 19th
Best result: 4th<\/p>\n

Rahal bettered his points total for 2024 and led his team, which always gets bonus points in an IndyCar ranking. <\/p>\n

But it was also quite an anonymous season that was more consistent but without the peaks of previous years.<\/p>\n

19 Conor Daly<\/p>\n

Juncos Hollinger Racing<\/p>\n

\"Conor<\/p>\n

Points: 268
Championship position: 18th
Best result: 5th<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not sure if Daly is too high or too low. I\u2019m still not convinced by his road-and-street course performances (21st and 22nd respectively on average), but he was so good on the ovals that it feels like he deserves his flowers for that alone.<\/p>\n

He did give Juncos Hollinger its highest-ever points total. OK, natural progression should account for a bit of that but not every team gets better every year.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s played a key role in that push forwards.<\/p>\n

He is also one of the few drivers on this list in a two-car team without a proper benchmark of a team-mate, so we also don\u2019t really know what was possible this year. Especially with a stronger road-and-street driver.<\/p>\n

18 Santino Ferrucci<\/p>\n

AJ Foyt Racing<\/p>\n

\"Santino<\/p>\n

Points: 293
Championship position: 16th
Best result: 2nd<\/p>\n

A very harsh but unavoidable ranking for Ferrucci – who began this year talking about how he and his Foyt team would fight for the championship, but finished closer to 26th in the points than fifth.<\/p>\n

He was also beaten by team-mate David Malukas, a driver rebounding from an injury-truncated 2024 and new to Foyt this year.<\/p>\n

Ferrucci’s mid-season run from the 500 to Road America was the best in the series, but the start to the season was poor and the second half was too inconsistent.<\/p>\n

He was the sixth-best street racer and fourth-best on ovals, so like in the Penske team Foyt is affiliated with, the struggles were mostly on road courses.<\/p>\n

Also, his average finish was the ninth-best in the series, which shows you he was consistent and his crash in warm-up that took him out of the Toronto race in the points was very costly indeed.<\/p>\n

17 Alexander Rossi<\/p>\n

Ed Carpenter Racing<\/p>\n

\"Alexander<\/p>\n

Points: 297
Championship position: 15th
Best result: 4th<\/p>\n

It started so well for Rossi – but he was ultimately beaten in the points by his sophomore team-mate, who won a race (and had to overtake Rossi in the last stint to do so). Beyond that, for Rossi, it just felt very flat through the middle part of the year.<\/p>\n

That being said, he has seven top-10s this year and some unlucky DNFs working against him.<\/p>\n

His first year in the team, which is rebuilding, so it\u2019s only fair to point that out. A low ranking but I think he’s better than this.<\/p>\n

16 Robert Shwartzman<\/p>\n

Prema Racing<\/p>\n

\"Robert<\/p>\n

Points: 211
Championship position: 24th
Best result: 9th<\/p>\n

Shwartzman is very high on this list and yes, a lot of that is to do with his Indy 500 pole.<\/p>\n

Let me just state generally, that while I appreciate this is not a ranking of the 2025 Indy 500, the Indy 500 is the primary goal for every team in this series. So when I weigh the rankings I do take into account the 500 and where it sits in the list of priorities, which is ahead of the championship itself for the teams.<\/p>\n

Shwartzman’s pole was a feat not achieved since the 1990s and one which should have been impossible in this era of IndyCar racing. Especially at his first oval race, without the benefit of the feeder series experience.<\/p>\n

His team-mate outshone him over the final five races or so but prior to that Shwartzman had been excellent in comparison to Callum Ilott.<\/p>\n

This team started IndyCar from scratch without technical help and is still losing almost two seconds at every pitstop because it doesn\u2019t have the equipment of its rivals.<\/p>\n

15 Scott McLaughlin<\/p>\n

Team Penske<\/p>\n

\"Scott<\/p>\n

Points: 356
Championship position: 10th
Best result: 3rd<\/p>\n

The reason McLaughlin is so low on this list – yes, I know, it’s painfully low – is that I expected him to fight for and possibly win an IndyCar title this year and actually he only scored nine top-10s in 17 races.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s worse, he made far too many unforced errors for a driver of his skill level.<\/p>\n

His transition from Supercars has shown just how much natural ability he has. But while Penske was poor this year, McLaughlin squandered more opportunities than he should have. He should have easily been fighting Will Power to lead Team Penske higher up the order. OK, he was only a point behind Power in the end – but Power had had more misfortune.<\/p>\n

14 Josef Newgarden<\/p>\n

Penske<\/p>\n

\"Josef<\/p>\n

Points: 316
Championship position: 12th
Wins: 1 (Nashville)<\/p>\n

All right, putting Newgarden ahead of McLaughlin seems like some sort of blasphemy looking purely at results.<\/p>\n

But Newgarden was a fuel issue away from potentially pullling off one of the Indy 500\u2019s biggest-ever upsets and a third win there in a row.<\/p>\n

