Marcus Ericsson recovered after a difficult start to his IndyCar season to consistently score points for Andretti towards the end of the year.
The Swedish driver endured a tricky beginning to 2024, finishing in the top 10 just once in the opening five championship rounds. Ericsson then took a top-five finish on the unforgiving streets of Long Beach.
It was a frustrating start to the season for the Andretti driver, who lacked speed on the early road courses.
His start to the year was made to look even more tricky as Ericsson’s teammate Colton Herta stood on the podium twice in the opening three rounds and took fourth place at the $1 Million Challenge.
Ericsson has now explained to the official IndyCar website that one particular race turned his season Andretti around.
Marcus Ericsson feels the Indy 500 turned his 2024 season around
Ericsson endured a difficult Month of May at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which kicked off on the IMS Road Course and a difficult afternoon where he drove to 16th place in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis.
The Swedish driver didn’t perform much better in the build-up to the Indy 500, either, after a crash in practice necessitated rebuilding the car.
After the shunt ahead of qualifying, his car was very difficult to drive and Ericsson required Last Chance Qualifying to make it into the race at The Brickyard.
The winner of the Indy 500 in 2022 eventually qualified, stumbling over the line as rookie Nolan Siegel got bumped out of the field.
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Ericsson explained that the Indy 500 was critical to his upturn in form after Andretti recovered from him crashing the car.
The 34-year-old said: “The Month of May was obviously really tough, but the way we came back there and qualified into the race, and then just made it in there, that sort of team effort needed to get into that race, that was a bit of a turning point for us.
“Obviously, it was a shame we couldn’t do the actual race. We got into the first-corner crash, but I feel like after that point we were in the mix every weekend.
“We’ve built a really good foundation for next year. Especially [in] the second half, I feel like we’ve been in the mix every track we’ve been to. We can build on that and have the offseason to analyze and work on things. Then, we should be really, really strong next year.”
Marcus Ericsson will have to improve in 2025 to match his teammates
Ericsson finished behind his teammates in the championship standings, while Herta and Kyle Kirkwood were much more consistent.
Herta won for the first time in 41 race in Toronto after he recovered from a stuttering start to finish second in the championship standings.
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He finished the season well, taking victory at the Nashville Superspeedway, while Kirkwood was more consistent than in previous years.
Next season will need to be an improvement for Ericsson, who only took one podium finish on a chaotic day in Detroit.