Best drivers in IndyCar

[Razzzor]

We constantly debate who is the best in F1, but never with Indycar.

Who do you all think is the best in the series?

For me I put Dixon and Franchitti at the top (and no I'm definitely not a Ganassi fan). Franchitti's proven himself to me particularly in his early years with Team Green and being the only driver to take on Ganassi for two years in 98/99. I think his struggles this year could be just age; he's struggled all this season. Even when he puts in a good qualifying, he usually drifts back. Look at Iowa just gone by today - he was almost 4 laps down and didn't have any known issues. Dixon was up to 5th and probably had a chance at 3rd (he wasn't going to beat Ryan or James) before his engine ran into problems. Dario started in 1997, another two years and he'd have had as many seasons in Cart/IRL as Schumacher in F1, without a break! So he must be well past his peak.

Dixon, well he won in only his third career Cart start in a backmarker team, then won the IRL title in his first season. Both his title seasons he was very much the dominant driver, only a bit of bad luck made them closer in the end, and he could very easily have won a couple more titles. In fact Dixon's probably one of the more unlucky drivers in the field, for some reason. But he and Franchitti have been very even on speed. Dixon is very much a driver who will back out of a risky manoeuvre too - he doesn't make many mistakes and rarely crashes into someone.

I think Seb Bourdais is one of the best in the field. He seems to struggle a bit when he's not in a leading contender car (a bit like Dario actually) because he's been nowhere this season. Indycar will lose a top driver next year if he doesn't stick around.

Helio Castro-Neves is maybe third best. He straight away proved just as fast as Gil De Ferran when they joined Penske, although somehow (bad luck) he couldn't translate it into championships like Gil did. For some reason Helio just can't close out a championship and usually only comes on strong nearer the end. I do think he's well past his prime - he's been in Cart/Indycar almost as long as Dario, so I'm really amazed he's leading the points at the moment while Power Sunday-drives it. Perhaps since there's been no standout this year and he's been around the points lead for most of the year, he's putting more effort in throughout the weekend to get setup right, pre-race, etc. It is amazing that Helio hasn't won a title in his career.

Will Power is on his way up. I think he'll eventually sort his oval struggles, but he's been so dominant on non-ovals the last two years. He's had a lot of bad luck as well, amusingly for me, because I don't really like his arrogance much. I wonder if Power is the type of driver that loses interest in trying if he's out of points contention, which he surely is this year.

Then Tony Kanaan, who's always been strong, especially on ovals. Strong right out of the bat in Indy Lights, I always remember him coming back from 2 laps down (Michigan 500 was it?) to win, lapping so much faster than everyone.

No one else really stands out to me. Ryan Hunter-Ryan is good, but too early in his career to say he's a hall of famer, and he does have the best car right now with his team mates all doing well with him. Hell even Carlos could have won at Indy. Hinchcliffe's now won more races than Ryan, but has been really inconsistent and crashy. Even Marco's having his best season, though he constantly falls back because it looks like he can't set a car up. Another title and I'll perhaps change my mind with Ryan though, especially with his performance at Iowa coming from last to 2nd at the finish.

[Peat]

RHR is setting up a good stall for himself these last few seasons. Maybe we'll look back in years to come and see this as the start of his domination of the series?

At present, the only guy i don't see any glaring weaknesses with is Scott Dixon.

[rantanamo]

Easy to say after today, but I think Hinch is really headed for great things. Versatile, and already starting to win a lot at a young age. Just think, he's not even that consistent this season and has won 3-times. If we can just get the other young guys like Andretti and Rahal winning, you may see the season begin to move up in the minds of the casual viewer.

Agree on Hunter-Reay. You may be seeing the beginning of something big.

A guy that I hope Penske keeps around as Helio is near the end is Almendinger. When he left ChampCar he was just starting to get it going strong. I think driving full time, he could be another young name in a great group of younger guys.

[NaBUru38]

There's two different questions: who is the best in history, and who is the best now. Like, Bourdais is doing really bad now, and Franchitti has had two not so good years.

[bjohnsonsmith]

There's already a thread for All-Time Favorite Driver? so it would make sense to have this thread about the current drivers.

This is quite a hard one but looking at consistency RHR and Hinch get my vote. Marco Andretti's almost up there but a win would really seal it.

[Paradise City]

Ryan Hunter-Reay atm. Marco Andretti is competent but unremarkable. I think if the two Rahals got it together, Graham would be good. Helio, Kanaan are contenders but are in the sunset of their careers. I don't know what's going on with Ganassi, I'm inclined to blame the team I guess. Power is disorientated, dunno why. With Bourdais, we can blame young Penske.

[NaBUru38]

Bj, "best" and "favourite" are totally different things.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by NaBUru38

Bj, "best" and "favourite" are totally different things.

