Rinse and repeat: Alex Palou opens season with second consecutive win in the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg
- Jeffrey Hrunka
- Mar 1
- 4 min read
Jeffrey Hrunka - INDYCAR Contributor
Alex Palou remained untouchable on the Streets of St. Petersburg, leading 59 laps en route to his 20th career victory. After taking the lead by overcutting the field during the first set of green-flag pit stops, the Spaniard pulled out a 12.4-second lead on the rest of the field, the largest winning margin in Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg history.
"I was sad last year that the season ended. I just wanted to continue going, because I knew it was so magical and so tough to get such a great car, such a great team behind me, Palou said. “It's very early on, but still, I think that shows all the preparation they did and I had by far the best car today.”
Scott McLaughlin, driver of the No.3 Team Penske Chevrolet, and Christian Lundgaard, driver of the No.7 Arrow-McLaren Chevrolet, rounded out the St. Petersburg podium after passing Kyle Kirkwood, driver of the No.28 Andretti Global Honda, with six to go.
"It was a good race. I think we just very clearly just missed it. And qualifying yesterday, we made some changes after Q2 that just simply didn't work,” Lundgaard said. “I think the car just came alive as we expected it to today, but again, you have to do the job out there. And I thought it was a very exciting way to start the season.”
McLaughlin was the odds-on favorite to win after leading the opening 34 laps until the first set of green flag pit stops changed the race's complexion.
“Obviously, I think the correct decision today was probably to start on red tires. But we didn't know that going in. It was sort of our gut feel, and where we were going to go,” McLaughlin said. “You want to be [on the] top step, but I think that it was a very solid day for us. I think we maximized our strategy.”
He was one of the first leaders to hit pit road, switching to the alternate tires on lap 35. It was in an effort to overcut from the Arrow McLarens of Pato O’Ward, driver of the No.5 Chevrolet and Lundgaard, who attempted an undercut on the alternates on lap 34.
Chaos broke out on the following two laps when Marcus Ericsson, driver of the No.28 Andretti Global Honda, went to cover McLaughlin off on lap 36, before Marcus Armstrong, driver of the No.66 Meyer Shank Racing Honda, did the same a lap later.
Ericsson passed McLaughlin exiting the pits and was able to hold him off in large part due to Armstrong between the duo when he exited the pits. The battle between the three drivers allowed Palou to overcut the trio and take the lead.
After a caution brought out by his teammate, Scott Dixon, driver of the No.9 Chevrolet, for losing a tire, Palou held off the field on the ensuing restart and pulled out to an 11-second lead. Once he made his second green-flag pit stop, he ended the race with a 12-second gap to the rest of the field.
“For me, winning a race, it's pure excitement,” Palou said. “We're genuinely very excited. We're genuinely very proud of the amazing work that everybody has done in the team. But yeah, I knew we had the team and the ability to win, but it's never easy.”
While the dominant driver of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES took the win on the Streets of St. Petersburg, there were several underdog performances towards the back of the top-10.
The Dale Coyne Racing duo of Romain Grosjean and Dennis Hauger in their No. 18 and No. 19 Chevrolets finished eighth and tenth, respectively, after both made the Fast 6 in Saturday’s qualifying session.
Rinus Veekay took his third straight St. Petersburg top-10 finish with a ninth-place effort in his first start with Juncos Hollinger Racing.
Here are the full results from the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
NTT INDYCAR SERIES Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Results:
Alex Palou #10 - (WINNER)
Scott McLaughlin #3 -12.495s
Christian Lundgaard #7 (R) -12.915s
Kyle Kirkwood #27 -25.274s
Pato O’Ward #5 -26.075s
Marcus Ericsson #28 -26.256s
Josef Newgarden #2 -26.422s
Romain Grojean #18 -28.039s
Rinus Veekay #76 -28.712s
Dennis Hauger #19 (R) -29.872s
Marcus Armstrong #66 -30.468s
Felix Rosenqvist #60 -30.811s
David Malukas #12 -33.776s
Louis Foster #45 -38.039s
Kyffin Simpson #8 -38.909s
Alexander Rossi #20 -49.613s
Caio Collett #4 (R) -1.01.977s
Graham Rahal #15 -1.03.134s
Christian Rasmussen #21 -1:03.123s
Noal Siegel #6 -1 lap
Sting Ray Robb #77 -8 laps
Wll Power #26 -44 laps (DNF)
Scott Dixon #9 -60 laps (DNF)
Santino Ferrucci #14 -99 laps (DNF)
Mick Schumacher (R) -99 laps (DNF)
“I know we're going to celebrate tonight, but we need to focus on Phoenix. Because Phoenix, we struggled,” Palou said. “We're going to focus on celebrating this one tonight, just tonight, and then tomorrow. Back to work.”
The NTT INDYCAR SERIES travels to Phoenix Raceway for the first time since 2018, for a second consecutive NASCAR-INDYCAR doubleheader. They will hit the racetrack on Saturday, March 7, at 3:00 pm for the Good Ranchers 250 on FOX.
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