The 2024 IndyCar season felt like one of the most fractious in years, and it's left a lot of drivers feeling they have a point to prove.
We've picked out some of the drivers we think fall into that category, ranging from one who's declared he can end a run that stretches back to 2002 to a double Indianapolis 500 winner with more to show, and a series rookie potentially better-suited to Formula 1 to a pair of drivers with intimidating team-mates to contend with.
Let us know if we picked the right drivers, and whether you think they will be successful or not, in the comments below.
Robert Shwartzman
This is as much about new team Prema as it is about Robert Shwartzman, but his first IndyCar season will still be an important one.
My feeling covering him in the junior formulas was that he would be a perfectly good F1 driver - and it looked like he might be in with a sniff at Sauber briefly before it signed Gabriel Bortoleto for 2025 - so if he can get his head around some of the peculiarities of IndyCar there's no reason he can't be a future series champion.
Especially given that some of the qualities he has - being calm, consistent and driving really smoothly - are the same attributes that three-time champion Alex Palou has put to such good use in the series recently.
Prema is starting from scratch, but it has hired some good personnel including legendary engineer Michael Cannon, who helped spearhead AJ Foyt's recent turnaround.
If the machinery is good, I expect Shwartzman to excel. And if he can be close to or beat team-mate Callum Ilott in his first season, that's a very high bar cleared that will ensure he's taken seriously.
Josef Newgarden
Josef Newgarden could retire tomorrow and be considered an IndyCar legend, so he has nothing to prove in that sense.
But since Palou's accession to the IndyCar throne, Newgarden has slipped in some people's estimations to being simply the best oval driver in the series, rather than the best driver outright as people would have argued previously.
Newgarden is in a different team to Palou's Ganassi and Penske has had its struggles, but he does need better results on road and street courses if he wants to claim a third title and the honour of being the best driver in the series overall again. Not only has Palou usurped him, but Pato O'Ward and Colton Herta looked strong on ovals this year and are a threat if their teams continue on an upward trajectory.
Newgarden will go down as one of the best of his era. But if he wants to be the best, he has a big 2025 year ahead.
He's finished behind his team-mate Scott McLaughlin two years in a row and, frankly, he's too good just to become 'the oval guy'.
Santino Ferrucci
After one pole and two top-five finishes in 2024, to then declare your team can fight for the championship next year you better back that up. Santino Ferrucci has set that expectation and now he and his AJ Foyt team will be judged on it.
The loss of Cannon to Prema is a big blow, but Foyt's partnership with Penske plus Ferrucci getting a first on-par (at least) team-mate since he was paired with Sebastien Bourdais in 2019 in David Malukas, all under one roof for the first time in Indianapolis, means the signs are good that they can continue to progress.
But to leapfrog Andretti and McLaren in the pecking order - let alone challenge for a first title since 2002 for a team other than Andretti, Ganassi or Penske - seems a stretch.
Marcus Armstrong
Marcus Armstrong has been perfectly satisfactory in his IndyCar career so far, especially given that his second season was his first on ovals.
But 'satisfactory' isn’t going to cut it at a Meyer Shank team capable of wins and poles. The 2025 season could be one where he establishes himself as a household name, but he's got a tough team-mate to go up against in Felix Rosenqvist.
That could work in his favour if Armstrong beats him. The team has Ganassi equipment and support this year, so it's a huge opportunity, and being more of a focal point at this team than he was at Ganassi might help Armstrong. But he has to deliver.
Alexander Rossi
A lot of what Alexander Rossi is going to be able to 'prove' will depend on the machinery he is given at Ed Carpenter Racing. With big investment coming into a team that is already great at the Indy 500, Rossi has a chance to use his experience to drive this team forward.
If he has hopes of turning this move into a stepping stone back to the top teams after his McLaren exit, he at least needs to beat his team-mate Christian Rasmussen and score five or six top 10s across the year to match what Rinus VeeKay was doing before him.
Throw in a strong Month of May and this could be an elite move for Rossi, but he has to show the level of desire needed to convince everyone he is still the driver that finished 2019 as one of IndyCar's best.
Christian Lundgaard
Christian Lundgaard forced the Rahal team to build around him and was good enough there to warrant a step up to one of racing's biggest names, McLaren. It's a well-deserved move, as he's been fantastic in his first three years in the series.
But however good he is, he comes into a team shaped around the force of nature that is O'Ward. Come in and perform at his level (as no other team-mate has been able to do) and Lundgaard becomes an even hotter prospect for the future.
The alternative is a worry: that he isn't able to get on top of a somewhat tricky car to drive and can't beat Pato in his own squad. I don't think people respect what an enormous task that actually is and I think any driver in the series would struggle to go into that team and match O'Ward.
If Lundgaard performs at his Rahal peaks, he'll be somewhere near O'Ward and offer a more regular podium threat than any of O'Ward's other team-mates have. He has that ability.
That would also be a huge gain for McLaren, which has arguably been fighting with the sword of Pato O'Ward in one hand, but had the other arm tied behind its back with below-par team-mates.
