Every driver has a different story when it comes to their junior career or journey to the NTT Indycar series. From the European junior ladder to the Road to Indy ladder, or even from sports car racing and sometimes straight from Formula One.

Let’s take a look back team by team at where their drivers where nine years ago in 2017.

Chip Ganassi Racing

Alex Palou

Fresh off two disappointing GP3 campaigns, Palou decided to move to the Japanese Formula 3 championship for 2017. The Spaniard would race with the Threebond with Drago Corse team.

The Japanese championship had an impressive schedule, visiting the likes of Suzuka, Fuji, Twin Ring Motegi and Okayama. Palou’s competition included numerous current Super Forumula drivers, including Sho Tsuboi, Mitsunori Takaboshi and Sena Sakaguchi. Also current Formula Two and former Super Formula champion, Ritomo Miyata.

Palou would have an excellent first half of the season, taking five pole positions in the first nine races. However, he could only take three wins across those nine races, with three other podiums.

In contrast, Takaboshi took the other six wins. Palou wouldn’t win again in 2017, but was a regular feature on the podium and in the top five.

Takaboshi would only win once again, but finished the majority of the second half of the season on the podium. Meanwhile, Tsuboi dominated the second half of the season, winning all but two of the remaining races which included seven in a row.

He finished second in one of the other ones and retired from the other. Ultimately, a few poor results in the first half of the season saw Tsuboi miss out on the championship to Takaboshi by just eight points.

Palou wasn’t able to match the front two convincingly meaning he would end the season in third place in the championship.

Nonetheless it was a strong season for Palou as he adapted well to the Japanese tracks and illustrated his talent behind the wheel.

He also finished 11th at the Macau Grand Prix in 2017 and made four appearances in the FIA Formula 2 Championship with Campos Racing. He would return to Europe for 2018, racing in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship.

Scott Dixon

Dixon was also racing for Chip Ganassi Racing in the 2017 Indycar season. It was a season of two halves for the New Zealander.

He was a regular feature on the podium and in the top five during the first portion of the season and capped it off with a win at Road America, making him a serious championship contender.

He would then have a run of multiple lower top ten finishes in the second half of the season and would only feature on the podium twice more, seriously derailing his championship hopes.

Four wins and greater consistency would lead Josef Newgarden to the 2017 Indycar title. Simon Pagenaud would end the season in second with two wins.

Dixon would have to accept a third place finish, missing out on the championship by just 21 points. It was by no means a poor season for Dixon, but a lack of consistency meant he couldn’t take home the championship.

Scott also made a couple of appearances in IMSA with Ford in 2017 and also finished seventh at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Ford in the GTE Pro class. He would race for Chip Ganassi in Indycar once again in 2018.

Kyffin Simpson

Simpson was still competing in karting throughout 2017, taking part in four different championships.

In both the SKUSA Pro Tour and the SKUSA SuperNationals XXI, each in the Mini Swift category, he finished 26th overall. He showed stronger form in the Orlando Cup in Junior ROK, where he secured an impressive third place.

The highlight of his year, however, came in the Florida Winter Tour (Mini Max), where he once again claimed third in the standings, earning 1496 points.

Simpson continued to build his foundation in the sport by remaining in karting for the 2018 season.

Arrow McLaren

Pato O’Ward

2017 was a transition year for O’Ward. After finishing runner up in the Pro Mazda Championship in 2016, which is now the USF Pro 2000 Championship, the logical step would be to move up to Indy Lights.

The Mexican would only compete in the first four rounds of the Indy Lights season in 2017, including a podium at St Pete. Budget issues were the reason for the partial campaign.

O’Ward was however able to find the budget to race in the IMSA Pilot Challenge. He would race alongside James French and the pair dominated the season on their way to win the championship, winning all but one race.

He would find the budget to race with Andretti in the 2018 Indy Lights season.

Christian Lundgaard

Back in 2017 Lundgaard was making his single seater debut. He opted for a dual campaign of SMP F4 and Spanish F4, racing in both with MP Motorsport.

He also made three appearances in the Danish F4 championship.

The SMP F4 championship raced mostly in Russia, but also included rounds in Finland, Estonia and Holland. Lundgaard’s main competition in this series would come from Bent Viscaal and Aleksandr Smolyar, who have both gone on to compete at the highest levels of junior single seater racing.

The Dane would go on to dominate the season, winning ten of the twenty one races. He would finish 74 points ahead of Viscaal.

Once again his main competition would be Bent Viscaal and Aleksandr Smolyar for the Spanish F4 title.

This championship was again dominant and Lundgaard was able to do the double, making it an excellent year for the Dane. Viscaal was once again in second, 74 points adrift.

Lundgaard moved up to the Formula Renault Eurocup in 2018.

