#10– Alex Palou, 1st in the championship standings (656 points) – 17 races
- 5 wins, 10 podiums, 13 top fives, 17 top 10s, 2 poles, 11 Fast Six Appearances
- Best Finish: 1st (IMS Road Course – Race 1, Detroit, Road America, Mid-Ohio, Portland)
- Best Start: 1st (Indianapolis 500, Detroit)
#9 – Scott Dixon, 2nd in the championship standings (578 points) – 17 races
- 3 wins, 6 podiums, 11 top fives, 16 top 10s, 0 poles, 9 Fast Six Appearance
- Best Finish: 1st (IMS Road Course – Race 2, Gateway, Laguna Seca)
- Best Start: 2nd (Texas)
#8 – Marcus Ericsson, 6th in the championship standings (438 points) – 17 races
- 1 win, 3 podiums, 4 top fives, 14 top 10s, 0 poles, 4 Fast Six Appearances
- Best Finish: 1st (St. Petersburg)
- Best Start: 2nd (Long Beach)
#11 – Marcus Armstrong, 20th in the championship standings (214 points) – 12 races
- 0 wins, 0 podiums, 0 top fives, 5 top 10s, 0 poles, Fast Six Appearances
- Best Finish: 7th (Toronto)
- Best Start: 7th (IMS Road Course – Race 2)
#11 – Takuma Sato, 29th in the championship standings (70 points) – 5 races
- 0 wins, 0 podiums, 0 top fives, 2 top 10s, 0 poles, 1 Fast Six Appearance
- Best Finish: 7th (Indianapolis 500)
- Best Start: 6th (Texas)
Joey Barnes: Filthy. That’s how I would describe the season that Alex Palou had in 2023.
To not only capture top 10s in every race, but to nothing lower than eighth and only four results outside the top five is just staggering. By now, considering the drama away from the track over the past two years – and will likely be ongoing for some time in future – it just shows the mental toughness of the Spaniard. In many ways, it’s a cut above the nickname of ‘The Iceman’ given to team-mate Scott Dixon.
The scary thing is Palou is only 26 years old and has now scored two titles in only four years in IndyCar, which means that barring a scenario that sees him eventually go to Formula 1 (kidding, kind of), he will be a problem for the field for many years to come.
Scott Dixon’s season was a bit weird to me. A good chunk of the season it was wondering if he would end up winless, and then he closes out the year in typical Dixon fashion by winning three of four and making a massively late push in the championship.
If not for the Long Beach incident with Pato O’Ward, that was very likely a race that could have been won. Instead, it proved to be the dagger as it was his only result outside the top 10 all year and left him chasing his team-mate and the championship. I’ll be curious to see if there’s a change in urgency at the start of the season, especially knowing what Palou is capable of putting together.
Going into the 2023 season, it felt like the year that Marcus Ericsson would take another step and become a big-time player in the title picture. And it looked promising after winning in St. Petersburg and starting the year with eight consecutive top 10s, which included another two podiums. Obviously, the outcome at the Indianapolis 500 was a gut punch.
Getting caught up in a mess at the start at Mid-Ohio delivered a 27th-place finish the Swede couldn’t really afford. One could argue it kickstarted an underwhelming second half of the year that featured one top five and zero podiums. Moving to Andretti Global for next season will be interesting to see if that extracts more from Ericsson.
Marcus Armstrong was a pleasant surprise, taking top rookie honours despite running a partial season. Oddly enough, he scored the same amount of points as AJ Foyt Racing’s Santino Ferrucci, who ran all 17 rounds. The only reason Ferrucci ended up 19th to Armstrong’s 20th was the tie-breaker of best finish, which the former held with a third-place finish in the Indy 500.
Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images
Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
Nick Degroot: Chip Ganassi Racing ended the year 1-2 in the championship standings as Palou absolutely obliterated the competition. Ending the year with five wins, ten podiums, and an average finish of 3.7 – with no finish worse than eighth – was near-perfect.
He was 78 points ahead of Dixon at season’s end and 168 points clear of the closest non-Ganassi driver. It wasn’t Max Verstappen levels of dominance, but it’s about as close as you’re going to get in modern IndyCar racing.
Dixon came on strong at season’s end, winning three of the last four races. But can Ganassi keep this level of dominance up for another year?
Marcus Ericsson lost out on back-to-back Indy 500 wins with Josef Newgarden’s last-lap pass, but he still had a decent year with a victory at St. Pete and sixth in the final standings. I’m curious to see how Linus Lundqvist performs in that car next year.
The fourth car once again lagged behind the others, but it was a respectable rookie season for Armstrong. He showed some speed, was top rookie and completed 1,046 of a possible 1,050 laps. I find that last stat to be the most impressive when looking at a rookie campaign.