Motorsport.com’s Top 10 IndyCar drivers of 2016

The panel

 David Malsher (DM) - US Editor

 Jamie Klein (JK) - UK Editor

 Valentin Khorounzhiy (VK) - News Editor, Europe

 Anne Proffit (AP) - Special contributor

 Nick DeGroot (NDG) - News Editor, US

 Aleksandr Sharadkin (AS) - Ukraine Editor

(Championship position in parentheses)

Honorable mentions

Conor Daly - Dale Coyne Racing-Honda
(18^th)
AP: Conor has become a really good racer, but his team was woebegone when it came to qualifying, and in the pits. Watching this kid march through the field at every race was flat-out amazing and his podium at Detroit 1 showed true racecraft. Conor was running at the finish in 11 races this year, had a single podium and had five top-10 results (equaling defending champion Scott Dixon).

Sebastien Bourdais - KVSH Racing-Chevrolet
(14^th, 1 win)
JK: As the sole representative for KVSH this season, 2016 was always likely to be a challenging season for former serial Champ Car champion Bourdais, but the Frenchman did an admirable job with what he had at his disposal, as ever. His Detroit victory owed more to clever strategy than outright pace, but he was only out of the top 10 twice from that race on, with his charge to fifth at the Glen standing out in particular.

Juan Pablo Montoya – Team Penske-Chevrolet
(8^th, 1 win)
DM: Ask any of his teammates, and they’ll tell you that Montoya was quicker in this third season of his IndyCar return than in the previous two. JPM could have backed up his season-opening win at St. Pete with another one at Phoenix, had it not been for a puncture. But across the season there were a few too many errors at a time when Roger Penske had the opportunity to sign a far younger (and cheaper) star. The big surprise is that JPM has taken this as a cue to quit fulltime racing. He still had a lot to give.

10. Alexander Rossi – Andretti Herta Autosport-Honda

(11^th, 1 win)

NDG: No one saw this coming -- the new Indianapolis 500 champion will forever be remembered for winning the 100th, but he impressed me on tracks other than the Brickyard. The rookie took to IndyCar racing well, ending the season with a top five at Sonoma and scoring top tens in six events and earning Rookie of the Year.

DM: I would have expected nothing less, but Rossi’s hard work and determination to improve meant he made continual gains on all types of track all year, so that eventually his form was in step with the team’s progress. The fact that this ex-F1 driver but IndyCar rookie was almost a match for Hunter-Reay by year’s end speaks volumes for his ultimate potential.
Oh, and he also won a big race in May. 

9. James Hinchcliffe – Schmidt Peterson Motorsports-Honda

(13^th)

VK: Just like his SPM teammate Mikhail Aleshin, Hinchcliffe blew hot and cold in 2016 – but the Canadian usually had the edge, and put in a sterling return campaign after his terrifying injury last year.

NDG: James didn't win any races in 2016, but like his stint on Dancing with the Stars, he came close to a trophy. After returning from a near-fatal crash at Indianapolis, he won the pole for the 100th Indy 500 and collected three podiums during the season. And at Texas, he was mere feet away from victory after a dominant performance.

JK: Inevitably, Hinchcliffe’s season is viewed through the prism of his miraculous comeback from the terrifying crash he suffered at Indianapolis last year, and the Canadian’s sealing pole for the 100th running of the 500 was one of the feel-good stories of the year. Pipped to victory by Rahal at Texas, the ‘Mayor of Hinchtown’ excelled proved his versatility by scoring additional podiums at the GP of Indy and Toronto.

AP: What can I say? James Hinchcliffe comes back from the dead, wins pole for the 100th Indy 500 and nearly wins a dance contest… Drove his heart out but didn’t have the horse for the courses this year, even though he and race engineer Allen MacDonald have that wonderful ohm relationship.

8. Ryan Hunter-Reay – Andretti Autosport-Honda

(12^th)

AS: Hunter-Reay produced one of the most memorable performances of the season – his “double comeback” on the Tricky Triangle, Pocono Raceway. And beside the third place he took that day, he scored three more podiums and two other top-five finishes.

DM: I wonder how often I’ve written that Hunter-Reay is Andretti Autosport’s greatest asset… Whatever, it remains true. Yes, he went winless for the first time since 2009, but RHR’s fighting qualities were on full display all year. Whether it was brilliantly timed restarts or carving through from disastrous qualifying performances whenever the AA team struggled, the guy was on it. The electrical problem that dropped him out of victory contention at Pocono was one of the cruelest moments of the year.