Nolan Siegel

Siegel was just 12 at the start of 2017. He first drove a go kart at the age of eight and started competitive karting in 2018, before moving up to USF 2000 in 2019.

Andretti Global

Kyle Kirkwood

Kirkwood was competing in the Formula 4 United States Championship in 2017 with Cape Motorsports. The Floridian would go on to dominate the season, winning nine of the twenty races that took place in the 2017 season.

His season included six wins in a row at IMS and at the Canadian Tire Motorsports Park. He only finished off the podium on five occasions, including the first three races at Homestead Miami.

Kirkwood didn’t face any real competition, with the driver finishing third in the standings missing large parts of the season. However, the field did include former Indycar drivers Benjamin Pedersen and Jacob Abel, and also Jack William Miller.

Regardless, it was a very impressive season for Kirkwood after he finished third in the same championship the previous year. He would race in both the F3 Americas Championship and the USF 2000 National Championship in 2018.

Will Power

Back in 2017, Power was still racing for Team Penske in Indycar. The top three was Newgarden, Pagenaud and Dixon, as seen in the summary of Dixon’s 2017 season.

Power took two wins and two further podiums on his way to fifth in the standings. He was a regular in the top ten and top five, but he had too many results outside the top ten and a few outside the top twenty that limited any championship hopes. He would return to Team Penske the following year.

Marcus Ericsson

In 2017, Marcus Ericsson was racing in Formula One with the Sauber F1 team alongside Pascal Wehrlein. Although, Wehrlein missed the first two races that year due to injury and was replaced by Antonio Giovinazzi. This would be Ericsson’s fourth year in Formula One.

The Sauber team was one of the least competitive teams in the 2017 F1 season, frequently competing for positions down the order. Ericsson failed to score any points that year, making it a very disappointing and frustrating campaign for the Swedish driver. His best finish was eleventh place, which he secured in Barcelona and Baku.

Meanwhile, his teammate Wehrlein scored points at both those races taking his yearly points total to five. As much as Wehrlein was able to finish in the points on two occasions, the Sauber car wasn’t competitive enough to do so on a regular basis acting as some reassurance for Ericsson.

However, it was undoubtedly a disappointing year for him. He would return to F1 the following year with the rebranded Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 team.

Meyer Shank Racing

Felix Rosenqvist

Rosenqvist opted for a dual programme of Formula E and Super Formula in 2017. He raced in Formula E with Mahindra Racing and with SUNOCO Team LeMans in Super Formula. He made four appearances in the Porsche Carrera Cup Scandinavia, taking three wins.

Felix also drove for DragonSpeed at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the LMP2 class, finishing twelfth, as well as an appearance at the FIA GT World Cup in Macau.

The Super Formula grid in 2017 had an extremely talented grid, including the likes of Pierre Gasly, Kamui Kobayshi, Hiroaki Ishiura, Andre Lotterer and Nick Cassidy.

It would be an exciting season with so many accomplished drives, making it a challenging season for Rosenqvist. Felix would finish eleventh and twelfth in the first two races, however, he then went on to finish every race in top five after that including three podiums. The last two races at Suzuka were cancelled due to a Typhoon.

Rosenqvist would end the season in third, with Pierre Gasly ahead in second. The Swedish driver would miss out on the championship by just five points to eventual champion Hiroaki Ishiura, who finished all but one race in the top six.

In Formula E, the grid included the likes of Lucas Di Grassi, Sebastian Buemi, Sam Bird and Jose Maria Lopez, among many other gifted drivers. Felix would have a incredibly disappointing start to the season as he finished three of the first four races in 15th or below.

However, he did finish the second round of the championship in Marrakesh on the podium. In the remaining races, Rosenqvist would finish in the top ten in all but one race including one win in Berlin and three further podiums.

Buemi won six of the first eight races, but missed two races alongside two disqualifications, leaving the Swiss driver in second in the standings.

Rosenqvist would finish behind him in third, making it two very strong campaigns for him in the 2017 season. Di Grassi was the eventual Formula E champion in 2017, finishing the majority of races in the top five. Rosenqvist would return to Formula E the following season.

Marcus Armstrong

Armstrong opted for a dual F4 campaign in 2017, racing in both Italian F4 and ADAC F4. He would race in both championships with Prema. He also raced in the winter months prior to the main 2017 season in the Toyota Racing Series with M2 Competition, finishing fourth.

In ADAC F4, he would face competition from the likes of Juri Vips, who’s made several Indycar appearances with RLL, and also Felipe Drugovich, Frederick Vesti and Juan Manuel Correa among others.

It was a long twenty one race calendar across seven weekends. It would end up being a close title fight between Armstrong, Drugovich and Vips.

All three would regularly feature in the top five and on the podium. Drugovich would take the most wins, with seven, across the season. However, with a couple of retirements and some lower results that Armstrong and Vips achieved, he would end the season on 236.5 points and third in the championship.

