Marcus Ericsson begins his big IndyCar comeback after brilliant St. Petersburg result with Andretti

On Sunday, Marcus Ericsson kicked off his 2025 IndyCar campaign in style with a P6 finish at the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. The Andretti Global driver was highly consistent throughout the weekend, finishing in the Top 7 in every session.

For Ericsson, this marked the beginning of a turnaround in his IndyCar career after going through a slump in 2024 during his first year with Andretti Global. The No. 28 driver started the race at St. Pete seventh on the grid after falling just under 4-thousandths slower than Scott McLaughlin in Round 2 of qualifying on Saturday.

Ericsson paced his stints across both tire compounds flawlessly in the race to finish one place above his starting position. In a post-race interview with reporter Tony Donohue, the former F1 driver merrily described how satisfied he was with the P6 result and the weekend as a whole.

"It was a really solid weekend. We were Top 7 actually every single session. So I think that shows that we had a very solid, clean weekend," he said. "I think I didn't tap the wall once... just a super clean weekend, and exactly what we talked about. We talked about this winter, we need to get back the consistency, which has been my strength in IndyCar - solid drives, no mistakes, good results, and I think this weekend felt back to normal Marcus, and a good booster as well for the 28 crew because we put in a lot of work in the offseason and felt like we really executed that way."

Earlier this week, IndyCar insider Bob Pockrass had labeled Marcus Ericsson the "dark horse" in the 2025 IndyCar championship battle against defending champion Alex Palou. The Swedish driver stood strong on this expectation and earned 28 points for his efforts. His Andretti teammates Kyle Kirkwood and Colton Herta finished in P5 and P16.

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Marcus Ericsson's picture-perfect weekend at St. Petersburg

INDYCAR Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg - Day 1 - Source: Getty

It was essential for Marcus Ericsson to begin the 2025 IndyCar season on a high note. The Swedish driver finished 15th in the standings in 2024 with Andretti Global, a grim low after three consecutive years of finishing in sixth with Chip Ganassi Racing.

In practice session 1 at St. Petersburg on Friday, the No. 28 driver finished fifth. He bettered the result in practice session 2 on Saturday morning to emerge as the quickest driver out of 27. Ericsson sustained his form into qualifying later on Saturday to secure P7, one position down from his 2024 qualifying result at the bumpy 1.8-mile street circuit.

In 2024, Marcus Ericsson suffered a mechanical issue on his No. 28 Honda at St. Pete, ending his race midway at the 52-lap mark. However, this time, no such bad luck loomed. His No. 28 team delivered well during the pit stops to ensure smooth sailing to a P6 finish.