I'm well aware of that, hence my post #5., otherwise I might as well merge the two threads. Personally I would like to see two distinct threads as it adds variety.

What do other forum members want?

[Razzzor]

Yeah favourite and best are two different things, this thread is about the best drivers of the current era, meaning not just this season.

So I think that kind of rules Marco out, although he's doing okay this year, up until 2013 he's only won two races in seven years with a top 3 team. A team who, imo, he's only with because his daddy runs it. Meanwhile his team mates win championships (Dario, RHR) and Marco hasn't finished better than 7th. Last year while RHR won the title, Marco was 16th with only 2 top fives. He's had 11 podiums in his career 2007-2012. Compare that to Dixons 53.

Only Marco or Danica would remain hired by Michael Andretti with those sort of poor results. But hey maybe he'll turn it all around this year - he's certainly surprised me leading the points.

[marcostraz]

Dixon, Hunter-Reay, Franchitti and Castroneves for me are the best drivers because they are competitive the same in all type of circuits...Dario is showing a declining moment, but until last year he was the best...I don't see Power and Kanaan in the first group because their performance are too much different from type to type of tracks (Power in the road/street and Kanaan in the ovals)...Andretti is showing some improvments all around, but we have to see that in a long period...Hinchcliffe is going to be a first group top driver, now after a first oval win...I think Wilson and Pagenaud colud be in the first group if they were in one of the three top team...

[Mekola]

Do not miss Hinchcliffe. He seems pretty underrated to consider him among the best of the field.

[NaBUru38]

The top active drivers in history are Franchitti, Dixon, Castroneves and Kanaan. But it's hard to miss Hunter-Reay, Power, Hinchcliffe, Pagenaud and Briscoe.

[Lanky Turtle]

Even though he's having a bad year, Will Power's dominance of the roadcourses the last 3 years puts him at the top of my list. He's been qualifying well on the ovals this year and I think it's only a matter of time before he can find pace for a full race and start winning oval races. And when that happens I could see him winning many championships.
I also think Dixon and Dario are really good all around. You can't dismiss a driver because of a bad race or even a bad season.
Bourdais is one of my favorites but I've seen little from him to get excited about since he's come to IndyCar. Not just because he runs mid pack but because we've seen lots of mistakes the last couple years that we never saw in Champcar.

[00steven]

Power
Franchitti
Dixon
RHR
Castroneves
Wilson
Paganaud
Hinch
Bourdais
TK or Marco

[ptclaus98]

RHR
Hinch
Helio
Dixon

*gulf*

Insignificance and irrelevance

[NaBUru38]

Originally Posted by marcostraz

I think Wilson and Pagenaud colud be in the first group if they were in one of the three top team...

Same with Bourdais. But you only get so many top teams.

[Salamus]

Originally Posted by NaBUru38

Same with Bourdais. But you only get so many top teams.

Bourdais has been a real disappointment in IndyCar so far. Of course Dragon Racing isn't a top team by any means but at the same time, you would expect Bourdais to show some sort of magic in the car.

Pagenaud, Sato, and Wilson have all done well so far against giants like Andretti and Penske.

Right now, RHR is definitely the best driver in the field.

[Paradise City]

Originally Posted by Salamus

Bourdais has been a real disappointment in IndyCar so far. Of course Dragon Racing isn't a top team by any means but at the same time, you would expect Bourdais to show some sort of magic in the car.

Pagenaud, Sato, and Wilson have all done well so far against giants like Andretti and Penske.

Right now, RHR is definitely the best driver in the field.

Bourdais did very well last year. His woes this year I put down to Dragon.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by Paradise City

Bourdais did very well last year. His woes this year I put down to Dragon.

Sebastian Saavedra isn't doing particularly well either, which suggests your right about Dragon.

Interestingly and completely off topic, when Bourdais was racing for Toro Rosso in 2008, his team mate was Sebastian Vettel. Having your team mate also called Sebastian, seems to be a bit of habbit, .

[Salamus]

Originally Posted by Paradise City

Bourdais did very well last year. His woes this year I put down to Dragon.

He had two top 10s last year.

[Paradise City]

Originally Posted by Salamus

He had two top 10s last year.

He was very competitive in many of those races and was in with a shout. He was sought after during the off-season but signed up with another year with Dragon. He's plain slow now and signs are that's down to Dragon. They are now reshuffling staff there.

[NaBUru38]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

Interestingly and completely off topic, when Bourdais was racing for Toro Rosso in 2008, his team mate was Sebastian Vettel. Having your team mate also called Sebastian, seems to be a bit of habbit, .

And his teammate in 2009 was Sébastien Buemi

Indeed,