He had another fuel issue at St Pete where he might have won, had a seat belt break at Long Beach, was taken out of the lead at Gateway, got caught up in a crash in Toronto, was taken out at Portland and would have been top three or better in Milwaukee before the late rain caution.<\/p>\n

Those are just a handful of his issues. Yes, he\u2019s made his own errors, like a spin at Road America, but on the whole this has been one of the unluckiest seasons in recent IndyCar memory.<\/p>\n

13 Callum Ilott<\/p>\n

Prema<\/p>\n

\"Callum<\/p>\n

Points: 218
Championship position: 21st
Best result: 5th <\/p>\n

The last five races – featuring a remarkable four top-10s – probably skew this for Ilott. But generally his demeanour has been so impressive this year.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s gone from the feisty teenager with speed and a little bit of a tendency to push beyond the ragged edge to a calm and positive team leader aware of the team\u2019s plight as a new squad on the grid.<\/p>\n

He never threw his toys out of the pram when small issues happened, and got on with it. Even at mid-season when he was trailing his rookie team-mate he wasn\u2019t phased by people rubbing that in his face, and when the car got even better in the latter part of the year it was him getting the most out of it and delivering consistent results.<\/p>\n

If you take the season from just prior to halfway (there are 17 races so there\u2019s no perfect 50\/50 split) Ilott has the 14th-best average finish. That is just absurdly good and makes me wonder if he’s actually ranked too low!<\/p>\n

12 Christian Rasmussen<\/p>\n

ECR<\/p>\n

\"Christian<\/p>\n

Points: 313
Championship position: 13th
Wins: 1 (Milwaukee)<\/p>\n

Of course, becoming the first first-time winner since 2023 boosts Rasmussen\u2019s championship position and his place on this ranking.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s arguably IndyCar\u2019s most aggressive driver but has finished all but his Nashville lap one crash was his only accident DNF of the season.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s tidied up a lot of the errors which plagued him last year and continues to deliver for a team which has leaned on him for results.<\/p>\n

And win aside, he had more top-10s than team-mate Rossi this year and was the series second-best oval driver.<\/p>\n

11 David Malukas<\/p>\n

AJ Foyt<\/p>\n

\"David<\/p>\n

Points: 318
Championship position: 11th
Best result: 2nd<\/p>\n

Malukas is still raw and rough around the edges but he\u2019s exciting and he\u2019s beaten a very strong team-mate in Ferrucci. And at the 500, too, where Ferrucci is absolutely phenomenal.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s even more impressive coming off of last year, where a hand injury robbed him of a dream McLaren chance and he didn\u2019t even know if he\u2019d reach his pre-injury ability again.<\/p>\n

He was the fifth-best qualifier in the series, showing you how rapid he\u2019s been – but how he needs to sharpen up executing those finishes in races, although that\u2019s not always been his fault.<\/p>\n

10 Rinus van Kalmthout<\/p>\n

DCR<\/p>\n

\"Rinus<\/p>\n

Points: 305
Championship position: 14th
Best result: 2nd<\/p>\n

Van Kalmthout – VeeKay – took 10 races to beat Coyne\u2019s 17-race points total from 2024. I think that speaks volumes.<\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t meet most of his crew until the week before the season started – and yet look at the performances he\u2019s put in! Scoring seventh at Gateway in this Coyne car\u2019s oval package might be one of the most impressive efforts of the year full stop.<\/p>\n

A brilliant season from an underrated driver who we needed to see in another team to appreciate fully again after he’d spent the prior years at Ed Carpenter – which dropped him for big-money signing Rossi, a driver VeeKay beat in the standings in 2025.<\/p>\n

9 Will Power<\/p>\n

Team Penske<\/p>\n

\"Will<\/p>\n

Points: 357
Championship position: 9th
Wins: 1 (Portland)<\/p>\n

Short of a disappointing last couple of races you may have even had an argument for ranking Power much higher. Like Newgarden, his number of mechanical issues and instances of being taken out is a laundry list, and he still led the team for 2025 with six top-fives and his Portland win, which broke Penske\u2019s duck.<\/p>\n

Easily good enough not only to get another year in IndyCar, but one in a top-level seat. Whether Penske agreed or not, Andretti was clearly more enthusiastic<\/a> – and it’ll be interesting to see how he goes in new surroundings with the security of a multi-year deal.<\/p>\n

8 Marcus Armstrong<\/p>\n

Meyer Shank<\/p>\n

\"Marcus<\/p>\n

Points: 364
Championship position: 8th
Best result: 3rd<\/p>\n

While he was beaten by his team-mate in the points, Armstrong was usurped only after the last race. He had an excellent year.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s only his second full season, which made his generally-strong oval performances – including a podium at Iowa – really impressive. Plus he was the fourth-best driver on road courses, too. He had 11 top-10s in 17 races. <\/p>\n

The season only really needed a few more podiums because of the way the points are weighted, as his average finish was better than the next two drivers on this list!<\/p>\n