Armstrong and Vips both took two wins a piece. Marcus had more podiums than Vips as well, but come seasons end he would end the season on 241 points. Whereas, Vips finished the season on 245.5 points making him the 2017 ADAC F4 champion.

A great season for Armstrong, but it was no doubt frustrating to miss the championship by just 4.5 points.

Italian F4 is often seen as one of the biggest F4 championship in the world, and Armstrong was racing with one of the most competitive teams in Prema, meaning he would likely be aiming for the championship.

Armstrong would finish only two races outside the top ten and two further outside the top five, whilst taking four wins. He would end the season as a fairly dominant champion, finishing 36 points ahead of Job Van Uitert. He would race in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship in 2018.

Team Penske

Scott McLaughlin

McLaughlin was competing in the Australian V8 Supercars C hampionship in 2017, also with Penske in the form of DJR Team Penske. He finished third the previous year and hadn’t won the championship since 2012.

McLaughlin took by far the most wins with eight in his Penske Supercar. He also took multiple other podiums. His main competition for the championship that year would be Jamie Whincup who was racing for Triple Eight Race Engineering.

Whincup would take only four wins, but his season included a vast amount of podiums and his off days appeared to by slightly better than those of McLaughlin.

Come seasons end, Whincup would win the championship by just 21 points ahead of McLaughlin, which is nothing really in terms of the V8 Supercars points scoring system. No doubt a heart breaking season for McLaughlin, but a positive one nonetheless.

He would return to the Australian championship the following year.

Josef Newgarden

Josef moved to Team Penske in Indycar for 2017 after finishing fourth the previous year with Ed Carpenter Racing.

As previously discussed, Newgarden’s consistency along with his four wins led him to take his first Indycar title in 2017, beating Pagenaud and Dixon. Penske would retain Newgarden for the following season.

David Malukas

Malakus raced in two series in 2017. His main focus was the ADAC F4 Championship where he raced with Motopark. Marcus Armstrong also raced in the championship that year as seen in his summary, finishing second behind Juri Vips.

It would prove a difficult campaign for Malukas as he finished a lowly 19th in the standings, although he did miss three races. His best result was fifth place finish at Oschersleben.

He also competed in the USF 2000 championship that year with BN Racing. It was a better season Stateside for Malukas as he finished tenth in the standings in USF 2000 despite missing several races.

His best finish was a second place at Road America as well as a top five finish at the season finale at Watkins Glen. Oliver Askew won USF 2000 that year ahead of Rinus Veekay. Not the strongest year for Malukas, but plenty of positives to build on.

He would race in the Pro Mazda Championship in 2018.

A.J Foyt Enterprises

Caio Collet

In 2017, Caio Collet was still racing in karts. He competed in the CIK FIA European and World Championships, both in the OK category. He finished 28th in the European one and 25th in the World Championship.

In the final part of 2017 and early 2018 he also partially competed in the F4 UAE Championship. Across seven races, Collet managed one win, five further podiums and a fourth place finish, a very impressive debut in single seaters for the Brazilian.

His full focus for 2018 was the French F4 Championship.

Santino Ferrucci

Santino didn’t complete any full season in a Championship in 2017. He raced in the first six races of the 2017 GP3 series with DAMS and a best result of eighth.

He then finished the season by taking part in the second half of the FIA Formula 2 season with Trident. He best finish in F2 was ninth.

He also served as a Haas Formula One development driver in 2017. He would return full time to Formula 2 in 2018, once again with Trident.

Ed Carpenter Racing

Christian Rasmussen

In 2017, Rasmussen competed in the Danish F4 Championship. The Dane would drive for Magnussen Racing Experience.

Christian took two wins and a multitude of further podiums that would land him third in the standings come seasons end.

Second in the standings was Fredrick Vesti. Vesti now a runner up in Formula 2 didn’t complete the entire season meaning Rasmussen would likely have been frustrated to finish behind him. However, when Vesti did race he often won the races giving him a points advantage.

The champion that year was Daniel Lundgaard, the brother of Christian. Daniel took seven wins on the way to a dominant title win.

Rasmussen would move to the Formula 4 United States Championship in 2018.

Alexander Rossi

Rossi also raced in Indycar in 2017, with Andretti Herta Autosport. The American finished seventh in the standings, taking one win.

Rossi took his only victory at Watkins glen and secured two other podium finishes. His season was let down by numerous poor and inconsistent results throughout.

Alexander would return in 2018 with Andretti Autosport as he looked to rise further up the Indycar standings.

Dale Coyne Racing

Dennis Hauger

Hauger was still in karting back in 2017. He competed in various categories, with the most notable being the CIK FIA European and World Championships in the OK category.

He finished 7th and 43rd in them respectively. Hauger also won the senior category of the German Karting Championship in 2017.

He would move to single seaters in 2018, racing in the British F4 Championship.

