054. Marcus Ericsson - 97 F1 Races. Nothing Prepared Him for IndyCar | Marcus Ericsson | Indy 500 Champion

Marcus Ericsson is a former Formula 1 driver (2014 - 2018) for Caterham F1 (2014) and Sauber F1 (2015 - 2018) and current IndyCar driver for Andretti Global. He drove 97 Formula 1 Grand Prix without a single realistic shot at winning. He was replaced by Kimi Raikkonen, written off, and quietly pointed toward the exit. Then he went to IndyCar - and won the 2022 Indy 500, entering a club of fewer than 80 people in history.

This conversation is one for the books. From calling 100 companies at 15 years old just to scrape together enough money to go karting, to the DRS malfunction that sent him tumbling at 323 km/h down the Monza straight. From what it physically feels like to take Copse Corner at 5Gs, to the final three laps of the 2022 Indy 500 with Pato O'Ward right on his gearbox.

Marcus also breaks down the real difference between the F1 and IndyCar paddock cultures, why Drive to Survive fabricated the story of his final season at Sauber, what being team-mates with Charles Leclerc in his rookie year was actually like, and why he believes mental strength matters more than anything you can do in a gym.

He's got a chip on his shoulder going into 2026 and he's not hiding it. This is about as honest as a racing driver gets.

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