With a hectic four rounds completed in 2026, Pit Debrief takes a look at 5 IndyCar drivers who should be doing better following those races held in March.
While Sting Ray Robb, Nolan Siegel and Kyffin Simpson are obvious candidates, this article takes a look at champions who have won titles in either IndyCar and/or other categories and have started 2026 disappointingly.
Scott McLaughlin
Running P7 in the standings, the three-time Supercars champion knows he has left big results behind him this year. The Kiwi is 57 points away from championship leader Kyle Kirkwood before Long Beach next weekend.
Pole and a P2 race finish at St. Pete was a very strong beginning to the year. While he was fairly quiet throughout the Phoenix race, P8 bagged him very solid points.
However, Arlington and Barber were disastrous by his very high standards. Having topped practice 1 on both weekends, he crashed in qualifying at the Texan round to leave him at the back of the grid. McLaughlin then thankfully walked away from one of the scariest accidents in recent years on a permanent circuit in practice 2 at Alabama.
11th and 16th place finishes in those two races was a big underachievement considering the pace the 32-year-old had. At a minimum he had a car to fight for top 5 results in both events.
While the speed is there to be a title contender, the mistakes need to be reduced immediately. Otherwise it will end up becoming another year of what could have been for the very talented Kiwi.
Scott Dixon
16th, 15th, 20th and 13th: Those are the four starting spots for the six-time IndyCar champion in 2026. Qualifying has been a small headache in recent seasons for the legendary New Zealander, but it has been an even bigger source of frustration so far in 2026. Due to the level of talent both in terms of drivers and teams these days, starting races outside the top 10 makes it virtually impossible to win, particularly on road and street courses.
A loose wheel following a stop at St. Pete meant he started the season in hugely disappointing fashion. 7th in Phoenix was a good result, albeit the 45-year-old had a rather quiet day.
Nonetheless, the last two races have been very encouraging. Tremendous pace, extending stints, overtaking and making up spots through pit cycles saw him take P8 and P7. However, the problem is Dixon is so far back in terms of time to the leaders after stint 1, any hopes of winning or the podium are gone.
P10 in the standings after four rounds for such an exceptional driver is a surprise. Unlocking qualifying performance will be key to get back to the sharp end consistently.
Felix Rosenqvist
The one-time race winner has had a disappointing start to the 2026 IndyCar season. While teammate Marcus Armstrong has finished inside the top 10 on three occasions across the first four rounds, ‘FRO’ has yet to do it.
He should have in Arlington but he jumped the restart and illegally overtook David Malukas, dropping him from P6 to P19.
Outside of P5 in qualifying in Texas, he has been 11th and 18th on a Saturday afternoon. He did not qualify at Phoenix after a big crash in practice. The Swede did recover well to finish 12th on race day.
12th at St. Pete and an underwhelming P13 at Barber has reflected a rather anonymous start to 2026. He was 34s behind his teammate last time out.
The far less experienced Marcus Armstrong has had the upper hand so far. If he wants to remain at Meyer Shank Racing beyond 2026, the 34-year-old is going to need to find his old qualifying form — and fast.
Christian Rasmussen
It has been a rough start to 2026 for the Danish driver.
Contact with Kyffin Simpson at St. Pete in the first stint turned a top 10 fight into barely getting inside the top 20 by the end.
The crushing disappointment came in Phoenix. Starting a lowly P18, the ECR driver produced another oval masterclass for most of the 250 laps as he put on an amazing show for 95% of it.
Having worked himself to the front and clearly showing the best race pace on the day as he carved through the pack to take the lead at one point, a bit more patience — even if the incident was not necessarily on him — when trying to pass Will Power for P1 in the last stint would have been sufficient. Damage saw him drop to P14 in those closing laps.
Despite qualifying 8th on the grid at Arlington, it has been a case of two completely anonymous Sunday showings at the Texan round and Barber, while teammate Alex Rossi finished P9 and P11.
Alongside the risk management element he needs to add on ovals especially, the 2023 Indy NXT champion must find more speed on road and street courses.
A big 14 races are coming for in the next few months for the 25-year-old as he looks to solidify his place in the series.
Mick Schumacher
While there was a lot of hype about Mick Schumacher coming into the 2026 IndyCar season, it has been a lowkey start to his first campaign in the series.
The obvious high was Phoenix when the 2020 F2 champion qualified a superb P4 on debut on an oval. Unfortunately a slow stop put him a lap down and from there it was about gathering mileage. P18 was his final result.
The 27-year-old was also an innocent victim of Sting Ray Robb’s error on the opening lap in St. Pete, taking him out of the race immediately on debut.
Nonetheless, his best qualifying outside Phoenix was only P17 in Arlington. He was a lowly P22 in the race after he spun Christian Lundgaard on the opening lap and got handed a penalty for it.
Schumacher was then second last at Barber. While he was ahead of teammate Louis Foster, their performances were extremely underwhelming considering the sister car of Graham Rahal finished 3rd.
Of course, it is important not to expect too much too soon from the former Haas F1 driver. The IndyCar grid is loaded with talent throughout the field these days. As well as that, Schumacher generally builds into a category at a steady pace. That is not always a bad thing as he showed in F2.
He will need to show a step as 2026 goes on though. With Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing displaying tremendous pace on the IMS road course throughout this decade, the next round could be an opportunity to make a breakthrough in race trim.
