First Impressions: St. Petersburg 2026

1. It is comedy, pure comedy, every IndyCar race, because as much as we get our hopes up watching Scott McLaughlin and Marcus Ericsson battle for the lead during a pit cycle, the driver who will always come out on top is Álex Palou, and after the first round of pit stops, while McLaughlin and Ericsson tussled, Palou went three laps longer on his last stint and came out ahead of those two and the rest of the field in comfortable fashion. From there, the race was over. Palou was never challenged, running away during the second stint of the race and maintaining his mighty advantage over the final run to the checkered flag and his second consecutive victory at the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.

Palou didn't do anything brilliant. He didn't make an astonishing pass. He didn't run down the leaders. He ran his race and stayed out of harm's way. He stretched the fuel a little longer on the first stint and he benefitted from others fighting and losing time. The door opened and Palou slipped on through to first. It was all he needed. 

He wins three races a year this way. He doesn't need to start first. He can start fourth or eighth or ninth and run this strategy and win. I don't know how you beat this. It is a man playing chess against a bunch of boys playing checkers. How does the rest of the grid not realize this? There are plenty of bright minds in IndyCar. This is year seven for Palou in IndyCar, his sixth with Chip Ganassi Racing. You would think by now someone would have figured this out and come up with a solution for the Palou strategy. 

Nope! And instead we see Palou tallying wins like they are going out of style. Race #99 in his career and victory #20. Palou becomes the eighth driver to reach 20 career victories in his first 100 starts. The championship is over, folks. This wasn't even hard for Palou, and he is going to win races harder than this with ease. 

2. It is hard to think Scott McLaughlin had another St. Petersburg race get away from him due to tire strategy. It kind of did today, but not like last year where the alternate tire compound became junk almost immediately and he had to run some kind of stint while a number of drivers got away with doing two laps under caution. 

If McLaughlin isn't caught in the battle with Ericsson after the first pit stop, maybe he is able to remain ahead of Palou and maybe McLaughlin can hold off the Catalan driver as the race unfolded. With how well Palou ran, it might have been inevitable that Palou was going to win this race. If the pass wasn't going to happen after the first round of pit stops, it was going to come after the second round of pit stops. It is still a good day for McLaughlin. The pace is there. He just has to put the pieces together and not fall asleep when Álex Palou is around.

3. This was a monster day for Christian Lundgaard to go from 12th to third and push McLaughlin for second. Lundgaard had a good middle portion of the race, and took advantage when the top five was backed up due to Marcus Ericsson struggling on the alternate tire. Lundgaard made a pair of bold moves, first on Arrow McLaren teammate Patricio O'Ward and then on Ericsson. Those two spots allowed Lundgaard to get on the podium and push for more. 

Lundgaard sounded confident during the race and he looked confident behind the wheel. We are going to see him hit higher levels this season.

4. Kyle Kirkwood held on to finish fourth. It could have been more, but it was great that it ended as well as it did. Kirkwood had to work from 15th. He made up ground early, but he really took advantage of Ericsson's slow end to his second stint to use that as a pick on the final round of pit stops. Kirkwood hit that logjam and came to pit lane. It got him a handful of positions and put him second. The problem became Kirkwood stopped early and had to save fuel. 

The fuel conservation took Kirkwood off the podium, but he needed a race where he was competitive with the top drivers after not having a top five finish over the second half of 2025. He accomplished that today. This should be a good boost. Starting 15th was not ideal and that is an area where Kirkwood and Andretti Global must work on, but they should feel better after today.

5. Patricio O'Ward came up short of getting fourth. Fifth is a good day, but it felt like the limit for O'Ward today. He got bogged behind Ericsson and lost out to his teammate in that exchange. The fire wasn't there for O'Ward to take advantage of that opportunity and his teammate pounced. It is a fine start to the season. He is going to be competitive and win races. This is a good foundation to set.

6. Marcus Ericsson took sixth after falling behind. It could have been better, and Ericsson got away with some aggressive driving. I felt like the move on Marcus Armstrong was a little dirty, driving the New Zealander to the inside barrier on the main straightaway. No penalty was called, but it felt like that was the limit. This was an important day for Ericsson because I believe everyone has him being dismissed from Andretti Global when this season is over. He was the top qualifier for the team, he finished sixth, and if he keeps doing this over the remaining races, Ericsson is going to cause a good problem from the Andretti organization. 

7. Moving from 23rd to seventh and not being the center of attention is a good achievement for Josef Newgarden. We didn't see anything incredible from him today but he didn't stay at the rear of the field. We were never wondering what was wrong with him in this race. Newgarden had to get a respectable finish out of today, but there is still work to be done. This funk is moving onto year three though. Newgarden has some work to re-discover his groove. Perhaps it is somewhere lost in the desert.

8. A top ten finish on his IndyCar return was the best possible outcome for Romain Grosjean this weekend. Grosjean qualified sixth and dropped to eighth, but it is still outstanding. We saw last year Dale Coyne Racing show good speed. Pit stops were always going to be a trouble area this year. That is where time was lost today. Grosjean looked comfortable and he looked like he never missed anytime. It will be fun to see this season play out.

9. Every damn year we finish a season opener and we are wondering how the heck Rinus VeeKay cracked the top ten. Again, not a special day, he never made a notable move, but VeeKay was ninth at the finish from 19th on the grid. He impressed us last year with such a drive in this race with Dale Coyne Racing. He has picked up where he left off at Juncos Hollinger Racing. If he can finish between 12th and 14th in the championship again, it is hard to fathom how VeeKay does not get a call from a larger team because he has been impressive with lesser equipment.

10. First race, first top ten finish as Dennis Hauger takes tenth though he started third. Hauger lost spots during the race. Some of that was down to pit stops. Some of it was also down to his speed at the end of stints, but it was his first race and Hauger is going to develop. This was a great weekend for the Coyne group. Both cars made the Fast Six. Both cars finished in the top ten. It is a great place to start from.

11. It was a great weekend for Dale Coyne Racing, but it was a missed opportunity for Meyer Shank Racing. Marcus Armstrong was 11th and Felix Rosenqvist was 12th. Armstrong got up to fourth at the start of the race from seventh. After the block from Ericsson, Armstrong lost time and never recovered. It is harsh he did not get a top ten finish. 

I am trying to figure out the strategy for Felix Rosenqvist because he started on the alternate tire, switched to the primary on lap 31 and then came in under the caution for Scott Dixon's unsecured tire to put on the primary tire on lap 42. No matter what, Rosenqvist could not make it to the end of the race with that pit stop and he still had to put on the alternate tire a second time. Either there was a problem with the tire or the team didn't get enough fuel in the car. It didn't make sense and definitely ended a top ten run for the Swede.

12. Thirteenth doesn't feel good, but it could have been worse for David Malukas after his left front tire blew up a few laps after Malukas had a lock up. Seeing it live, it felt like Malukas should have immediately made a pit stop. That left front was not going to go a full stint. It didn't even make it ten more laps. This was a missed opportunity for Malukas. The result could have been much worse. Onto Phoenix!

13. This feels like another bad result for Louis Foster because of strategy because I don't know what Foster's team was thinking. Foster started the race with two stints on the primary tire, but he did 22 laps on his first stint and then the final stint had to be cut short due to the Dixon caution. Either way, Foster had to make one more stop from there. 

It felt like Foster's team expected the alternate tire to wear much more and it didn't, or the team thought teams had to use both tire compounds twice, which they didn't. It was not the case that every team could only go 20-25 laps on the alternate tire. The tire lasted a full stint. It was not like last year when no one wanted to run the alternate tire. 

We will talk about the tires in a moment.

14. Kyffin Simpson did nothing brilliant and finished 15th. I think Alexander Rossi's team misread the tire regulations because he stopped under the opening lap caution to get onto his second set of alternate tire, but the alternate tire was fine, and this put Rossi in a hole. Caio Collet was 17th and at least he got to run every lap. I don't think Collet was mentioned once during the race. Graham Rahal had a good race going and looked like he could steal a top ten finish but something happened in the final pit cycle and stint that dropped him to 18th. Rahal's day was better than this.

15. There is one notable thing Simpson did, and that was spin Christian Rasmussen in turn one. No penalty was called. I didn't mind there was no penalty. It was a racing incident, two cars going side-by-side into the corner. Rasmussen didn't look out for himself. It ruined his day. 

16. Nolan Siegel got lapped on the track. Do you know how hard it is to be lapped on track in IndyCar on a street course? It isn't a matter of if McLaren replaces Siegel after the season. It is a matter of after what race does McLaren replace Siegel this season. 

17. Sting Ray Robb locked up on the opening lap entering turn four and he collected Santino Ferrucci with Mick Schumacher left with nowhere to go. Robb locked up. It happens. It wasn't reckless. Robb's reputation doesn't help him. We know we have seen the maximum potential from him. 

It was a tough start to the season for Ferrucci and Schumacher. For Schumacher, it was a tough start to his IndyCar career. It is the second consecutive year a debutant has failed to finish a lap in the season opener, and in both cases the rookie had nowhere to go.

18. Two drivers we haven't mentioned: Will Power and Scott Dixon. 

Will Power slapped the wall exiting turn ten, and it ended what may have been a top ten finish. Scott Dixon had an unsecured tire after his second pit stop, which ruined what could have been possibly a top five finish or better. 

Power had a similar accident in the first practice. People say it was down to driving for a new team, but all the teams have the same brakes. That wasn't a difference Power must overcome at Andretti Global compared to Team Penske. It was a strange thing to see two near-identical accidents for Power this weekend. That is kind of a red flag. Did Andretti get Power a year too late?

As for Dixon, the tire changer didn't get the tire secure. That is a rough way for a race to end. Dixon stopped under the first caution and put on the primary tire. He was in a similar boat a Foster and Rossi, but Dixon was doing better and had more speed. He was positioned to make that stop and come out in the top ten. He was going to start his second stint on the alternate tire. From there, Dixon could have gotten more, possibly benefited from the Ericsson logjam, and it could have been a top five or podium finish. This ends a run of ten consecutive top ten finishes at St. Petersburg. 

19. Let's cover the tire strategy rule because I think IndyCar got this one wrong. 

Making the teams use the alternative tire twice means races can still be two stoppers. I think what IndyCar was hoping for was the alternate tire would wear like it did last year and make it so everyone would have to make a third stop no matter what. That didn't happen. 

If IndyCar wanted a three-stop race, it should make it mandatory to use both tire compounds twice, like it did as a trial in last year's Grand Prix of Indianapolis. It didn't do that, there was no difference between the compounds, and we had a normal St. Petersburg race where everyone was gunning to run a 33-35 lap stint to make it on two stops. 

Regardless of the outcome of today, if there is going to be a primary tire compound and an alternate tire compound, there must a difference between them. If both tires can do the full stint and are basically be identical on time, then what is the point?

I thought Firestone had it right last year. The alternate tire went to junk quickly, but it played a role in strategy. How long was a team going to run them? How much time would be lost? IndyCar's issue last year, and it still remains, is if there is an opening lap accident, a team can get off a tire compound without ever really using them. They introduced this new rule but it didn't matter because there was no difference in the compound. Either the minimum number of laps on a compound must increase or the tire compounds must be very different. 