7 Colton Herta<\/p>\n

Andretti<\/p>\n

\"Colton<\/p>\n

Points: 372
Championship position: 7th
Best result: 3rd<\/p>\n

Ranking Herta – who has signed off from IndyCar for now to chase after his Formula 1 dream<\/a> – has always been hard because his team can also be very inconsistent, and this year Herta\u2019s had a lot of issues outside of his control that impacted his races.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s also made his own errors, and was comfortably the second-best Andretti driver this season.<\/p>\n

6 Felix Rosenqvist<\/p>\n

MSR<\/p>\n

\"Felix<\/p>\n

Points: 372
Championship position: 6th
Best result: 2nd<\/p>\n

Meyer Shank has the second-best average finish across all team cars this year, beaten only by Ganassi, which it has a technical partnership with. Rosenqvist was key to that.<\/p>\n

He was less peaky than in some of his previous seasons and the first half of the year especially was really, really strong.<\/p>\n

5 Scott Dixon<\/p>\n

Ganassi<\/p>\n

\"Scott<\/p>\n

Points: 452
Championship position: 3rd
Wins: 1 (Mid-Ohio)<\/p>\n

Like most years since 2021, Dixon\u2019s ranking is impacted by being second-best to Alex Palou, although like in those years we again have to factor in Dixon\u2019s revolving door of personnel compared with Palou.<\/p>\n

But he has never felt more second-best to Palou than in this year, where Palou handed Dixon his only win at Mid-Ohio via an unthinkable unforced error.<\/p>\n

Even though he\u2019s not at Palou\u2019s level, still only two drivers beat him in a 27-car field. That\u2019s nothing to scoff at.<\/p>\n

4 Christian Lundgaard<\/p>\n

McLaren<\/p>\n

\"Christian<\/p>\n

Points: 431
Championship position: 5th
Best result: 2nd<\/p>\n

IndyCar\u2019s second-best road course finisher this year, Lundgaard has been excellent for McLaren. <\/p>\n

His oval performances still need work, and that might take time after tough years at RLL, but he slotted in at McLaren and did what no one else\u2019s done – be an equal to O\u2019Ward for much of a season.<\/p>\n

Could have been third in the points without his last-race DNF. A roaring success and justification for McLaren signing him.<\/p>\n

3 Kyle Kirkwood<\/p>\n

Andretti<\/p>\n

\"Kyle<\/p>\n

Points: 433
Championship position: 4th
Wins: 3 (Long Beach, Detroit, Gateway)<\/p>\n

Kirkwood\u2019s season fell apart in the second half and certainly wasn\u2019t helped in terms of momentum by being excluded from sixth in the Indy 500 thanks to Andretti modifying spec bodywork.<\/p>\n

He also suffered massively at the Iowa double-header where Andretti had tyre trouble, and otherwise was in the top 10 in most races in which there wasn\u2019t some sort of issue. Perhaps the biggest knock is his qualifying average, only the 12th-best in the series.<\/p>\n

Still a bit ragged in places, he could have easily been second to Palou this year. He again went toe-to-toe with Herta as Andretti\u2019s best option and was once again IndyCar\u2019s best street racer.<\/p>\n

2 Pato O’Ward<\/p>\n

McLaren<\/p>\n

\"Pato<\/p>\n

Points: 515
Championship position: 2nd
Wins: 2 (Iowa, Toronto)<\/p>\n

Only Palou\u2019s alien season trumps what Pato O\u2019Ward has done this year.<\/p>\n

While this car is harder for him to pull off his qualifying heroics in than in previous years, he\u2019s put together excellent and consistent race runs even starting further back and has found the right blend of risk versus reward – which had escaped him prior.<\/p>\n

Even with the start-of-the-year threat that Lundgaard might overtake him as team leader, he rose to a higher level than ever before in terms of what he does for this team. An impeccable season where he might be well behind Palou but is also 63 points clear of Dixon in third, which is certainly not nothing.<\/p>\n

If you exclude Palou from the results, O’Ward would have had more points than Palou had bagged in what I\u2019d call a normal year last year, showing the championship potential of O’Ward’s current performances. Assuming this year by Palou is a one-off and not the frightening new benchmark\u2026<\/p>\n

1 Alex Palou<\/p>\n

Ganassi<\/p>\n

\"Alex<\/p>\n

Points: 711
Championship position: 1st
Wins: 8 (St Petersburg, Thermal, Barber, Indy GP, Indy 500, Road America, Iowa, Laguna Seca)<\/p>\n

My temptation was to do something I\u2019ve been doing a lot this year by answering a Palou question with a one-word answer like ridiculous or unfair. But I\u2019ll try to give you a bit more bang for your buck.<\/p>\n

So here goes: this is the single best season by an IndyCar driver since it’s had a championship.<\/p>\n

How\u2019s that for a sign-off?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alex Palou is the most nailed-on number one in a ranking in the history of sports rankings, we’re…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":130767,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,806,805,803,804,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-130766","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-motosport","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-motor","11":"tag-motor-sports","12":"tag-motosport","13":"tag-motosports","14":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130766"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130766\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/130767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}