Ranking the top 10 IndyCar drivers of 2021

In an enthralling 2021 IndyCar campaign, the series bounced back from its COVID-19 truncated year prior and series sophomore Alex Palou defeated both the established order and his fellow young guns to clinch a maiden title. It capped a remarkable season with plenty of standout performers

David Malsher-Lopez Nov 22, 2021, 2:24 PM

Upd: Nov 22, 2021, 2:33 PM

Alexander Rossi, Andretti Autosport Honda

Photo by: Joe Skibinski

It involved some inward debate as to who should get the last spot in our top 10. Rinus VeeKay, a winner in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, did a tremendous job for Ed Carpenter Racing in the first half of the season, and his acrobatic driving also paid off in Detroit Race 2 with a fine second place. But after the collarbone fracture that made him a non-starter in Road America, he never looked the same driver again, barely registering on the attention meter – until wiping out himself, Scott Dixon and Alex Palou at Gateway.

Jack Harvey was another contender for P10 here, but although he was a frequent top-six starter, he and the team struggled to take advantage of the weekends when he and the team hit the right setup, and sometimes that came down to curious pitstop strategies.

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Author David Malsher-Lopez

David Malsher-Lopez is Motorsport.com’s U.S. editor, covering the NTT IndyCar Series and IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Since completing journalism college in 1994, he has worked for Autosport, TRMG, Motor Sport, Autosport (again) and Racer, before joining Motorsport.com in 2015… where he has found himself enjoying a third spell writing for Autosport. Over the course of those 27 years, he has served as a journalist, sub-editor, features editor, deputy editor and editor. In 2015, he also wrote Will Power’s biography. David lives with his wife Sophia in California and when not writing about racing, he will be found reading about planes and classic cars, attending airshows, listening to a wide variety of music or watching cop shows from the ’70s. He intends to one day own a grand piano, an Airedale terrier and a vintage Pontiac. He doesn’t do Facebook and doesn’t understand Instagram but can be found @DavidMalsher on Twitter.