We didn't see the alternate tire wear and become a handful until about 25 laps into a run today, but that is too late. The alternate tire compound should be junk after 15 laps and it should come down to whether or not a team immediately gets off it when it starts to turn or if it tries to hold on for another five laps or so because it gets them in a better fuel window or doesn't force the primary tire to be stretch too long. That would lead to a much more lively race. 

Today's race was ok once we got toward the end of a stint, but what is the point of waiting for a half-hour for things to mix up? A tire that wears quicker keeps the race fluctuating, and if you have that and the mandate that the alternate tire must be used twice, these races could swing wildly with someone moving through the field while another team drops down the order due to a gamble gone wrong. 

Firestone had it at the start of last year. Something was different this year because the alternate was nowhere near this good in 2025. Let's hope we do not see more of the same at Arlington and Long Beach.

20. IndyCar has an opening lap issue. We had the incident today. Last year saw seven races have a caution on the opening lap. There were also nine races in 2024 that had an opening lap caution. Twelve races in 2025 had the first caution fall in the first four laps of the race. That kind of predictability is not a good thing. 

It makes the drivers look amateur. It takes the fun out of the start of races. It makes conservative pit strategies more appealing and teams will take fewer risks. It is problem, but I am not sure there is an easy solution. Can we spread out the field more at the start? Should there be a penalty for early accidents? Everyone would fear aggression being penalized, but I don't think it being a genuine 50-50 on whether or not 25 drivers can complete one lap without an issue is a good thing either. 

A half-brain idea in the immediate aftermath of the race is if there is an opening lap accident, a penalty carries over to the next race. If you cannot get through the first lap in one race, you start from your pit box the next race. Not the end of the pit lane. Before the start of the final pace lap, any car in an opening lap accident in the previous race comes to pit lane and parks in their pit box. The race starts on track and once the field clears the end of the pit lane, those cars can exit their box and join the race.

It is harsh but it would likely change something. Drivers would be held accountable. 

To add to it, if you are involved in a caution between laps two and five, you automatically start at the rear of the field. You would be on track but you would be starting 25th. 

I don't know when it becomes a problem that IndyCar and its drivers notice, but I think it is a problem now. There should not be a fear to have a higher standard of driving. 

21. We will be back at it in six days in Phoenix. It is a big opportunity for many. 

Morning Warm-Up: St. Petersburg 2026

For the second consecutive season, Scott McLaughlin is starting on pole position for the season opener at the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. In the final round of qualifying, McLaughlin took the top spot with a lap at 60.5426 seconds. It is the 11th pole position of his career, but he has won only three times from pole position in his career. He was fourth in last year's St. Petersburg race after starting on pole position and leading 40 laps. Starting on the primary tire meant McLaughlin had to run a stint during the race on the alternate tire, and it cost him and ultimately the lead. IndyCar has introduced a new rule this season where all cars must complete two stints on the alternate tire in street course races. McLaughlin has finished third in the last two IndyCar races. He has not had a podium finish on a street course since he was second in the 2023 Nashville race, another race where he started on pole position.

Marcus Ericsson was 0.0195 seconds off pole position, but this is Ericsson's first front row starting position since the 2023 Grand Prix of Long Beach. This is only the third time the Swede has started on the front row in his IndyCar career, and this will be his 115th start. He started second at Gateway in 2022. Ericsson has finished in the top ten in five of seven St. Petersburg starts. His 2023 victory is his only top five finish at the circuit. Last season, he had two top ten finishes all season, and he started in the top ten in seven races. In three of those he finished outside the top twenty.

Dennis Hauger makes his IndyCar debut from third on the grid, as Hauger was 0.0317 seconds off McLaughlin's time. Since 1946, three driver have won on debut, Graham Hill at the 1966 Indianapolis 500, Nigel Mansell at Surfers Paradise in 1993 and Buzz Calkins in the inaugural Indy Racing League race at Walt Disney World Speedway in 1996. Dale Coyne Racing has had a top ten finisher in seven of the last nine St. Petersburg race. In two of those races, a rookie finished in the top ten. Ed Jones was tenth in 2017 and Santino Ferrucci was ninth in 2019.

Álex Palou starts his pursuit of a fourth consecutive championship from fourth starting position in St. Petersburg. Palou was 0.1416 seconds off please position. Palou could become the fifth driver to win consecutive St. Petersburg races joining Hélio Castroneves, Juan Pablo Montoya, Sébastien Bourdais and Josef Newgarden. Palou has won in consecutive years at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and at Laguna Seca, both active streaks entering 2026.

David Malukas will make his Team Penske debut from fifth, and he was 0.2212 seconds off his teammate McLaughlin. Malukas will become the 39th driver to start an IndyCar race for Team Penske. Only one driver has won on his debut for Team Penske. That was Sam Hornish, Jr. on February 29, 2004 at Homestead, leading a Penske 1-2 with Hélio Castroneves in second. Five drivers have finished on the podium in their Penske debut, 11 have had a top five finish and 19 have had a top ten finish.

Romain Grosjean's return to IndyCar saw him make the Fast Six, and Grosjean starts sixth for St. Petersburg. This was actually the third consecutive St. Petersburg race in which Grosjean made it to the final round of qualifying. He started on pole position in 2023 and started fifth in 2024. However, he finished 18th and 22nd in those races respectively. In four St. Petersburg starts, Grosjean's best finishes fifth, but he finished outside the top ten in the other three starts, and his average finish is 14.5.

Marcus Armstrong fell 0.0368 seconds short of making the final round of qualifying, and Armstrong will open the season starting seventh. This is his third consecutive top ten start at St. Petersburg, but Armstrong has failed to finish the last two St. Petersburg races. His average finish in 13 street course starts is 11.538. Both of his street course top five finishes came in 2024 when he was third at Detroit and fifth at Toronto.

Patricio O'Ward joins Armstrong on row four. In six St. Petersburg starts, O'Ward has finished on the podium three times and outside the top ten in the other three races. He won the most recent street course race at Toronto from tenth on the grid. The worst starting position O'Ward has won from in his career came on a street course. He went from 16th to first in the second Belle Isle race in 2021.

Louis Foster was the top Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing qualifier, and he will start ninth. Foster was the top RLLR starter in only five races in 2025 despite having the best average starting position among the RLLR drivers at 13.529 and winning the team's only pole position. Last year, Foster was caught in the opening lap accident at St. Petersburg and he was unable to complete a lap in his debut. 

Kyffin Simpson cracked the top ten in qualifying, and it is Simpson's best career starting position on a street course. His previous best was 13th at Toronto last year, a race in which Simpson finished third. Simpson has finished in the top five of the last two IndyCar street course races, and he has three consecutive top ten finishes. The only other driver who was in the top five in the last two street course races is Colton Herta, who is not entered this weekend. Simpson had the fastest lap in two of four street races in 2025.

Felix Rosenqvist takes 11th on the grid, and dating back to last season it is the third consecutive street race Rosenqvist is starting outside the top ten. Rosenqvist enters this race having not won in his last 92 starts. A victory this weekend would put the Swede third all-time in the most starts between victories behind Graham Rahal's record 124 and Johnny Rutherford, who had a 97-race drought. Rosenqvist led 31 laps at St. Petersburg in 2019, his IndyCar debut, and he has not led at the circuit since.

Christian Lundgaard made the second round of qualifying, but the Dane takes the 12th grid position. Last year, Lundgaard went from 12th to third at Long Beach. Lundgaard failed to win a race in 2025, but he was fifth in the championship. It was the third time since 2020 a top five championship finisher did not win a race. The other two times were also by an Arrow McLaren driver, Patricio O'Ward in 2020 and 2023. 

Will Power's Andretti Global debut will be from 13th starting position as Power fell 0.0696 seconds off making it out of group one in the first round of qualifying. This is the second consecutive year Power is starting 13th at St. Petersburg. He spun on the opening lap last year and barely completed three corners before being classified in 26th. Power has led the most laps all-time at St. Petersburg with 269, but he has led only 27 laps in the last ten St. Petersburg races. 

Christian Rasmussen missed out on advancing from group two by 0.0129 seconds, and Rasmussen will start 14th. In the last two races, Rasmussen has finished first and he has finished last. It was the 41st time in IndyCar history a driver has gone from first to last in the next race. On 30 occasions has a driver finished last and then won the next race. On seven occasions has a driver won a race, finished last in the next race, and then won the race after that. The most recent was Will Power in 2019, who won at Pocono, was last at Gateway and then won at Portland.

Kyle Kirkwood is a spot directly behind his new Andretti Global teammate in 15th position as the American was 0.1068 seconds off making it to the second round. Dating back to last season, this is the sixth time in the last eight races Kirkwood has failed to start in the top ten. Kirkwood's finishing position has improved each year at St. Petersburg. He went from 18th in 2022 to 15th to tenth and was fifth last year. Kirkwood has nine consecutive top ten finishes on street courses dating back to his Nashville victory in 2023. 

Scott Dixon will start 16th, his worst starting position at St. Petersburg since he started 20th in the 2013 race. Dixon has ten consecutive top ten finishes at St. Petersburg. He was second last year, his fifth runner-up finish at St. Petersburg and he is still looking for his first victory in the event. Dixon has the most victories in IndyCar history from outside a top ten starting position with eight. No other driver in IndyCar history has more than four victories from outside the top ten.

Santino Ferrucci occupies the inside of row nine. Last season, Ferrucci started outside the top ten in 15 of 16 starts, but he finished better than his starting position 11 times and on five occasions he finished at least ten spots better than where he started. The only time Ferrucci started 17th in 2025 was at Mid-Ohio. He did finish better than his starting position, but he only improved to 16th at the checkered flag. 

Graham Rahal occupies the outside of row nine. Rahal started outside the top fifteen in nine races last season, including St. Petersburg where he started 21st. This is his fourth consecutive St. Petesburg race starting outside the top fifteen. This is about to be the 20th season of Rahal's IndyCar career. He has finished outside the top ten in 14 of 19 season openers in his career. His best season opening finish was second in 2018.

Rinus VeeKay leads an all-Juncos Hollinger Racing row ten for his very first IndyCar race with the organization. However, 19th is VeeKay's second-worst starting position ever at St. Petersburg. He stated 24th in 2023 and his race ended with an accident, classifying him in 21st. VeeKay has four top ten finishes in six season openers in his career, and he also has four top ten finishes in six St. Petersburg starts.

Sting Ray Robb starts the season in 20th, and prior to this weekend Robb had only started in the top twenty once for a street course race. Last year at Long Beach, he started 19th and went on to finish ninth, his second career top ten finish. In three St. Petersburg starts, Robb has finished 16th, 24th and 21st. He has never finished on the lead lap in this race.

Mick Schumacher opens his IndyCar career from 21st starting position. Schumacher has not won a race since September 26, 2020. It was the Formula Two feature race from Sochi. Yuki Tsunoda was second and Callum Ilott was third in that race. Marcus Armstrong was ninth. Christian Lundgaard was involved in an opening lap collision with current Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing reserve driver Jüri Vips.