JK: One of the many top drivers to go winless in 2016, RHR was still the standard-bearer for an Andretti Autosport team hampered by the inferiority of the Honda package for much of the season. Was well in the mix for a second Indy 500 win before a pitlane collision with temporary teammate Townsend Bell ended his hopes (he still led the most laps), while an electrical issue robbed him of a victory shot at Pocono, another venue where Honda was competitive.

7. Tony Kanaan – Chip Ganassi Racing-Chevrolet

(7^th)

NDG: TK didn't light the world on fire in 2016, but he ran a solid campaign and ended the year with the fourth-best average finish (8.8), despite Ganassi's lackluster performance throughout the season.

AS: Still one of the most consistent drivers in the field. Twelve top ten finishes (and two podiums amongst them), eleven top ten starts – that’s one more TK’s strong season.

VK: Almost never the fastest (nor the slowest) Ganassi driver, Kanaan was one of the series' most reliable drivers in 2016 – and in a category as hectic as IndyCar, that's a very reasonable feat.

AP: Everyone talked about how Tony Kanaan found some “fountain of youth” in 2016. Last couple of years he was learning how to work with the Ganassi team’s operations but this year he got it. No wins this time around, but TK did produce 12 Top 10 results. 2017 may be TK’s last year; could he bow out with the same record as 2004 – earning the title while finishing every lap?

6. Helio Castroneves – Team Penske-Chevrolet

(3^rd)

JK: Yes, Castroneves is now two-and-a-half-years without a win, but even at the age of 41 his motivation remains undimmed, as does his knack of grinding out solid results. Early poles at Phoenix and Long Beach show he’s still got the pace, although he fell just shy of ending his losing streak at the latter, while subsequent podiums at the GP of Indy, Toronto and the Glen proved just enough to finish off a Penske 1-2-3 in the championship.

DM: He hasn’t won a race since 2014, but only an unlucky yellow prevented Helio from taking victory in Detroit this year. On the downside, I’m convinced as polesitter at Long Beach that he had the potential to win the race but appears to be the easiest of IndyCar’s aces to pass – ironic given his previous reputation for blocking. But give him a neutral-handling car with a stable rear end and he’ll drive like a star half his age, and remain a winning threat on all types of track.

AS: Penske’s Brazilian returned to the championship Top-3 and earned four podium finishes, two pole positions and four more front row starts. Maybe Castroneves’ 2016 season was full of highs and lows, but despite being 41, he is still very competitive. 

VK: Desperately unlucky to come up as the only winless Penske driver in 2016, the Brazilian should be a credible threat for the title next year if he sustains his current level of performance.

4= Graham Rahal – Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing-Honda

(5^th, 1 win)

AP: Graham won a race this year for a single-car team with the “inferior” Honda aero kit. He and Eddie Jones/Martin Pare work well together and clearly make that package operate to its optimum; after all, only Rahal and Rossi won for Honda this year. Next year Rossi’s 2016 engineer Tom German joins the team. It’s a good move on Bobby’s part, and his old team manager Scott Roembke would approve.

NDG: Rahal didn't have a repeat of his stunning 2015 season, but it was still a season to be proud of. A victory, a top five position in the championship standings and once again the man holding the flag for Honda.

DM: Rahal was my top IndyCar driver of 2015, and the fact he’s slipped to P5 isn’t really a reflection on his own form. It’s just that the fact he didn’t have a teammate was a major drawback on more occasions in 2016 than 2015. Finding the last tweak to hit his car’s sweet spot is still not a Rahal forte on road and street courses, but his speed and bravery often make up for it. And the Texas win was no less than he deserved.

4= Scott Dixon – Chip Ganassi Racing-Chevrolet

(6^th, 2 wins)

VK: Despite this being his first finish outside of the top three overall since 2007 – in part due to mechanical issues, in part due to his own mistakes – Dixon's campaign was basically salvaged by his mesmerizing Watkins Glen run.

JK: When you see Dixon down in sixth in the standings, it’s tempting to write off 2016 as an off-year for the popular Kiwi. But that would be to ignore the fact that the four-time series champion was the only Ganassi driver to win all season, and that he would have been third overall without the ill-timed caution period that cost him victory in Toronto. And that was just one slice of his bad luck this year.

AP: Reigning titleholder Dixon couldn’t buy the kind of poor luck he’s experienced this year, and made some of that misfortune on his own. Yet he still managed two dominant victories and was in the title hunt nearly to the end.

