1. Another IndyCar season and another unexpected start, as Scott McLaughlin picked up his first career victory from his first career pole position. McLaughlin had a good 2021 season. There were some rough patches, but he had plenty of good runs to show he could handle the car. There were some tracks more difficult than others, but it was clear McLaughlin fit in IndyCar.
Were there any signs he was going to win the opening race of 2022? Nothing that suggested it was imminent, but it clicked for McLaughlin this weekend. He was quick in every session and he held the lead from the start. With a softer Firestone alternate compound, there was a strong belief a three-stop strategy would be more effective than a two-stopper, as we have seen at St. Petersburg at the 100-lap length. McLaughlin, however, stuck to the two-stop strategy and began the race on the less advantageous alternate compound. McLaughlin was flawless. He built a big lead and maintained it. He was losing some time, but it looked like McLaughlin would stay at the front.
Then a caution came out when David Malukas hit the wall after 25 laps. Just over half the field had stopped. It looked like McLaughlin could have been in trouble, but this couldn't have happened at a better time for McLaughlin. The caution got him in the window for the two-stop strategy and it took the teeth out of the three-stoppers as they were about halfway through their stints.
There were no other cautions throughout the race and with the three-stoppers losing about eight laps of race pace, McLaughlin ended up cycling back to the lead and holding it with a good margin, but Álex Palou put up quite the fight. With the defending champion breathing down his neck, McLaughlin did not slip up, though we shouldn't be surprised. He is already a three-time Supercars champion. Pressure isn't new to him. He has been through it all. He now faces it in IndyCar.
After Palou took a first career victory unexpectedly, McLaughlin's title aspirations must be taken seriously.
2. Palou had a great start to his title defense, especially since he started the race slow. I don't mean slow in a bad way. I mean he started in the top ten, held his position, gained some ground late in the run, but really got into contention after jumping forward on his first pit stop under caution. Once there, Palou stayed glued to McLaughlin.
Palou did benefit from Jimmie Johnson holding up McLaughlin with about 12 laps to go. We will cover the blue flag rules shortly, but Palou was up for the challenge presented to him. He kept McLaughlin honest and while McLaughlin also caught Devlin DeFrancesco in the closing laps, I would argue DeFrancesco helped McLaughlin as Palou was stuck in the dirty air of two cars.
Either way, Palou isn't going anywhere in 2022.
3. Will Power rounded out the podium. It was a good day for Power and he needed that to start the season. He started on the primary tire, which was starting to benefit him late in the first stint. His second stint on the alternate tire was a little rough, but Power didn't lose much ground and was able to get third place at the end of the race. This is the start he needed to a season.
4. Colton Herta could have had a better result than fourth. The team wasn't sure it got the car full of fuel on the first pit stop. That is a big problem on a two-stop strategy. It is worse that the pit stop was under caution and he lost two spots. Because the car wasn't full after the first stop, he needed to stop a lap early for the second stop and conserve fuel. Herta was close to Power but ended up 13 seconds behind the Australian. Poor pit stops cost Herta at Mid-Ohio last year. Today, he was able to get a top five result, but it could have been more.
5. Solid Andretti Autosport debut for Romain Grosjean in fifth. Grosjean didn't put a wheel wrong. He avoided contact with Will Power at the start, which I think Power was perfectly fine on and didn't do anything wrong, and Grosjean was bumped on pit lane after the first stop when Marcus Ericsson had an unsafe release ahead of Graham Rahal. There were signs of trouble, but Grosjean made it through clean, and picked up his best street course finish in IndyCar to boot.
6. Rinus VeeKay nearly threw this race away on the opening stint. VeeKay lost significant time on the alternate tire and stopped earlier than planned. It looked like he was going to finish outside the top fifteen, but the Malukas caution saved him. VeeKay had only stopped about ten laps before that caution. It allowed him to stretch his second stint and turn it into a two-stop race. He had to save fuel late but hung on to get sixth. Considering how 2021 ended, this is what VeeKay needed.
7. Graham Rahal was smart and finished seventh. Nothing too flashy. It is a good start to the season.
8. Scott Dixon nearly pulled off the three-stop strategy. Dixon created some gaps while leading and it allowed him to get out six positions and seven seconds ahead of Patricio O'Ward, who was also on a three-stop strategy and been near O'Ward during the middle of the race. The only problem is after Dixon's final stop is he came out just behind Herta, Grosjean and Rahal, and Herta was already saving fuel.
If Dixon could have gone one more lap before that stop I think he gets out ahead of Herta, Dixon would have had clear track between him and VeeKay, he would have passed VeeKay easily and then had the top three to chase. He was about 12.4 seconds behind McLaughlin when he came out. If he had come out ten seconds back and in fifth, I am not saying he would have caught the leaders, but he would finished at least fourth. It is surprising Dixon didn't make up any spots despite having less fuel and fresher tires for the closing laps.
9. Marcus Ericsson deserved that penalty. It wasn't the most dangerous move in IndyCar history, but IndyCar has been consistent calling a penalty if you bump a car exiting your pit box. It was equal contact to what Alexander Rossi had with Takuma Sato in the 2020 Indianapolis 500. It had to be called. But Ericsson was able to fight back and get to ninth on a two-stop strategy. Good for him.