Nolan Siegel was 22nd in the championship last season, and Siegel opens the 2026 season starting 22nd.  Siegel ended last season with six consecutive finishes outside the top fifteen. His average finish in six career street course starts is 20.5 with his best finish being 18th at Toronto last year. He ended last season with seven consecutive finishes outside the top ten.

Josef Newgarden has his worst ever starting position at St. Petersburg in 23rd. This is the fourth consecutive street course race where Newgarden is starting outside the top ten In the last seven season openers, Newgarden has either finished on the podium or outside the top fifteen. He was third last year at St. Petersburg. This will be Newgarden's 240th consecutive start, and it will break a tie with Ryan Hunter-Reay for the fifth-longest streak in IndyCar history.

Caio Collet will begin his IndyCar career from 24th starting position. Fourteen of the first 22 St. Petersburg races have featured at least 24 starters. Only once has a 24th-place starter at St. Petersburg gone on to finish in the top ten. That was Graham Rahal in 2018, who went from 24th to second. The average finish for the 24th-starter at St. Petersburg is 17.0714. Collet was seventh and third in his two Indy Lights starts in St. Petersburg. 

Alexander Rossi rounds out the grid in 25th starting position. This is Rossi's worst starting position since the 2024 Nashville season finale when he started 26th. This will be the fourth time in Rossi's career that he is starting outside the top 25 and only the ninth time he has started outside the top 20 in what will be his 165th start. He has one top five finish when starting outside the top 20, fourth from 32nd in the 2018 Indianapolis 500, and his only other top ten finish was eighth from 21st in the first Iowa race in 2020. Rossi has three consecutive top ten finishes at St. Petersburg after finishing 20th or worse in his three visits prior to this streak.

Fox's coverage of the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg begins at noon ET with green flag scheduled for 12:29 p.m. The race is scheduled for 100 laps.

Track Walk: St. Petersburg 2026

The first round of the 2026 NTT IndyCar Series takes place in a familiar location, St. Petersburg, Florida. A total of 181 days will have passed since the most recent IndyCar race, a 225-laps race around Nashville Superspeedway. The grid reassembles this weekend on the gulf coast with 25 cars entered for the season opener and 18 drivers in the same spot they were when IndyCar last raced. For three drivers, this weekend marks their IndyCar debuts. For another three drivers, they are in a different spot than where they were this time a year ago. And for another driver, he is back in the series after a year on the sidelines.

Coverage

Time: Coverage begins at 12:00 p.m. ET on Sunday March 1 with green flag scheduled for 12:29 p.m. ET.
Channel: Fox
Announcers: Will Buxton, Townsend Bell and James Hinchcliffe will be in the booth. Kevin Lee, Georgia Henneberry and Jack Harvey will work pit lane.

IndyCar Weekend Schedule

Friday:

First Practice: 1:35 p.m. ET (75 minutes)

Saturday:

Second Practice: 9:15 a.m. ET (75 minutes)
Qualifying: 4:35 p.m. ET 
Sunday:
Warm-up: 9:05 a.m. ET (30 minutes)
Race: 12:29 p.m. ET (100 laps)

Is Álex Palou Bound to Make More History?

We ended the 2025 season with Palou claiming his third consecutive IndyCar championship and the fourth title in his six-year IndyCar career. It capped off a historic season that saw Palou win eight races, stand on the podium 13 times and end with an average finish of 4.0588. As for what is to come next, probably more history.

Palou has yet to reach 100 starts in his IndyCar career, and he is already reaching heights most don't hit in an entire career. St. Petersburg will be his 99th career start and he enters this weekend with 19 career victories. One victory in the either of the first two races of this season will make him the ninth driver to win at least 20 races in the first 100 starts of a career. Palou is already tied for 22nd all-time in victories with Jimmy Bryan and Sam Hornish, Jr. 

Last season, Palou won eight times and he became just the ninth driver to win at least eight races in a season. The only driver that won eight times in consecutive seasons was Mario Andretti, who did it in 1966 and 1967. Palou opened last season with a somewhat surprising victory at St. Petersburg after starting eighth and not taking the lead until 26 laps remained during the final round of pit stops. It kicked off a start to the season that saw him win five of the first six races. Five more victories will put Palou tied with Bobby Rahal for 18th all-time, and another eight-win season would have Palou level with Johnny Rutherford for 15th.

Beyond the victories, Palou could become the second driver in IndyCar history with four consecutive championship. Only Sébastien Bourdais has achieved such a feat, though Bourdais did it in the middle of the CART-IRL split when CART had become Champ Car. During Bourdais' four-year championship run, the largest field he competed against was 19 cars. For Palou, the smallest field he has competed in was 23 entries, and all eight of those races came during his rookie season in 2020. The last 71 IndyCar races have featured at least 25 starters. Over the past three seasons, every race has started at least 27 cars.

Another title would be Palou's fifth, and it would put him alone for third all-time in championships, one behind Scott Dixon in second and two behind A.J. Foyt's all-time record. Dixon's fifth title came in his 18th season while Foyt's fifth title was in his 11th season. 

Palou ended last season with four consecutive podium finishes. It is the third time in Palou's career he has ad at least four consecutive podium finishes. In 2023, he won three consecutive races over Detroit, Road America and Mid-Ohio before finishing second at Toronto. Last season, he opened the season with six consecutive podium results.

It isn't only Palou who is chasing history. Entering 2026, Team Penske and Chip Ganassi Racing are tied with 17 championships apiece. Team Penske has held the record for most championship as a team since 1983 when it won its sixth title, breaking a tie with Dean Van Lines Racing, which had won five championships, three with Jimmy Bryan in the 1950s and two with Mario Andretti in the 1960s.

Who Can Conquer the Catalan?

There will be two-dozen drivers with the objective of toppling the Catalan driver and ending his three-year reign as IndyCar king. For any of these drivers to do it, they must overcome a 196-point gap as that is how massive Palou's insurance was between him and the rest of the field in 2025.

The closest competitor was Patricio O'Ward, who scored his best championship finish last season coming in second to Palou. O'Ward did win twice in 2025, and he had ten top five finishes, but he also had five finishes outside the top ten, and Palou has had only had five finishes outside the top ten over his last three seasons. The only time Palou had at least five finishes outside the top ten in a single season was his rookie year in 2020 with Dale Coyne Racing. 

The best challenger could come from within the Chip Ganassi Racing stable, as Scott Dixon was third in the championship last year. The six-time champion had the second-best average finish in 2025 at 8.294, but that was over four positions worse than Palou's average. While Dixon had the second-best average finish, he only won once, and it came after an unforced error from Palou driving off the road at Mid-Ohio. Dixon only had three podium finishes in 2025, his fewest since he had only one in 2005.

Kyle Kirkwood did win the second-most races in 2025. With three victories, Kirkwood was Palou's main challenger in the first half of the season as the two competitors combined to win every race in the first half of the season. Through the first nine races, Kirkwood had an average finish 7.889, and that included 32nd in the Indianapolis 500 after being disqualified. He was sixth on the road. However, in the final eight races, Kirkwood failed to score a top five finish and his average finish dropped to 14th.

The 2025 season started on a good note for Christian Lundgaard. In his first year with Arrow McLaren, Lundgaard made a stellar first impression with four consecutive top ten finishes, three of which were consecutive podium results. After four races, Lundgaard was second in the championship behind Palou. However, Lundgaard fell into a little slump. While he would pick up three more podium finishes over the final 13 races, he did have six finishes outside the top ten, three of which were outside the top twenty. 

We have covered the remaining top five drivers from last year's championship, but we have not mentioned Team Penske. The team responsible for the most recent non-Palou title and champions in five of the last 12 seasons, Team Penske is always seen as a favorite, but last year was the organization's worst season in a quarter-century. Penske did not win until the 15th race in the 17-race season. No Penske drivers finished in the top eight of the championship, and the organization's three drivers combined for nine podium finishes over the 2025 season. Team Penske also had a combined 19 finishes outside the top twenty last season.

Greener Pastures

Most of the IndyCar grid has remained unchanged from when the 2025 season ended. Most drivers have stayed put, but a few drivers are driving somewhere else, and it is a notable change for one of the greatest drivers to ever race in IndyCar.

St. Petersburg will mark the first time in over 17 years that Will Power will compete in an IndyCar race for a team other than Team Penske. Power makes his first start for Andretti Global in the #26 Honda. Last season, Power was the top Team Penske driver in the championship, but he was ninth matching his worst championship performance for the team. Power did win at Portland, but he had nine finishes outside the top ten and six of those were results outside the top twenty. 

Andretti Global will be hoping Power can lead to successful for multiple drivers in the organization. While Kirkwood won three times last year and finished fourth in the championship, the Andretti organization has not had multiple drivers win multiple races in the same season since 2018. 

With Power leaving Team Penske, it has led to David Malukas joining the organization. Malukas spent 2025 racing for A.J. Foyt Racing where he had a career year. Malukas was 11th in the championship and he was credited with second in the Indianapolis 500. He picked up another top five finish with a fourth in the second Iowa race. Malukas ended up finishing two points better now-teammate Josef Newgarden in the championship. 

While Malukas' four-year IndyCar career has brought him to Team Penske, there is a lot he has yet to accomplish. He has yet to in a race in IndyCar, and he is the first winless veteran Team Penske has hired since Ryan Briscoe joined the organization for the 2008 IndyCar season. However, Briscoe had spent 2007 racing for Team Penske in the American Le Mans Series. Malukas has never had a top five finish on a road or street circuit. Last season, his best finish on such a circuit was seventh at Road America.

Power and Malukas dominated most of the attention during the offseason when it came to driver shuffling, but they were not the only drivers to change seats. 

Despite finishing 14th in the championship after being the final driver hired to a full-time seat for the 2025 season, Rinus VeeKay decided to leave Dale Coyne Racing for Juncos Hollinger Racing. VeeKay had a memorable season that saw him finish second at Toronto and have a brilliant drive to fourth at Barber Motorsports Park. The Dutchman had six top ten finishes in the first nine races after Dale Coyne Racing failed to score a finish better than 13th in 2024. 

VeeKay has never finished worse than 14th in the championship in six IndyCar seasons, and he moves to Juncos Hollinger Racing, which has never had a driver finish than 16th in the championship. Last season, JHR had a combined five top ten finishes between Conor Daly, whom VeeKay replaces, and Sting Ray Robb, who will be VeeKay's teammate this season. The team has had at least one top five finish in each of the last three seasons. In 2024, the team had nine top ten finishes. 

VeeKay does have history with Juncos Hollinger Racing. Together, they won the 2018 Pro Mazda championship and they were second in the 2019 Indy Lights championship behind Oliver Askew.

With VeeKay leaving Dale Coyne Racing, it opened a spot in the Illinois-based team, and with the final full-time driver announced for the third consecutive season, Dale Coyne Racing has brought Romain Grosjean back to IndyCar. 

Grosjean spent 2025 as reserve driver for Prema behind Callum Ilott and Robert Shwartzman, but he never contested an IndyCar race. Grosjean did run five IMSA endurance races last year for Lamborghini, and his best finish was fourth at Petit Le Mans. The Frenchman last raced in IndyCar in 2024 with Juncos Hollinger Racing. He was 17th in the championship, but his best finish was fourth at Laguna Seca and he had six top ten finishes over the entire season. 

