First female Indy winner in 14 years eyeing promotion for 2025

Jamie Chadwick made the transition from European single-seater racing to American single-seater racing ahead of the 2023 IndyCar season and joined Michael Andretti's Indy NXT team as the full-time driver of the No. 28 car.

She remained with Andretti Global in 2024, and less than a month after becoming the first female podium finisher in the series since 2010 with a third place finish at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, she became the first female winner since 2010 with her victory at Road America.

A recent run of five consecutive top 10 finishes in an Indy NXT series as loaded as it's been with full-time entries has elevated her to a respectable fifth place in the championship standings.

The 26-year-old British driver, who joined Ana Beatriz and Pippa Mann on the short list of female Indy NXT race winners, has already matched or bettered her top finish of sixth place at Portland International Raceway a year ago on three occasions this year, and she has long been eyeing the possibility of moving up to IndyCar in 2025.

Though Andretti Global's roster is set with Colton Herta, Kyle Kirkwood, and Marcus Ericsson, and the team have shown no desire to expand back to four cars after dropping back to three this year for the first time since they won the 2012 championship with Ryan Hunter-Reay, there could be other opportunities elsewhere on the IndyCar grid next year for Chadwick.

She is hoping to take advantage.

Given the level of talent currently in the series and the long list of talented drivers linked to rides each year who ultimately don't end up competing, Chadwick knows that it won't be easy to get a seat, but she hasn't allowed that to alter her focus.

“Nothing confirmed yet," Chadwick told Beyond the Flag when asked about her plans for next year. "I'd love to obviously move up. That's the goal is to go to IndyCar, so I'd love to have the opportunity to go up, but it's super competitive.

"You look at the drivers already in there, but also the drivers knocking on the door. It’s not going to be easy, but yeah, the goal is for sure to try to secure a seat for next year.”

Chadwick isn't known for her oval racing prowess, given her road course racing background, and after all, it was Road America where she secured her maiden victory last month. Yet for her first oval start of the year at Iowa Speedway, she qualified on the second row in third place and finished in seventh.

It was her sixth top 10 finish of the season; she only had five during her entire rookie season last year, before she ultimately finished in 12th place in the championship standings.

Despite her road course racing background, she is looking forward to the upcoming oval races. The season's final four events are set to consist of three with exclusively left turns.

“Yeah, it’s good in that sense," Chadwick said of her Iowa effort. "I think there's a bit of unknown going into the ovals for the end of the year. It feels like a bit of a season of two halves. You got the road courses I'm more familiar with, the street tracks that we've got up until this point, and then now we have the ovals part of the season.

"We had a strong run [at Iowa], but I didn't know how we're going to necessarily fare on the ovals, so yeah, to have a strong qualifying performance and then, in my opinion, be disappointed with coming seventh I think is a really positive thing, and I think it puts us in a good place for the rest of the year, especially as a team."

The season's final four races consist of oval events at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway, where she finished in 12th place last year, and the Milwaukee Mile and Nashville Superspeedway, two new additions to this year's schedule.

"I think we've made a huge step on the ovals, so yeah, I'm excited to see what we can do now for the rest of the year.”

The only other race remaining on this year's calendar is scheduled to take place at the Portland International Raceway road course, between the races at Gateway and Milwaukee.

Despite her transition to Indy NXT last year, Chadwick remains involved in European motorsport. The three-time W Series champion continues to serve as a development driver for the Williams Formula 1 team, where her primary role has evolved into a mentorship capacity for the all-female F1 Academy.

“Yes, I’m still involved with Williams," she stated. "My role with them is actually primarily looking after Lia Block, who is their driver in F1 Academy, so of course, having competed in W Series, there are a few similarities to now what she's going through, so I guess a slight mentorship role is what I have, trying to help her in this transition."

Chadwick is the only driver to have ever won a W Series championship, and she won all three (2019, 2021, and 2022). She won 11 of the 21 races contested during those three seasons and finished off the podium only three times.

Clearly the mentorship is working, as Lia, the 17-year-old daughter of the late rally legend Ken Block, has recently jumped from last place all the way up to 11th in the F1 Academy standings with three consecutive top 10 finishes, including a top finish of sixth in Spain.

"She's come from off-road racing, which is very, very different to anything she's done before, into F4, so helping her with that transition, and yeah, I guess mentoring her in this next year or so as she transitions into single-seaters.”