DM: Even had IndyCar not smudged the pit-exit blendline in Pagenaud’s favor at Long Beach, Dixon would still have missed out on extending his nine-year run of finishing top three in the standings. There was nothing the four-time champ could do about the mechanical strife at Road America, the yellow that killed his dominant run at Toronto, nor being struck by wayward rivals at Barber and Detroit (twice!), but his own misjudgments at Texas and Mid-Ohio hurt his points tally too.

3. Josef Newgarden – Ed Carpenter Racing-Chevrolet

(4^th, 1 win)

AS: Newgarden’s dominant win in Iowa just one month after he suffered serious injures in Texas is one of the most memorable moments of the season. And beside that he earned three podiums, fours place overall and the Penske ride for the next season.

JK: In five years, Newgarden has gone from GP3 reject to arguably IndyCar’s hottest property, and the fact Penske was willing to jettison the man who came within a whisker of the championship last year in the 25-year-old’s favour shows just how highly regarded he is. Iowa was the highlight, but the ECR driver was remarkably consistent across the board, posting several strong showings on road courses as well as ovals.

NDG: Newgarden rebounded from his Texas injury with a sensational victory at Iowa less than a month later, leading 282/300 laps and lapping most of the field. It's safe to say he has earned this new gig with Penske he's acquired for the 2017 season.

2. Will Power – Team Penske-Chevrolet

(2^nd, 4 wins)

JK: Being forced to miss the St. Pete opener having secured pole position set the tone for the first half of Power’s season, which only really seemed to get going post-Indy. But once it did, he was near-unstoppable, taking four wins in the space of six races, but his slim hopes of overhauling teammate Pagenaud were undone by his clash with Charlie Kimball at The Glen and a malfunctioning clutch at Sonoma – a disappointing end to a fine campaign.

DM: Power’s ill health, which prevented him doing any gym training in the first half of the year, hurt him badly in this most physical of seasons, far beyond the missed race at St. Pete. He could match Pagenaud’s laptimes at Barber, for instance, but couldn’t reproduce them relentlessly, and that was the difference between winning and finishing fourth. But the 2014 champ’s still got it, and his Pocono victory – working on his car each stint until it was the best in the final run to the checkers – was Rick Mears-like in its clinical delivery.

AS: Misfortune in the last two races took the Aussie out of the title battle after a very strong season with six podium finishes in a row – more than any other driver. 

VK: The runner-up spot is probably a fair reflection of Power's 2017 campaign, although the 127-point to champion does not do the Aussie justice, Power having lost big points at St. Pete, Detroit and Sonoma through no fault of his own.

1. Simon Pagenaud – Team Penske-Chevrolet

(1^st, 5 wins)

JK: It’s a measure of just how impressive Pagenaud’s year began that, by the time the Month of May had started, it was already becoming very difficult to envisage any other champion besides the charismatic Frenchman. Five wins and seven poles in one season is impressive enough, even more so when you consider he went winless in 2015 and had to contend with three other top drivers in the same team.

AP: The Frenchman has always been a smart racer, but became ever better thanks to his association with Gil de Ferran. All those lessons culminated in his first IndyCar championship and he drove smart and only made a single driver error at Pocono in August. Deserved the title for sure.

NDG: No question here. He won nearly a third of the races this past season, scored pole position in half of them and ended the year with an unmatched average finish of 6.1. The newly crowned champion asserted himself as the lead man at Penske -- something few, if any saw coming.

DM: Across all types of track, Simon combined the kind of consistency we used to expect from Dario Franchitti, with the solid pace of his own teammate Will Power. Whatever the results sheets said, Pagenaud very rarely had a truly off weekend – Pocono, the Glen and that’s it. The rest of the time, he was right in the mix, fighting for wins – that’s what makes this title so well deserved and what should make him even more formidable in 2017. 

Complete results:

Driver	DM	JK	VK	AP	NDG	AS	Total
Pagenaud	1st	1st	1st	1st	1st	5th	56
Power	2nd	2nd	2nd	2nd	2nd	2nd	54
Newgarden	3rd	3rd	3rd	4th	4th	1st	48
Dixon	4th	4th	6th	3rd	3rd		35
Rahal	5th	7th	4th	6th	6th	3rd	35
Castroneves	6th	5th	5th		5th	8th	25
Kanaan	8th	10th	7th	8th	7th	4th	22
Hunter-Reay	7th	6th	8th	9th		6th	19
Hinchcliffe		8th	10th	5th	9th		12
Rossi	9th				8th	7th	9
Daly				7th		10th	5
Bourdais		9th					2
Munoz			9th				2
Kimball						9th	2
Montoya	10th				10th		2
Aleshin				10th			1