It is a reunion as Grosjean made his IndyCar debut with Dale Coyne Racing in 2021. The two parties combined to have three podium finishes, including finishing second in Grosjean's third IndyCar start, which came from pole position in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. While Grosjean did not run three oval races, he still ended up 15th in the championship and was only 33 points behind Scott McLaughlin for Rookie of the Year.

Our Rookie Trifecta

Speaking of rookies, we have three ready for the 2026 season, and all three will be making their IndyCar debuts this weekend. Two of the three are coming up from Indy Lights while the third has a spent his career racing on the global stage, first in Formula One and most recently in the FIA World Endurance Championship. 

Dennis Hauger won the 2025 Indy Lights championship with Andretti Global, and Hauger moves up to IndyCar to run the #19 Honda for Dale Coyne Racing in a technical partnership with Andretti Global. Hauger won six of 14 races last year and he stood on the podium ten times. He also won eight pole positions and had five fastest laps. 

Prior to Indy Lights, Hauger was the 2021 Formula Three champion, which he won against the likes of Jack Doohan, Frederik Vesti and Logan Sargeant. He spent the next three seasons in Formula Two where his best championship finish was eighth in 2023 and he won five races. 

Also moving up from Indy Lights will be Caio Collet, who takes over the #4 Chevrolet for A.J. Foyt Racing. Collet was second to Hauger in Indy Lights, 72 points behind the Norwegian. Last year was Collet's second year in Indy Lights. After winning one race in 2024, Collet won three times in 2025, and he had nine podium finishes, three more than the year before. 

Collet also spent time in Formula Three, competing two rungs below Formula One from 2021 to 2023. He and Hauger shared the podium in the final race of the Circuit Paul Ricard weekend in 2021. Collet was third while Hauger was second and both finished behind Jack Doohan. Collet was ninth, eighth and ninth in the championship over those three years, and all three of his victories were sprint victories. 

The most notable rookie this season is Mick Schumacher, who joins Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing to drive the #47 Honda. Schumacher spent two seasons racing in Formula One, both for the Haas F1 organization. While he failed to score a point as a rookie in 2021, Schumacher had two points finishes in 2022, an eighth in the British Grand Prix and sixth in the Austrian Grand Prix. 

After spending 2023 as a reserve driver for Mercedes-AMG and McLaren in Formula One, Schumacher returned to competition in 2024 driving for the Alpine hypercar program in the FIA World Endurance Championship. In 16 starts, his best finish wa this on three occasions. 

Last year, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing took Rookie of the Year with Louis Foster, though Foster's best finish was 11th and he was 23rd in the championship. It was the first time the rookie of the year finished outside the top twenty in the championship since 1986. Foster did have the highlight of taking pole position at Road America. 

Foster was the second RLLR driver in the last four seasons to win rookie of the year. Christian Lundgaard took the honor in 2022. Dale Coyne Racing has produced three rookies of the year since renunciation in 2008, but it has not done it since Ed Jones in 2017. A.J. Foyt Racing has never produced a rookie of the year.

Since the introduction of the aeroscreen in 2020, the average championship finish for all qualified rookies is 21.24 and no rookie has finished better than 14th in that time. The last season where a rookie finished in the top ten of the championship saw two crack the top ten. In 2019, Felix Rosenqvist was sixth as a rookie while Colton Herta was seventh. 

A Few Changes

The opening weekend of the IndyCar season will see some changes to procedures and how things are done. We will first see these changes in practice. 

Both practice sessions before qualifying will feature the split-group format, which we saw introduced last season during the first practice sessions. Each practice will be open to all entries for the first 40 minutes before the field will be split into two groups based on alternating pit boxes. Each group will then get an additional 12 minute on track. The second practice session had previously been a 60-minute session open to all cars.

The morning warm-up session will also increase by five minutes, from 25 minutes to 30 minutes. 

With the change to the practice format, a change has also been made on how groups will be determined for the second round of qualifying. The groups will be determined based on the previous race's qualifying results. For the opening round at St. Petersburg, entrant points from last season will set the groups, meaning we know the qualifying groups even before the first session will take place. 

One group will feature Álex Palou, Scott Dixon, Christian Lundgaard, Marcus Armstrong, David Malukas, Caio Collet, Christian Rasmussen, Alexander Rossi, Kyffin Simpson, Graham Rahal, Louis Foster, Sting Ray Robb and Dennis Hauger.

The other group will feature Patricio O'Ward, Kyle Kirkwood, Felix Rosenqvist, Will Power, Scott McLaughlin, Josef Newgarden, Romain Grosjean, Santino Ferrucci, Rinus VeeKay, Marcus Ericsson, Nolan Siegel and Mick Schumacher.

St. Petersburg will mark the first weekend with the new alternate tire compound rule for street course races. Each team must use a set of the alternate tire compound in two stints in each street course race. In all likelihood, this will make every street course race at least three-stop race, if not a four-stop race, but it does not entirely eliminate teams attempting to make it on three stops or even two stops. The primary tire compound must only be used on one stint, theoretically opening the door to a team making it on two stops, but using the alternate tire compound for majority of the race.

All 23 finishers in last year's St. Petersburg race made at least three stops. The only car to make four stops was Patricio O'Ward, but that was after O'Ward decided to start on the primary tire and switch to the alternate tire after two laps. O'Ward then went 20 laps on the alternate tire but still had to make two more pit stops to make it to the finish of the race. In 2024, 21 of the 23 cars that took the checkered flag at St. Petersburg only made two stops.

Road to Indy

This season's St. Petersburg weekend sees two of the three Road to Indy series also opening their campaigns on the temporary circuit. 

Indy Lights is showing up with 24 cars for its opening race. 

Leading the way will be Lochie Hughes and the Andretti Global quadruplet. Hughes was third in the championship last year with a pair of victories, and he was second at St. Petersburg last year. Hughes has three new teammates. Seb Murray moves over from the Andretti Cape partnership while Max Taylor will be full-time in Indy Lights after running a few races last year in companionship with a full USF Pro 2000 season. Josh Pierson moves over from HMD Motorsports where Pierson was sixth in the championship.

Myles Rowe was fourth in the championship and he ended the 2025 season with a victory at Nashville. Rowe is back in the Force Indy entry run in partnership with Abel Motorsports. Abel Motorsports will run 2025 USF Pro 2000 championship Max Garcia. Garcia won nine races last season. Jordan Missig and Colin Kaminsky round out the Abel Motorsports drivers. 

HMD Motorpsorts is down to four full-time cars with Salvador de Alba leading the way. Jack Beeton, Enzo Fittipaldi and Tymek Kucharczyk will also be at HMD. 

Chip Ganassi Racing has expanded to four cars with Bryce Aron and Niels Koolen returning. James Roe, Jr. and Carson Etter are joining the outfit. Cape Motorsports is now running partnership with Ed Carpenter Racing, and it will have Nikita Johnson and Matteo Nannini as its drivers. 

There are three new teams on the grid from the 2025 season. Juncos Hollinger Racing is back after a year out of the series. JHR will have Alexander Koreiba and Ricardo Escotto as its drivers. Cusack Morgan Motorsports will run Nicolas Stati and Juan Manuel Correa. A.J. Foyt Racing is back in Indy Lights for the first time since 2004, and it has a two-car team for Nicholas Monteiro and Alessandro de Tullio. Both Cusick Morgan Motorsports and A.J. Foyt Racing have a technical partnership with HMD Motorsports. 

The first Indy Lights race of the season will be at 10:00 a.m. ET on Sunday March 1. There race is scheduled for 45 laps.

Twenty-three cars are entered for the U.S. F2000 season opener.

Exclusive Autosport won the Drivers' Championship last year with Jack Jeffers, and Exclusive Autosport is rolling into St. Petersburg with six drivers. Evan Cooley and Anthony Martella are the top returning drivers from the 2025 championship. Connor Aspley, Gabriel Cahan, Ayrton Cahan and Kaylee Countryman will round out the six-car lineup. 

VRD Racing won the Teams' Championship last year, and it is back with a four-car team for João Vergara, Colin Aitken, Ryan Giannetta and Jack Mohrhardt. 

Ed Carpenter Racing's tentacles are spreading down to the lowest rung of the Road to Indy as well, as the team has partnered with Jay Howard Driver Development. This partnership will continue in USF Pro 2000 as well. This weekend, JHDD has four cars entered for Liam Loiacono, Naim Saleh, Erik Holm and Cal Peter.

DEForce Racing has three drivers entered with Sebastián Garzón leading the way after being fastest at Homestead testing. Brady Golan and Thomas Nordquist. Pabst Racing has a trio of cars, two for Australians Brad Majman and Eddie Beswick, and one for Canadian Lucas Nanji. 

Zanella Racing has entered U.S. F2000 with 2025 USF Juniors champion Leonardo Escorpioni. Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing is back with Wian Boshoff. Wesley Gundler rounds out the grid with ENVE Motorsports. 

U.S. F2000 will race at 11:30 a.m. ET on Friday February 27 and at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday March 1. Both races are scheduled for 20 laps or 40 minutes.

Fast Facts

This will be the third IndyCar race to take place on March 1 and the first since 1925 when Tommy Milton won a 250-mile race on the 1.25-mile board oval in Culver City, California.

The only other March 1 race was in 1913. Billy Carlson won a 200-mile race on the Point Loma road course, a 5.982-mile course in San Diego, California. 

March 1 is also Will Power's 45th birthday. 

There have been nine birthday winners in IndyCar history, the most recent was Dan Wheldon on June 22, 2008 at Iowa. It was Wheldon's 30th birthday.

The oldest birthday winner in IndyCar history is Nigel Mansell, who won on his 40th birthday on August 8, 1993 at Loudon.

There have been six different winners in the last six St. Petersburg races. This matches the longest streak of different winners in the history of the race. There were six different winners from 2008 to 2013. 

Last year's race had an average speed of 97.173 mph, the fastest St. Petersburg race ever, whether it be at the 180-mile distance (100 laps) or 200-mile distance (110 laps).

Four of the last five St. Petersburg races have been completed between in the one-hour-and-51-minute range.

The average starting position for a St. Petersburg winner is 5.2727 with a median of fourth. 

Last year, Álex Palou won from eighth. It was the sixth time in 22 St. Petersburg races that the winner started outside the top five.

Twenty-three consecutive IndyCar races have been won from a top ten starting position. The most recent race won from outside the top ten was the second Iowa race in 2024. Will Power won from 22nd.

The most recent road or street course race won from outside the top ten was the 2023 Laguna Seca season finale. Scott Dixon won from 11th.

Chip Ganassi Racing has won two of the last three St. Petersburg races after winning only one of the previous 18.

Chevrolet and Honda have alternated winning at St. Petersburg since 2020 with Chevrolet winning all three even-numbered years and Honda winning all three odd-numbered years.

 

The average number of lead changes in a St. Petersburg race is 6.4545 with a median of seven.

The average number of cautions in a St. Petersburg race is 3.9545 with a median of 4.5. The average number of caution laps is 17.5 with a median of 16.

Every St. Petersburg race has had at least one caution. Last year's race became the second St. Petersburg race to feature only one caution. The first was the 2022 St. Petersburg race.