10. Takuma Sato stole tenth place late from Christian Lundgaard. Sato didn't do much all race, but he was smart, and he got a top ten finish. It was the kind of result we saw a half-dozen times in 2021. It is the kind of result Dale Coyne Racing drivers are known for. This is a good pairing.
11. Lundgaard was doing well today, and really should have been in the top ten. He was the top rookie. That was expected. He improved on 12th in his IndyCar debut last year at the IMS road course. One position at a time and a tenth at Texas would be a wonderful result for him.
12. Patricio O'Ward was stuck behind more cars after his second pit stop. O'Ward did a good job stick with Dixon for the first half of the race, but O'Ward just didn't have it. Once in traffic, he wasn't going to be as much of a threat like Dixon. I do wish we had a caution-free race to see how Dixon and O'Ward going flat out would have done against McLaughlin, Palou, Power and Herta on a conservative pace.
13. Jack Harvey made an unscheduled pit stop under the first caution despite being on the three-stop strategy, and that stop came after everyone else had stopped. It knocked Harvey down the order. I think 13th is a good recovery.
14. Hélio Castroneves was 14th directly ahead of Simon Pagenaud. Both were on the three-stop strategy. Castroneves wasn't really mentioned at all. Pagenaud looked good but couldn't get in clear air and lost spots on his later pit stops. Instead of being in the top ten, Pagenaud was 15th.
15. Let's go through the rest of the field: Josef Newgarden, Felix Rosenqvist and Kyle Kirkwood were all on the three-stop strategy and weren't ever in the best spot after each pit cycle. Stuck in traffic, they lost ground and fell from possible top ten finishes. Kirkwood did look good early. Callum Ilott was on a similar strategy to VeeKay. They had stopped around the same lap for the first stop. Ilott did not stretch his fuel and switched to a three-stopper mid-race. VeeKay ended up sixth and Ilott was 19th. I am not saying Ilott would have been in the top ten, but it could have been better.
16. Alexander Rossi was a two-stopper, but he was stuck around seventh. Instead of stopping and coming out around 18th, Rossi stayed out. The hope was to run a few more laps, shorter the windows late in the race, and then have more fuel to burn late. The only problem is Rossi decided to make his second stop close to lap 65 when the pit window opened. He probably could have gone another five or ten laps.
Rossi's first stop only came a few laps before the second stops for Dixon, O'Ward and company. If he had gone to lap 72 or lap 75, I think he gets a better result. They stopped as early as possible hoping for another caution to come soon after his stop and vault him into the top ten. That was the wrong strategy to play and it left him 20th.
17. If you thought Rossi's day was bad, Conor Daly was 21st and not mentioned once.
18. Let's cover the blue flag rules: How about this? If you are 22nd and first-place is behind you, push-to-pass is disabled. It is pretty damn simple. If you are 22nd, you are racing 21st and 23rd. If 21st is six seconds ahead of you and 23rd is ten seconds behind you, there is no reason to hold up first and second and third.
It boils down to this: Is the lead lap a right or a privilege? I see it as a privilege. You aren't guaranteed the lead lap. If you aren't quick enough, you go a lap down.
Devlin DeFrancesco and Jimmie Johnson both made this a closer race than it should have been, and for no reason. Neither driver was battling for a position. If each car has to let the leaders go then the car ahead of them will also have to let the leaders pass. This is simple and let's not act like the race is somehow worse if DeFrancesco cannot finish on the lead lap in 22nd. Nobody is watching hoping that 22nd finishes on the lead lap unless they have a prop bet.
This isn't hard to police. Formula One does it. Almost every other single-seater series in the world can figure it out. IndyCar can do better.
19. Tatiana Calderón was three laps down in 24th and Dalton Kellett had a gearbox issue that required repairs. Kellett drove well prior to the issue, holding his own in the middle of the field.
There was a strange moment when Kellett returned to the race only to miss turn 12 and nearly caused a caution on lap 74. This likely forced O'Ward in earlier for his final pit stop than anticipated. I understand he is still in the race, hypothetically could still make up spots and the team could still gather data, but it was an odd choice to put Kellett back on track when he was already over ten laps down at that point.
Calderón did as expected. She should be in Indy Lights to develop, not an IndyCar.
20. David Malukas got into the marbles and hit the barrier exiting turn four. Malukas wasn't doing great prior to the accident. I think he was struggling with the tires. He had already made a pit stop. It was a mistake from a young driver. He will be fine.
21. Fewest number of cautions in a St. Petersburg race at one. Fastest St. Petersburg race at 96.552 mph. I am pretty sure this was the closest St. Petersburg finish with only 0.5095 seconds between McLaughlin and Palou. I am not one for hyperbole. Too many call what they have just seen the "best ever" regardless of what it is in life. Concert, television show, sporting event, etc.
But after seeing every St. Petersburg race prior to this one I am pretty sure this was the best St. Petersburg race I have ever seen. The 2018 race was good. The 2020 season finale was strong, but for the most part, St. Petersburg races have been pedestrian and there haven't been any horrible races here, but this was different.
It was a street race. There were a few moments that were calmer and processional. However, there was plenty that held your attention over the entire 100 laps. IndyCar got a great start to the season. See you in three weeks at Texas Motor Speedway.
