A look at which Verizon IndyCar series drivers have the most followers on Twitter. — Photo: NY Post

Drivers, start your fingers!

Twitter has become the primary source for all sorts of people to connect with each other. With 140 characters, you can send out your thoughts in an instant along with pictures, videos, and links to websites or anything, really.

This means of communication has become especially powerful for celebrities and athletes, including IndyCar drivers. The ability to respond to others’ tweets is easy and fast, connecting the fan and driver together. But which IndyCar driver is harnessing this power the best? We took a look at current IndyCar drivers and their Twitter profiles to see who is getting the most following on Twitter.  

To start, it’s worth noting that even the most followed IndyCar driver comes no where close to the most followed Formula One driver. That title goes to Lewis Hamilton, the 2014 World Champion, who has over 2.6 million followers on Twitter. Following closely behind him is McLaren driver Fernando Alonso, who has over 2.2 million followers. In comparison, the highest followed IndyCar driver has around 2 million less followers.

But these numbers aren’t really surprising. After all, Formula One is a truly world wide sport, has been around longer, and has a larger following than IndyCar. Sure, IndyCar does venture outside the States sometimes, but not nearly on the same scale that F1 does. The 2015 F1 calendar is set to travel to 20 different countries this season; IndyCar is scheduled for races in the United States and Canada only.

Narrowing our field down to just IndyCar drivers, and we see a wide gap in the follower count between drivers. This is due to a number of factors, namely popularity and how active the driver is on social media. 

Only four drivers have over 100,000 followers on Twitter, and the top two drivers have more followers than all of the other drivers combined. These numbers are tiny compared to the F1 world. 

Some notables include Ryan Hunter-Reay, 2014 Indy 500 winner, who comes in with 54,100 followers. James Hinchcliffe, who is very active on Twitter with over 11,000 tweets, has 56,500 followers. Marco Andretti sits at 81,900 and Graham Rahal is at 66,000 followers.

And now we get to Will Power, 2014 IndyCar series Champion. He must have a big following, right?

Wrong. The Aussie has amassed just 61,200 followers during his time on Twitter.

Now we get to the big four, the top IndyCar drivers with the most followers on Twitter. 

In fourth, Helio Castroneves with 127,000 followers since opening his account in 2009. Dario Franchitti, although not an active driver anymore1, comes in at third with 136,000 followers on his account. 

At the number two spot is Tony Kanaan. TK has been racing in the series and using Twitter for a long time. Since joining in 2009, he has gained over 628,000 followers on the site.

And the number one most followed driver on Twitter? Juan Pablo Montoya. Montoya beats out Kanaan by nearly 300,000 followers and has over 8,000 tweets sent. His popularity can be attributed to his many years racing and the different series he competed in. Montoya has driven in Formula One, NASCAR, and IndyCar throughout his career, gaining fans (and followers) from each series.

It’s clear IndyCar drivers just don’t have the same following as Formula One drivers do, but some of them are making significant inroads on the problem. 

You can view the entire list of the drivers and their Twitter followers below. And if you’re interested in keeping up with Single Seater, you can follow us on Twitter here. 

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Data as of March 4, 2015.
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Footnotes:1. Dario Franchitti was included due to his involvement with the series and his popularity on the social network.

2014 World Champion Lewis Hamilton running the medium compound tires during the Chinese Grand Prix. — Photo: Emperornie

Pirelli, the official tire supplier of Formula One, announced the tire nominations for the first four races of the 2015 season earlier today.

For the Australian grand Prix, Pirelli has nominated the soft compound (yellow markings) and the medium compound (white markings) for use. This is the same choice of tires that were used during last year’s race. 

This compound selection was expected for a few reasons:

The chassis and aerodynamic regulations didn’t go through a big change for the 2015 season as they did for 2014. The teams are going to be experiencing similar performance to last year, including tire wear. There should be no big changes in that department.

The Melbourne circuit features high degradation when it comes to tire wear, meaning that teams will go through the tires quicker. This is due to the number of turns and the rough pavement that the cars run on. Because it is not permanently used, there is not a lot of rubber on the track, causing a slippery surface to form that puts stress on the tires. The medium and soft compounds provide a nice balance of speed and durability for this type of track. 

James Jakes piloting his Acorn entry during the 2013 season. Photo: 3D Car Shows

James Jakes will drive for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports (SPM) for the 2015 IndyCar season. The team announced Jakes as their second driver on Monday to partner with James Hinchcliffe.

Jakes raced in the IndyCar series in 2013 with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. The 2013 season was also the year when the Englishmen secured his first and only podium in the series.

The podium came in the form of a second place finish at Detroit in the second race of the doubleheader event. Jakes qualified in second and led four laps on the way to taking P2 behind the Frenchman Simon Pagenaud. 

Jakes raced all 19 races that season but was only able to secure 19th in the Driver’s Championship; he had a season high of 12th place in the standings after Belle Isle. 

James Jakes will be competing in his fourth IndyCar season when the 2015 season kicks off on March 29th in St. Petersburg, Florida. 

The McLaren MP4-30 suffered a cooling pressure failure on Tuesday. Photo: Eurosport

McLaren was forced to retire from the third day of testing at Jerez after a cooling pressure failure on the car.  The team managed 32 laps in the morning session making day three their most productive yet.

The problem forced McLaren to take the engine out of the car, ending the day’s testing session.

“We’ve had a loss of cooling water pressure and have removed the power unit for inspection. That’s a long process, so it ends today’s running.”

Lotus unveiled their 2015 E23 at Jerez on Monday, February 2nd. Photo: Lotus

Day two of preseason Formula One testing saw Sebastian Vettel once again lead the time tables. The Ferrari machine logged 89 laps on Monday and set a best time of 1:20.984 seconds, nearly eight tenths faster than the Sauber piloted by Felipe Nasr.

The second day of testing with the new 2015 cars also produced a fair share of mechanical troubles as one might expect. New cars, changes being made, and the unreliability that is inherently in motor racing all contributed to the three main technical talking points of day two.

Lotus
For the first time this year Lotus ran their 2015 car, the E23, for the public to see. The Lotus chassis was piloted by Pastor Maldonado and completed 41 laps throughout the day. Lotus finished sixth on the time sheet after putting up a 1:25.802 to stay ahead of McLaren and Red Bull.

Mercedes
Lewis Hamilton was in charge of the Mercedes WO5 for day two and completed 91 laps before a water leak forced the team to retire for the day. According the team website, they are working “to ensure the car is ready for a return to the track tomorrow morning.” The teams hasn’t released any more information as to what caused the leak or if it has been resolved. Mercedes finished the day in fourth.

Red Bull
Daniil Kvyat suffered contact with the wall on his installation lap Monday morning and lost his front wing, something Red Bull apparently wasn’t anticipating. The team had no back-ups available to put on the car, so the Russian was forced to go out to the track without a wing. He managed just 18 laps around Jerez in the RB11 and essentially provided an almost worthless day of testing to his team.

For live coverage of Day Three of testing at the Jerez circuit, check out our live tweets, results, and times stream.