This is the first IndyCar season to start with three consecutive weekends of races since 2021, however, that was after the St. Petersburg race was delayed seven weeks due to the pandemic. The last season with the first three races originally scheduled over consecutive weekends was the 2007 Champ Car season.

Predictions

We start the season with a bang, and Will Power wins on his birthday. Only one other Team Penske driver finishes in the top five, and at least four different teams are represented in the top five finishers. Álex Palou spends majority of the laps running in the top five. Every car makes it through the first lap. Louis Foster gets his first top ten finish. Most cars start on the alternate tire and then use them again on their third stint. One driver will try to use the alternate tire in both the first two stints, and that driver will finish off the lead lap. Romain Grosjean will not have an outburst on the radio. Marcus Ericsson has his worst St. Petersburg starting position since 2021, but he will finish at least five spots better than that. Sleeper: Felix Rosenqvist.

First Impressions: St. Petersburg 2025

1. We might need to start re-training our brains. As the pit strategy was playing out and Scott Dixon was leading all the drivers who had met the requirement of using both tire compounds and only needing one more stop for fuel, it looked like Dixon was about to pull off another masterclass performance and stealing a race out from underneath everybody. 

It made sense. Dixon had all the pieces lined up in his favor. The one thing that was lined up against was his teammate. 

Álex Palou was only two spots behind Dixon and within sight. Dixon may have made the mistake of going one lap too long. He was behind the back-marker of Jacob Abel. Palou came in and one lap created enough open track for Palou to zoom through to the lead when Dixon emerged from the pit lane. With clear track ahead, Palou left the field in the dust. 

Perhaps the old man doesn't have it anymore, or perhaps it was just a bad radio. It was a good run and Dixon is still better than most competing today, but Palou is the best. He didn't learn it. Palou had the same gift Dixon has possessed and displayed in IndyCar for the last two decades. Perhaps Palou has refined the ability over the last few seasons, but he has had this since he joined the Chip Ganassi Racing organization. We saw it on day one with a victory at Barber Motorsports Park. 

Day one of the 2025 season could not a worse result for the rest of the IndyCar grid. The champion remains on top. Everyone chased him for most of last year and the year before that. Now, everyone is chasing Palou from day one this season. We didn't see anyone catch him the previous two years. This could be a long year ahead.

When Palou has this in his arsenal, the ability to flip tire strategy into his favor without doing much beyond pacing himself, it feels near impossible to defeat him. Palou will be able to do this another two or three times this season if needed. When you cannot match it, the only option is to be outright faster, and Palou isn't going to let that be the case for most of the season. 

The question we must ask ourselves when a race begins to turn into a strategy quagmire, "How can Álex Palou win this?" It is no longer Scott Dixon the first driver that should come to mind. 

2. It wasn't Scott Dixon's day. Radio issues cost him and likely caused him to stay out longer than his wished. Despite all the problems, he was still good enough to finish second. We will never know if Dixon would have been able to hold off Palou if the radio had worked. With how Palou drove, I think it might have still played out this way with the Catalan driver on top. 

It could be the case that the only driver better than Dixon is his teammate Palou, which is good for Ganassi, as it can begin a season with a 1-2 finish. Dixon did everything right. He hasn't truly lost it, but right when it looked like it was his day, going one lap long cost him. We are not used to Dixon losing races because he was the one to run one too many laps behind a back-marker. 

Dixon was great. It is tough when he is not the best even within his own team. There should not be any major concern. There will be one or two races this year where Palou isn't this good and Dixon will be the one to come out on top. It felt like the season opener was meant to be his.

3. Sting Ray Robb will be credited with the assist because this race was not as close as it should have been. Josef Newgarden benefitted from the traffic slowing Palou for much of the final stint, but once cleared, Newgarden did not have enough to pounce on the opportunity created. It actually poised a problem as Newgarden ran out of fuel coming to the checkered flag, and that is what led Dixon to take second on the final lap.

Losing a spot on the final lap aside, this is the start Newgarden needed. Last year, Newgarden was all over the place. He won but then he could not avoid bad days. He made mistakes and he cost himself. He needed to start this season with a good performance. He did that and he was on the same strategy as Palou and Dixon. He kept up with those two and likely should have been between them if he had just a little more fuel.

4. This race was determined before a green flag lap was completed. 

With the alternate tire having a significantly short tire life, some teams decided to start on it and hope to get it off the car as quickly as possible. When Will Power spun Nolan Siegel in turn three on the opening lap, collecting Louis Foster in the process, everyone on the alternate tire stopped immediately under that caution after running two laps. 

Palou, Dixon and Newgarden all started on the alternate tire. They finished 1-2-3. Scott McLaughlin started on the primary tire and he finished fourth. McLaughlin's only hope was to run away in that opening stint, and it appeared to be working. With the tire life of the alternate, McLaughlin was handcuffed. He did 13 laps on the alternate tire, but it cost him track position, and it was not a case of where he could make up ground on the primary tire. 

The only thing that saved McLaughlin's day was the opening stint. If the opening lap incident doesn't happen, this race plays out better for McLaughlin. I cannot say for certain he wins it, but it would not have been as constricting. The top three basically never had to run the alternate tire. They did three corners in anger and then paced around for a lap-and-a-half. That is a big difference than having to run 13 laps and making a green flag pit stop to get off the alternate tire.

5. How do we know this? Because Kyle Kirkwood and Marcus Ericsson ended up fifth and sixth, and they both started on the alternate tire. The top six finishers started eighth, sixth, tenth, first, ninth and seventh. Once clear of the alternate tire, without ever really using the tires during the race, these five drivers were sitting pretty. Kirkwood didn't do anything brilliant today. He kept his nose clean and got a top five finish. He made no mistakes. He did nothing special, but sometimes that is how you get a great result.

6. The same can be said for Marcus Ericsson. I don't think Ericsson was mentioned once during the broadcast. He didn't make a mistake. He didn't overdrive the car. Once clear of the alternate tire, he gave up some track position, but Ericsson knew the result would come on lap 100, not on lap three. Others had to face a difficult stint. Ericsson didn't and it led to a good result.

7. Another year and another example of Felix Rosenqvist dropping down the order after starting at the front. Rosenqvist didn't do anything poorly. He was holding his own against McLaughlin in that opening stint, but he got a double-whammy after his first pit stop. 

First, he was on the alternate tire and the battle was just beginning, but he also came out in traffic and this allowed McLaughlin to be safe once he stopped on the following lap. That cost Rosenqvist additional time and positions. 

It worked out with a seventh-place finish in the end. It isn't what you want from a third-place grid spot. It is a theme of Rosenqvist's career. Qualify at the front, finish worse than that. If that opening lap accident doesn't happen, this race is set up to go in a different direction. There was nothing Rosenqvist could have done once the equation happened. 

Six cars starting in the top ten started on the primary tire, and four cars starting in the top ten started on the alternate tire. Five of alternate starters finished better than where they started. The four primary starters all finished worse than where they started. Rosenqvist was just one of four dealt a bad hand.

8. Christian Lundgaard did not put on the alternate tire for the middle stint, but it did force Lundgaard into a three-stop race. There was no way the alternate tire would be effective for an entire stint. He put the tires on with 31 laps to go, and we knew the extra stop was coming. The smart decision was to take that extra stop when everyone else was stopping. Lundgaard did four laps on the alternate tire and stopped when the rest of the leaders were making their final stops. Lundgaard already lost the time, but it was better than trying to run 12 laps and likely losing more spots as everyone else was running laps. 

Lundgaard drove well, and he led Arrow McLaren on a weekend when I don't think anyone expected that to be necessary. It still was not a great weekend for the team, but Lundgaard was a big plus this weekend.

9. After not finishing better than 13th in 2024, Dale Coyne Racing opens the season with a ninth-place finish with Rinus VeeKay behind the wheel, and VeeKay started 12th. He showed pace all weekend. VeeKay started on the alternate tire, a good choice today. Even after that, he spent a great amount of this race in the top ten. 

The last driver hired showed it wasn't his ability that kept him on the sideline for that long. This should feel good for him and the team. It is going to be a long year, and there will be rough spots, but VeeKay has shown life post-Ed Carpenter Racing can be positive.

10. Speaking of Ed Carpenter Racing, Rinus VeeKay beat the driver who replaced him, though Alexander Rossi deserves credit for turning nothing into something. Rossi started on the primary tire and went from 20th to fifth once everyone on the alternate tire stopped on lap two. Rossi ran the same strategy as Lundgaard, ironically the driver that replaced Rossi at Arrow McLaren, and Rossi went a little longer on the alternate tire, seven laps, but he too stopped when the rest of the leaders did to minimize the time lost. 

For what Rossi lost on tire strategy, he gained from track position after the early pit stops. Rossi was moved to the front and stayed there. Tenth from 20th is a good day no matter how you got it.

11. Patricio O'Ward made the odd choice of starting on the primary tire, stopping on lap two to get the alternate tire out of the way and then running 20 laps and appearing to torpedo his entire race. Somehow it worked out and a four-stop strategy turned into an 11th-place finish. 

O'Ward started 23rd, and he would have been in the top ten had he stayed out. I get doing something different, but I think McLaren believed it could make the alternate tire work longer than everyone expected. That didn't work out. The strange thing is, I think O'Ward ends up finishing 11th either way. I don't see how there was a better strategy. He pulled out an 11th when it appeared it was going to be a disaster.

12. Graham Rahal did benefit from the track position of starting on the primary tire. He went from 21st on the grid to inside the top ten by lap three, and he spent much of the race right on the edge of the top ten. Considering how this weekend began, 12th is a small victory for this team. Rahal was the slowest in a three-car team where he is clearly the most trusted driver. This could have been a deflating weekend out of the gate. It wasn't great, but there is something to draw from this one.

13. David Malukas won the intra-team battle at A.J. Foyt Racing in race #1, finishing 13th with Santino Ferrucci in 14th. Both drivers started on the primary tire. Malukas and Ferrucci started 17th and 19th respectively. It feels like the team should have split the strategy and one of those drivers should have started on the alternate. It felt like these two were set up to miss out on the top ten once the race restarted, and that is what happened. Not their worse days, but they were caught in a pickle and could not work out of it.

14. Here is an interesting thing. Of the six top ten starters that started on the alternate tire, only Colton Herta finished worse than his starting position, and that was because Herta's crew had a pit stop from hell where the right-rear tire could not be secured and the team could not get the car full of fuel despite the extra time spent waiting on the tire. 

A grand total of 14 cars stared on the alternate tire, just over half the grid. Seven of those drivers started 14th or worse. Christian Rasmussen started on the alternate tire and went from 24th to 15th. I cannot say Rasmussen did anything more than not start on the primary tire as the reason he made up nine spots. 

15. Chalk it up to the pit crew letting Colton Herta down again. It was bound to happen at some point. This is the mulligan gone. Maybe Herta can afford a second one, but Herta was ahead of Palou, Dixon, Newgarden, Kirkwood and so on before that pit stop with the alternate compound out of the way. 

The tire issue is one thing. The fuel issue is inexcusable. With just the tire issue, Herta likely can recover and possibly break into the top ten. The combination of the two killed anything positive from the opening race, and that is something Herta cannot afford if he wants to be champion and be greater than he has ever been in this series. 