Other Dale Coyne Racing Driver for 2026 has not been confirmed yet, will be updated as soon as possible.

Juncos Hollinger Racing

Rinus Veekay

Veekay would compete in multiple series in 2017. His main focus was the USF 2000 championship where he raced with Pabst Racing. As mentioned in the Malukas section, Rinus was the runner up that year to Oliver Askew.

Veekay took three wins and serval other podiums. He also only finished one race outside the top five, when he finished sixth at IMS. This level of consistency made Veekay into a strong championship contender.

In contrast, Askew managed seven victories and four other podiums. However, he did finish 17th at Road America and 12th in Toronto.

These poor results brought the championship down to the wire. Veekay even managed to win the season finale, but Askew finished just behind him to win the championship by just seven points.

Veekay also made six appearances in the BOSS GP series, where he finished second in the standings. His other main championship across the end of 2017 and beginning of 2018 was the MRF Challenge Formula 2000. This championship took place mostly in the Middle East.

Rinus would go onto finish a distant third in the standings with three wins and 90 points off the championship. The 2017 series was won by Felipe Drugovich who dominated with ten wins.

Nonetheless it was a successful 2017 campaign for Veekay and he would race in the Pro Mazda Championship in 2018.

Sting Ray Robb

Sting Ray raced in the Pro Mazda Championship in 2017 with the World Speed Motorsports team. After having not done much racing in 2016, 2017 would very likely be a transition and learning year for Robb.

In that regard, it was a very successful season for Sting Ray. He ended the season in sixth place. Three fourth places at St Pete, Road America and Watkins Glen were his best results.

He was never a championship candidate, but still a successful year after not much running the previous year. He would return to the championship the following year, this time with Team Pelfrey.

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

Graham Rahal

Rahal was racing with the same team in Indycar back in 2017. He also made one appearance in the IMSA GTD class at that years 24 Hours of Daytona.

2017 was one of Rahal’s most successful seasons in Indycar. The RLL driver won both races in Detroit as well as a podium finish at Mid Ohio. Graham was actually the only full time RLL driver in 2017.

With no teammate to compare against and work with, 2017 was definitely a great campaign for Rahal. He ended the year sixth in the standings, beating the likes of Tony Kanaan and Takuma Sato.

He would of course return to the series the following year with RLL.

Louis Foster

2025 Indycar Rookie of the Year, Louis Foster, was racing in both the Ginetta Junior Championship and its Winter Series in 2017. He finished sixth in the Winter Series.

He would only complete a partial season in regular championship, making nine appearances. He unfortunately retired in his debut race, but had a best result of eighth at Brands Hatch.

He would return to the championship in 2018.

Mick Schumacher

In 2017, Mick Schumacher was racing in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship with Prema. It was Mick’s debut year in F3 after finishing second in both the ADAC and Italian F4 Championships in 2016.

His teammates were Guanyu Zhou, Maximilian Gunther and current Indycar driver Callum Illot.

It was a largely disappointing year for Schumacher, with only one podium finish. A regular runner inside the top ten, but he was never a serious contender for podiums and race wins.

He was beaten convincingly by his teammates as Zhou finished eighth in the standings while Gunther and Illot finished third and fourth respectively. Meanwhile, Mick finished the year in twelfth.

Mick would certainly hope to improve as he returned to the championship the following year, remaining with Prema. He also finished 16th at that years Macau Grand Prix.

Prema

Callum Ilott

As just mentioned above, Illot was racing with Prema in the Formula 3 European Championship back in 2017. He had an impressive season, finishing the year in fourth place.

The Briton took five wins across the season putting himself in a comfortable fourth place ahead of Jake Hughes in fifth.

Greater consistency and more podium appearances meant Illot just missed out on second and third place to Joel Eriksson and Maximilian Gunther.

However, Lando Norris was a dominant champion and took an outstanding nine wins and several other podium finishes.

Nonetheless, a relatively successful season for Illot. He also appeared in the Macau Grand Prix, finishing 15th, but also made two appearances in Formula 2 with Trident. Callum would move to the GP3 series in 2018.

Robert Shwartzman

Schwartzmen raced in the 2017 Formula Renualt Eurocup with R-ace GP. Robert had an outstanding season, boasting six wins and multiple other podiums finishes.

Both his start and end to the season where mightily impressive, but a run of lower top ten results mid way through the season derailed his championship hopes. Sacha Fenestraz was a dominant champion finishing most races on the podium, including seven race wins.

Schwartzmen would end the season in third place overall in the championship, just thirteen points off second. It was a strong grid, which also included the likes of Dan Ticktum, Richard Verschoor and Yifei Ye, making it a strong campaign for the R-ace GP driver.

He would move up to the Formula 3 European Championship in 2018.

written by Michael Williams / Media Credit: Penske Entertainment