16. Conor Daly was 17th. Yeah. Started 22nd, got off the alternate tire and still finished 17th. That is where Juncos Hollinger Racing runs. Sting Ray Robb looks like Sting Ray Robb. Third team, same look. A lap down in 21st.

17. While Chip Ganassi Racing went 1-2 with Palou and Dixon, Kyffin Simpson was 18th. At least the checks clear.

18. I don't think Prema was hoping that 19th and 20th would be the best they could get in its first race in IndyCar, but 19th and 20th isn't horrible. 

Callum Ilott started 27th, dead last, and Ilott started on the primary tire, took the primary tire on the second stint, and then did 11 laps on the alternate tire. The only mistake might have not been able to run longer the second stint and done what Lundgaard and Rossi did, and only run five or six laps on the alternate.

Even if Ilott did that, it probably only saves him a spot or two. Not great, but the key thing is Ilott and Shwartzman each ran 100 laps. The team got the most data it possibly could from the first race. Onto the next one.

19. I don't know what happened to Devlin DeFrancesco, but he dropped from 14th to 22nd despite starting on the alternate tire and getting off of it immediately. For how this weekend was going, that was a rough end to it. The qualifying pace was a positive, but it would have been nice if the race pace followed for DeFrancesco. 

20. Jacob Abel didn't have the same speed as his teammate VeeKay. Abel ended up a lap down. I am not sure there is much to draw from this race. This is a difficult spot to be in. I don't think this result is indicative of Abel's ability. 

21. Marcus Armstrong had a good day ruined when he suffered left-rear suspension problems after running the opening stint in third. I don't know how the second stint would have played out for Armstrong on the alternate compound. It was shaping up to be a good day. If Rosenqvist ended up seventh, Armstrong could have finished in the top ten.

22. We made it three corners before the first accident of the season. Power tapped Siegel and it collected Foster. There was not much more to it than that. It didn't look good for Power. It wasn't the worst contact in the world, but if he doesn't touch Siegel, everyone makes it through the first lap clean and we might have seen caution-free race in St. Petersburg. 

It is harsh to all of them because nobody wants to start any race, let alone the first race of the season, that way. Siegel had a promising starting spot wasted, and Foster didn't really make a debut. Thermal cannot come soon enough for these three. 

23. This turned out to be a better race than expected partially because of the alternate tire. With St. Petersburg at 100 laps, it is a two-stop race for fuel. Firestone deserves credit for bringing a tire where it wasn't wise to try and make this a two-stop race. You do not need to stop three times, but with a tire that cannot go a stint length, it forces everyone's hand. Those who started on the alternate tire got fortunate. 

The best St. Petersburg races were the ones that were 110 laps because the pit windows were wide. We know five races this season were extended from their 2024 race lengths. We can only hope St. Petersburg could get those ten laps back in the future because it would definitely be a three-stop race, and if combined with the alternate compound we saw today, it would cause many headaches for the teams and drivers. 

24. This was a good start to the season. Good race. Open result. There is a little break until Thermal Club. At least we are easing into the season after such a lengthy break. 

Morning Warm-Up: St. Petersburg 2025

Scott McLaughlin opens the 2025 season with pole position for the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. McLaughlin set a lap of 59.4624 seconds in the final round of qualifying, and it is the tenth pole position in his career. It is the New Zealander's second pole position for the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. McLaughlin won the 2022 pole position, and then he won the race. Last year, he led IndyCar with five pole positions. None of those came at a street course. McLaughlin had an average finish of 22.25 on street courses last year with his best result being 16th at Toronto

Colton Herta joins McLaughlin on the front row after falling 0.1759 seconds off the Penske driver. Herta has finished in the top five in three of the last four St. Petersburg races, including a victory in 2021. This will be Herta's 100th career IndyCar start. Herta will be the second-youngest driver to reach 100 starts. Only Graham Rahal reached 100 starts at a younger age. Rahal and Herta are the only drivers to start 100 races before turning 25 years old.

Felix Rosenqvist leads an all-Meyer Shank Racing row two, as Rosenqvist put up the third-best time in the final round, 0.2365 seconds slower than McLaughlin. This is the second consecutive year Rosenqvist has started in the top three at St. Petersburg. His fifth-place result last year was his first top ten finish in this race since he was fourth on debut in 2019.

Marcus Armstrong starts fourth in his first race for MSR, as Armstrong was 0.3654 seconds off the top time. The New Zealander has finished in the top five of the last two IndyCar street races. Only Scott Dixon has a longer active streak of top five finishes on street courses with Dixon on three consecutive street races with a top five result. In each race Armstrong started in the top five last year, he ended up finishing 26th in the race.

Speaking of Scott Dixon, he qualified fifth, the third New Zealander in the top five spots. Dixon was 0.4039 seconds slower than his fellow Kiwi McLaughlin. Dixon has made 20 starts at St. Petersburg. There are only five other tracks where Dixon has started more than 20 races, Texas (25), Indianapolis Motor Speedway (22), Belle Isle (21), Iowa (21) and Mid-Ohio (21). Along with St. Petersburg, Iowa is the only other track Dixon has not won at. 

Christian Lundgaard begins his Arrow McLaren tenure as the best starting driver among the three-car effort as Lundgaard qualified sixth. His previous best starting position at St. Petersburg was 11th in 2023. Last season, Lundgaard's only top ten finish on a street course was seventh at Toronto. The Dane had multiple top ten finishes in street races in his first two full IndyCar seasons.

Marcus Ericsson was 0.0038 seconds short of advancing to the final round of qualifying. Starting seventh, this is the fourth consecutive year Ericsson has started in the top ten at St. Petersburg. The Swede's retirement in last year's St. Petersburg race ended a streak of four consecutive top ten finishes at the track.

Álex Palou missed out on a top six starting spot by 0.0367 seconds, and Palou will begin his title defense in eighth. Palou has seven top five finishes in his last eight street course starts. He has 15 top ten finishes in 18 street course starts with Chip Ganassi Racing. He has finished in the top ten of all four season openers he has raced with Ganassi.

Kyle Kirkwood finds himself in ninth, but Kirkwood was 0.0495 seconds outside the top six at the end of the second round of qualifying. The Floridian had top ten finishes in all four street course races last season. His average finish in street races was 5.75. That was the second-best in IndyCar behind only Scott Dixon's average street course finish of third.

Josef Newgarden starts tenth after being 0.1428 seconds off advancing. Newgarden has finished outside the top fifteen in the last three St. Petersburg races. Prior to that, he had three consecutive podium finishes in this race and five consecutive top ten results. Last season Newgarden's only top ten finish in a street race was fourth at Long Beach. His average street course finish was 16.75.

Nolan Siegel starts the 2025 season in 11th position. This matches Siegel's best career starting position, but this is his best start on a road or street course. His previous best was 16th at Mid-Ohio last year. Siegel won last year's Indy Lights race at St. Petersburg and he was second the year prior to that. 

After not starting better than 13th in any race in 2024, Dale Coyne Racing will start 12th in the first race of 2025 with Rinus VeeKay taking the team to the second round of qualifying. This is the first time DCR made the second round of qualifying since Nashville 2023. Despite having 94 drivers race for Dale Coyne Racing prior to VeeKay, VeeKay will be the first Dutch driver to race for the organization. 

Will Power fell 0.0179 seconds off advancing from the first group in the first round of qualifying, and this puts Power 13th on the grid for the season opener. It is only the second time Power did not make it out of the first round of qualifying at St. Petersburg. The other year was in 2021. Power has six top ten finishes in his last seven St. Petersburg starts. 

Devlin DeFrancesco makes his first IndyCar start in 539 days, and DeFrancesco was 0.084 seconds shy of advancing to the second round of qualifying on his return. The Canadian will start 14th. He had started 18th in his first two St. Petersburg visits. Last year, DeFrancesco competed in only the five IMSA endurance races driving the #78 Forte Racing Lamborghini in the GTD class. He was second in class at Petit Le Mans. 

Kyffin Simpson starts 15th for the first race of 2025. Last year, Smpson had only one race where he started in the top fifteen. That was 12th at Road America. Simpson is credited with fastest lap in last year's St. Petersburg race after the disqualification of Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin. 

Louis Foster was the best rookie in qualifying, as Foster will start directly behind his Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing teammate DeFrancesco in 16th. Foster has three podium finishes in four Road to Indy starts at St. Petersburg, but he never won at this circuit. 

David Malukas was the best A.J. Foyt Racing qualifier in his first weekend with the team, but it has Malukas starting 17th. Malukas was tenth in his most recent St. Petersburg start in 2023. He missed last year's race due to a wrist injury. Malukas was sixth in his most recent street course start last year at Toronto, his only street course race in 2024. 

Robert Shwartzman put Prema in 18th for its first IndyCar race. Shwartzman was 0.3674 seconds off advancing from the second qualifying group. He missed most of the Saturday morning practice session due to radio issues. Shwartzman will become the first Israeli driver to start an IndyCar race.

Santino Ferrucci had an off during the first qualifying group, and Ferrucci will start 19th. The Nutmegger enters the 2025 season with four consecutive top ten finishes. Ferrucci has never had five consecutive top ten results. The most recent A.J. Foyt Racing driver to score five consecutive top ten finishes was Eliseo Salazar, who had six consecutive top ten finishes over the 2000 and 2001 seasons.

Alexander Rossi's first race in the #20 Chevrolet sees Rossi start 20th. Rossi missed the first turn on his first qualifying run and was unable to have enough time for a proper second run. Rossi has finished sixth or better in four of the last seven St. Petersburg races. In the other three races, Rossi has finished 20th or worse.

Graham Rahal wound up taking 21st on the grid. This will be the second consecutive year Rahal has started on row 11 at St. Petersburg. Dating back to last season, this is the sixth consecutive race Rahal has started outside the top ten. Though the location of his first career victory, Rahal has only one other top five finish at St. Petrsburg in 17 starts, a second in 2018.

Conor Daly makes it four consecutive American drives on the grid in 22nd spot. Daly changed numbers at the last moment prior to first practice, now driving the #76 Chevrolet for Juncos Hollinger Racing, as the team picked up the gas station chain 76 as a sponsor. Daly has an average finish of 16th in six St. Petersburg starts with his best finish being 13th in 2016, his first St. Petersburg start.

Patricio O'Ward ended up 23rd after not advancing from round one. This is O'Ward's worst starting position since he was 25th at Mid-Ohio in 2023. The Mexican has finished on the podium the last two years at St. Petersburg. On four occasions has a driver had at least three consecutive podium results in this race. Tony Kanaan had four consecutive from 2005 to 2008. Hélio Castroneves did it twice from 2006 to 2008 and from 2012 to 2014. Josef Newgarden is the most recent driver to do it, from 2020 to 2022.

Christian Rasmussen finds himself starting 24th for the first race of the season. This is the fourth consecutive race Rasmussen will be starting outside the top twenty. The Dane started outside the top twenty in seven of 14 starts last year. In three of four street races last season, Rasmussen finished 27th. St. Petersburg was the exception, where he finished 19th. 

Jacob Abel makes his IndyCar debut from 25th starting spot. Abel will become the first driver alphabetically by last name to start an IndyCar race. Abel will also be the first Kentucky-born driver to start an IndyCar race since Scott Harrington at Michigan on July 28, 2002. Harrington started 25th in that race and finished 21st.

Sting Ray Robb's first race for Juncos Hollinger Racing will start from 26th on the grid. This is the 33rd time in 35 starts Robb is starting outside the top twenty. In nine career street course starts, Robb's average finish is 20th with his best finish being 16th in his first career street race, which was his IndyCar debut at St. Petersburg in 2023. 

Callum Ilott has the second Prema car starting in 27th. This matches Ilott's worst starting position. He started 27th in the 2023 Indianapolis 500 and finished 12th. Dating back to 2023, Ilott has finished in the top fifteen in his last four starts. Only once has Ilott had five consecutive races with top fifteen results. 

Fox's coverage of the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg begins at noon E.T. with green flag scheduled for 12:29 p.m. The race is scheduled for 100 laps.

Track Walk: St. Petersburg 2025

The first of 17 rounds in the 2025 NTT IndyCar Series season is the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. It will have been 168 days between the 2024 season finale in Nashville and the 2025 season opener at Albert Whitted Airport. The grid remains at 27 entries though there is a new team on the grid and there will be 11 different organizations fielding an entry. A dozen cars have different drivers from when they last took to the track in 2024. This will be the first race in IndyCar's charter era, as 25 entries are guaranteed a spot in this race with two open spots remaining to non-chartered entries.

Coverage

Time: Coverage begins at 12:00 p.m. ET on Sunday March 2 with green flag scheduled for 12:29 p.m. ET.
Channel: Fox
Announcers: Will Buxton, Townsend Bell and James Hinchcliffe will be in the booth. Kevin Lee and Jack Harvey will work pit lane.

IndyCar Weekend Schedule

Friday:

First Practice: 3:05 p.m. ET (75 minutes)

Saturday:

Second Practice: 10:15 a.m. ET (60 minutes)
Qualifying: 2:30 p.m. ET 
Sunday:
Warm-up: 9:02 a.m. ET (25 minutes)
Race: 12:29 p.m. ET (100 laps)

What Has Testing Told Us?

IndyCar had one preseason test at Sebring International Raceway on Tuesday and Wednesday last week. The two-day test split the grid into two groups with each group running either a morning session or afternoon session each day.

Over the combined test session, Will Power ran the fastest lap and he led a Team Penske 1-2. Power's fastest lap was run on Wednesday morning at 52.2459 seconds. Josef Newgarden was only 0.0642 seconds off his teammate. Last year's St. Petersburg winner Patircio O'Ward made it a clean sweep of the top three for Chevrolet. O'Ward was 0.0921 seconds slower than Power's best time. 

The fastest Honda entry is possibly a surprise. Marcus Armstrong was fourth-quickest over the two days, and Armstrong's lap came in the #60 Meyer Shank Racing Honda as Felix Rosenqvist was under the weather and was not able to participate in the test on Tuesday. The New Zealander's fastest lap on Tuesday afternoon was 52.3675 seconds. Colton Herta rounded out the top five, 0.1269 seconds slower than the fastest time.

Car #6 was sixth fastest with Nolan Siegel running at lap at 52.4405 seconds. The defending champion Álex Palou was responsible for the seventh-fastest time at 52.4948 seconds. 

Prema's first IndyCar preseason test was a rather successful first outing. Callum Ilott had the #90 Chevrolet eighth-fastest and only 0.050 seconds off Palou. Felix Rosenqvist was better for Wednesday's test session, and he ran the ninth-fastest lap among the 27 drivers at 52.5273 seconds. Conor Daly rounded out the top ten for Juncos Hollinger Racing, the seventh different team represented in the top ten at the test. Daly was 0.3197 seconds off Power.

Another surprise in the test was Devlin DeFrancesco in 11th with a lap at 52.5968 seconds in the #30 Honda for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. DeFrancesco is back after a year out of IndyCar, and he was 0.0152 seconds faster than Scott Dixon. Kyle Kirkwood was just behind Dixon, 0.0275 seconds to be exact. Christian Lundgaard and Santino Ferrucci rounded out the top fifteen. 

Alexander Rossi's first preseason test with Ed Carpenter Racing had him 16th at 52.7225 seconds. Jacob Abel was the fastest of the three rookies as Abel had the #51 Dale Coyne Racing Honda at 52.7699 seconds. Sting Ray Robb was 0.062 seconds off Abel. Kyffin Simpson and Rinus VeeKay were next as the top twenty were covered by 0.6207 seconds.

Robert Shwartzman's best lap in the #83 Prema Chevrolet was 52.8901 seconds. That was 0.044 seconds quicker than A.J. Foyt Racing's newest hire David Malukas. Scott McLaughlin was 23rd, 0.6663 seconds off his teammate Will Power. 

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing had a pair of its drivers at the bottom. Graham Rahal's best lap was 52.9595 seconds while Louis Foster's best lap in the #45 Honda was 0.0126 seconds off his teammate. Christian Rasmussen ran a 53.0035-second lap as his fastest and Marcus Ericsson rounded out the field with 0.7637 seconds covering the 27 drivers.

Driver Changes

As mentioned at the top, and somewhat covered in the Sebring test results, there were 12 driver changes in the time between the 2024 finale and the 2025 season opener.

The best driver from the 2024 championship in a new place is Alexander Rossi. After finishing tenth in the championship last year for Arrow McLaren, Rossi has moved to Ed Carpenter Racing and he will drive the #20 Chevrolet on a full-time basis. Christian Rasmussen, who ran most of the 2024 season in the #20 Chevrolet, will shift to the #21 Chevrolet entry for the team and Rasmussen will run all the races. 

With Rossi gone, Christian Lundgaard steps into the #7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. Lundgaard was 11th in the championship last year, 54 points behind Rossi in the championship. Lundgaard leaves Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing after spending three full seasons with the RLLR organization. 

Rinus VeeKay moves from Ed Carpenter Racing, where he was 13th in the championship in 2024, to Dale Coyne Racing, and VeeKay will drive the #18 Honda. VeeKay had spent his first five seasons at ECR before this move. Along with VeeKay, DCR has brought in Jacob Abel from Indy Lights to run the #51 Honda. 

Marcus Armstrong has switched teams, but he has somewhat stayed in place. With Chip Ganassi Racing contracting down to three cars due to the new charter rules, Armstrong has moved to Meyer Shank Racing to run the #66 Honda. This season, Meyer Shank Racing has a technical partnership with Chip Ganassi Racing. Armstrong was 14th in the championship last year, eight points behind Felix Rosenqvist in the championship. 

David Malukas ended the 2024 season as the driver of Meyer Shank Racing's #66 Honda. Malukas begins the 2025 season as the driver of A.J. Foyt Racing's #4 Chevrolet. After missing the first seven races and losing a ride with Arrow McLaren due to a wrist injury, Malukas had two top ten finishes in the final ten races with his best result being seventh at Toronto. 

Malukas takes over for Sting Ray Robb, who has moved to Juncos Hollinger Racing, and Robb will drive the #77 Chevrolet with Conor Daly as his teammate. This will be Robb's third team in three seasons in IndyCar. Last year, JHR became the 11th different team Daly has driven for in 11 IndyCar seasons.

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing has made a pair of driver changes. With Lundgaard leaving the team, RLLR has hired 2024 Indy Lights champion Louis Foster to drive its #45 Honda. Pietro Fittipaldi was not retained for the 2025 season, and Devlin DeFrancesco has been drafted in to fill the #30 Honda. 

The other two changes to the grid involves two entries exiting and two entries entering. With the charter agreement limiting a team to three such entries, Chip Ganassi Racing withdrew two entries from the championship, and will run only three full-time cars compared to five in 2024. This has left an opening for the Prema organization to join IndyCar.

Prema will field the #83 Chevrolet for Robert Shwartzman and the #90 Chevrolet for Callum Ilott. Ilott brings IndyCar experience to the team with 38 starts to his name, including two last year driving for Arrow McLaren at St. Petersburg and in the Indianapolis 500. He was 11th in both races. Shwartzman enters IndyCar after competing last season in a privateer Ferrari 499P for AF Corse in the FIA World Endurance Championship. Shwartzman was on the overall winning team at the Austin round. He was previously Formula Three champion in 2019 and runner-up in the 2021 Formula Two championship.

Who Wants to Pick Up Where They Left Off?

It has been a little more than five-and-a-half months since the most recent IndyCar race. While an entire autumn came and went, and we find ourselves in the final weeks of winter, there are a number of drivers hoping the passage of time does not knock them off where they were when the 2024 season ended.

There were a number of drivers who had a good run to end last season. Some were performing at their highest levels. Others were achieving results that could be championship worthy over an entire season. If they can pick up where they left off, 2025 could be their best seasons yet.

Leading this cast of characters is IndyCar's most recent winner, Colton Herta. A victory at Nashville did more than lift Herta's pride to close the 2024 season. That victory was enough to put him up to second in the championship, Herta's best championship finish. It was his second victory and his sixth top five finish in the final seven races. Herta ended the season having led a lap in four consecutive races and in five of the final six. 

This is only the second time Herta has had consecutive podium finishes in his career. The four consecutive top five he had from the second Iowa race through Portland is the longest streak of top five finishes in his career. This capped off a 2024 season where Herta reset his career-best for top five finishes (ten) and top ten finishes (13).

That Nashville victory was enough for Herta to nip Scott McLaughlin for second in the championship by seven points. McLaughlin put up an impressive close to the season in his late championship push. The New Zealander ended the season with five consecutive top ten results, three of which were top five results. McLaughlin had five podium finishes in the final nine races as he won three races in a single-season for the second time in three years. 

McLaughlin had the most oval points in 2024, and he also had five pole positions, including at the Indianapolis 500. His eight top five finishes matched a personal-best in a season. 

Though he did not win a race in 2024 after winning twice in 2023, Kyle Kirkwood had his best season in IndyCar last year. Kirkwood had five top five finishes in 2024 after entering the season with just two top five finishes in his career. With an average finish of 8.7059, Kirkwood had the fourth-best averge finish last season in IndyCar, and it was five spots better than his average finish the year prior. Kirkwood also led a personal-best 121 laps in 2024.

Last season, Kirkwood opened with ten consecutive races finishing 11th or better. He ended the season starting on his second career pole position, his first on an oval at Nashville.

The entire 2024 season was unexpected for Santino Ferrucci. The A.J. Foyt Racing driver ended up ninth in the championship, the best season for a Foyt driver since 2002. In the process, Ferrucci had two top five finishes and 11 top ten finishes, a career-best in the latter. Ferrucci's average finish of 10.941 was the ninth-best in IndyCar and better than Josef Newgarden and Christian Lundgaard. 

Ferrucci ended the season with four consecutive top ten finishes. This matches his longest streak of top ten results. Ferrucci also started on pole position at Portland, the first of his career. 

It might be a new location, but Rinus VeeKay would not mind starting his time at Dale Coyne Racing on the same form as how his time at Ed Carpenter Racing ended. Through the first nine races in 2024, VeeKay ranked 18th in the championship and his best finish was eighth. In the final eight races, VeeKay had a top five finish and five top ten finishes to improve to 13th in the championship. 

VeeKay's average finish in the final eight races was 9.5 after averaging a finish of 17.444 in the first nine races. The Dutchman completed 2,522 laps last season, the second-most in IndyCar.

Conor Daly completed a minor miracle to close last season. Hired for the final five races to keep Juncos Hollinger Racing's #78 Chevrolet in a Leader Circle position when it was only one point to the good, Daly ended his season with finishes of third and tenth in two of the final three races. Not only did it keep the #78 Chevrolet in the Leader Circle, it put the JHR entry ahead of Ed Carpenter Racing's #20 Chevrolet and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing's #30 Honda. 

The third in the second Milwaukee race was JHR's first podium finish in IndyCar. It was Daly's second career podium finish, and his first since June 4, 2016 in the first Belle Isle race.

Who Doesn't Want to Pick Up Where They Left Off?

While some drivers are hoping to begin 2025 as 2024 ended, some are looking for a fresh start.

Two of those drivers are now at Arrow McLaren. Christian Lundgaard may have finished 11th in the championship, but the Dane had one top ten finish in the final five races and three top ten finishes in the final 13 races. Thirteen races is also how many races it has been since Lundgaard's most recent top five result. 

Nolan Siegel made 12 starts last season, the final ten with Arrow McLaren. Siegel had one top ten finish, a seventh at Gateway. However, his average finish was 17.5 over his dozen starts. Prorating his points per start, Siegel would have finished 19th, but been about 33 points behind Graham Rahal in 18th. Considering only his McLaren results, Siegel would have still been 18 points behind Rahal. 

Though neither Lundgaard nor Siegel had the worst results in the world, the Arrow McLaren organization has not shown patience when it comes driver results, and both will likely hope to do better for long-term job security.

For as celebrated as 12th in the championship should have been for Felix Rosenqvist and Meyer Shank Racing, it was not the end to the season either side was likely hoping for. By end, I mean the final 65% of the season. After opening with four consecutive top ten results and five top ten finishes in the first six races, Rosenqvist had one top ten finish in the final 13 races. He was fifth in the championship after the first four rounds. Rosenqvist enters 2025 on a four-race top ten finish drought. 

Marcus Ericsson's oval struggles were well documented in the 2024 season. In seven oval races, his average finish was 20.857 with five finishes of 20th or worse. It did not help that his road and street course form was down across the board in his first year with Andretti Global. Eight top ten finishes were his fewest since his rookie season in 2019. Ericsson failed to finish four of the final six races. Six total retirements were his most in a single season.

The last few seasons have not been kind to Graham Rahal and the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing organization, but 2024 was a particularly tough blow. For the fourth consecutive season, Rahal's championship finish declined, dropping to 18th, his worst championship result in a decade. For the first time ever, Rahal did not have a top five finish in a season. While he had a stretch of three top ten finishes in a four race span in the middle of the summer, Rahal finished 20th or worse in four of the final seven races. 

One final driver who will hope to get off the snide at the start of 2025 is the defending champion Álex Palou. Yes! The champion is entering this season on a bit of a slump. Palou's final two results of the season were 19th at Milwaukee and 11th at Nashville. It is the first time Palou has had consecutive finishes outside the top ten since 2021. The Catalan driver is hoping to avoid three consecutive races without a top ten finish for the first time since his rookie season in 2020. Palou had a eight-race top ten finish drought that season. It is the only other time he has gone at least three races without a top ten finish.

Road to Indy

All three series are opening their seasons alongside IndyCar this weekend in St. Petersburg, and for Indy Lights, there will be 21 cars on the grid in the season opening round. 

Andretti Global won the championship last year with Louis Foster, and it has made a big shift change with three new drivers. Lochie Hughes moves up from USF Pro 2000 after winning the championship. Norway's Dennis Hauger joins the series after three years in Formula Two and four years after winning the Formula Three championship. Salvador de Alba moves over from the Andretti Cape joint operation. James Roe, Jr. is the only returning Andretti driver. Andretti Global won nine of 14 races last season.

Caio Collet and Callum Hedge are the top two returning drivers from last season after they finished third and fourth respectively in the championship. Collet has remained at HMD Motorsports while Hedge has moved to Abel Motorsports. Collet is the only returning race winner from the 2024 season. He won at Mid-Ohio.

HMD has eight more cars entered alongside Collet. Nolan Allaer and Josh Pierson are back for another season. Bryce Aron moves over from Andretti Global. Tommy Smith, Nikita Johnson, Sophia Flörsch, Liam Sceats and Haillie Deegan are all making their Indy Lights debut this weekend with HMD.

Abel Motorsports has three other entries. Jordan Missig is in a full Abel entry while Jack William Miller and Myles Rowe remain with their respective teams, but Miller Vinatieri Motorsports and Force Indy are now in partnership with Abel. 

Andretti Cape has two entries for Sebastian Murray and Ricardo Escotto. Chip Ganassi Racing returns to Indy Lights for the first time since 2007 with Jonathan Browne and Niels Koolen as its drivers. Browne ws sixth last year at St. Petersburg. 

Indy Lights will race at 10:10 a.m. ET on Sunday March 2. The race is scheduled for 45 laps or 55 minutes.

USF Pro 2000 has 22 entries for the season opening weekend. 

Jace Denmark is the top returning driver from the 2024 championship. Denmark was third last year and he will drive for T.J. Speed Motorsports with Ariel Elkin and Sebastian Manson as his teammates.

Max Garcia moves up off his U.S. F2000 championship wit Pabst Racing, and Garcia will have Jacob Douglas and Michael Costello as teammates. 

Turn 3 Motorsport won the USF Pro 2000 championship last year with Lochie Hughes and it is back with five entries for the St. Petersburg weekend. Alessandro de Tullio led the preseason test from NOLA Motorsports Park. Cooper Becklin and Tyke Durst are back for another USF Pro 2000 season. Titus Sherlock and Elliot Cox will be rookies this season. 

Mac Clark will look to improve after being 11th last year in the championship with Exclusive Autosport. Exclusive will also be fielding Joey Brienza and Carson Etter. 

Max Taylor was third in the U.S. F2000 championship last year and he moves up with VRD Racing and Owen Tangavelou as his teammate. 

DEForce Racing is back with Nicholas Monteiro and Jorge "George" Garciarce. Jay Howard Driver Development has paired Tanner DeFabis and Frankie Mossman. Logan Adams and Charles Finelli round out the entry list.

The first USF Pro 2000 race will be at 11:35 a.m. ET on Saturday March 1 with the second race of the weekend scheduled for 8:00 a.m. ET on Sunday March 2. Both races will be 25 laps or 40 minutes.

Nineteen cars are entered for the U.S. F2000 weekend with Pabst Racing returning as the championship defending team. Pabst has two cars at St. Petersburg for G3 Argyros and Caleb Gafrarar. Argyros won at last year's season finale in Portland as he was running a limited schedule. 

Jay Howard Driver Development is one of two teams with four cars entered. JHDD has Liam McNeilly as its lead driver after an impressive offseason testing. Brad Majman, Timothy Carel and Anthony Martella are the other JHDD drivers.

VRD Racing's four-car effort has Thomas Schrage returning to U.S. F2000 while Christian Cameron, Teddy Musella and Ryan Giannetta are rookies. Schrage had two podium finishes last year, a second at Mid-Ohio and a third in Portland. He also had three pole positions.

Exclusive Autosport has three drivers at St. Petersburg. Jack Jeffers was the quickest of the trio in testing ahead of Evan Cooley and Lucas Fecury. DEForce Racing also has three cars with Jeshua Alianell, Sebastian Garzón and Brady Golan. 

Rounding out the entry list are Eddie Beswick, Ayrton Houk and Wian Boshoff.

The U.S. F2000 season begins at 4:45 p.m. ET on Friday February 28 with a 20-lap race with a 45-minute time limit. The second race of the weekend will be at 12:30 p.m. ET on Saturday March 1.

Fast Facts

This will be the sixth IndyCar race to take place on March 2 and the first since Scott Dixon won at Homestead in 2003. It was Dixon's second career victory.

There have been five different winners in the last five St. Petersburg races.

The most consecutive years without a repeat St. Petersburg winner is six (2008-2013).

There have been four different teams to win the last four St. Petersburg races. This is the longest streak of different teams winning this event. 

Team Penske has not won the last two St. Petersburg races. Team Penske has never gone three consecutive years without a St. Petersburg victory.

Honda has won 11 St. Petersburg races and Chevrolet has won nine times at St. Petersburg.

Three of the last four St. Petersburg races have been completed between in under an hour and 52 minutes but in over an hour and 51 minutes. 

The average starting position for a St. Petersburg winner is 5.1428 with a median of fourth. 

Last year, Patricio O'Ward became the third driver to win at St. Petersburg in IndyCar and Indy Lights. Josef Newgarden and Colton Herta had done it previously. O'Ward also won at St. Petersburg in Pro Mazda in 2016.

Felix Rosenqvist, Rinus VeeKay, Kyle Kirkwood, David Malukas and Nolan Siegel are all past Indy Lights winners at St. Petersburg entered this weekend. VeeKay, Siegel, Sting Ray Robb and Christian Rasmussen have all won at St. Petersburg in Pro Mazda/Indy Pro 2000. Kirkwood is also a past winner at St. Petersburg in U.S. F2000. 

Four drivers hav won consecutive St. Petersburg races (Hélio Castroneves 2006-07, Juan Pablo Montoya 2015-16, Sébastien Bourdais 2017-18, Josef Newgarden 2019-20).

The average number of lead changes in a St. Petersburg race is 6.333 with a median of seven.

The average number of cautions in a St. Petersburg race is 4.0952 with a median of five. The average number of caution laps is 18.0476 with a median of 16.

Every St. Petersburg race has had at least one caution. The 2022 St. Petersburg race is the only one to feature only one caution.

This will be the first IndyCar race broadcasted on Fox since the 2002 Grand Prix of Long Beach. It was Michael Andretti's 42nd and final career victory. 

The only driver from the 2002 Grand Prix of Long Beach entered this weekend is Scott Dixon. It was Dixon's 22nd career victory and his penultimate start with PacWest Racing in what was PacWest Racing's penultimate race. 

Six other races have been broadcasted on a Fox-owned channel, all coming in the 1999 Indy Racing League season. Five were on the cable Fox Sports Net and one was on Fox. 

The Fox Sports Net races in 1999 were Phoenix, Texas, Atlanta and both Pikes Peak races. 

The only other Fox IndyCar race was August 1, 1999 at Dover. Greg Ray won the race ahead of Buddy Lazier and Kenny Bräck. 

Predictions

Team Penske never goes three years without a victory in St. Petersburg and it will have Josef Newgarden win this time and keep it with Will Power also on the podium and Scott McLaughlin in the top five. Álex Palou will also be in the mix. At least two Andretti cars stumble out of the blocks. At least eight teams are represented in the second round of qualifying. At least four top ten finishers started outside the top ten. All three rookies are running at the finish. Prema will have at least one car finish ahead of both Ed Carpenter Racing entries. Sleeper: Christian Lundgaard.