Palou wins IndyCar opener on streets of St. Petersburg
- Teagan Crump
- Mar 1
- 3 min read
By Teagan Crump
In typical Álex Palou fashion, the Spaniard has started the 2026 IndyCar season by winning the opening race. The Chip Ganassi driver delivered a clear statement: he is here to win, taking the victory by over 10 seconds.
The race started with Scott McLaughlin lining up in P1, joined by Marcus Ericsson in P2. As soon as the race started, it was clear that McLaughlin was determined to win, he charged ahead and maintained the lead.
Lap one also saw a caution following a collision between Sting Ray Robb, Santino Ferrucci and Mick Schumacher. Robb went for an overtake but locked up, hitting Ferrucci who, in turn, hit Schumacher.
The green flag was shown on lap 6, and racing resumed. David Malukas suffered with a lock-up and consequently gained a flat spot which lead to him having to pull into a run-off area.
On lap 23, Will Power hit the wall and was forced to retire from the St. Pete Grand Prix. On lap 27, there was another incident, but this time between Christian Rasmussen and Kyffin Simpson, with the former tapping Rasmussen's car, leading to a spin.
Lap 36 saw a pitlane incident for the Arrow McLaren of Pato O'Ward with him running over a wheel gun. Marcus Ericsson also took the lead, as Scott McLaughlin dove into the pits.
Palou took over the lead of the race on lap 37, when Ericsson pitted. When leaving the pits, the Andretti driver battled with the Ed Carpenter Racing of Alexander Rossi. Palou lost the lead of the race to his teammate Scott Dixon when he pitted on Lap 39. The lead of the race was soon swapped again when Dixon pitted and Louis Foster moved up to P1.
Disaster struck for Dixon, who has never won on the streets of St. Petersburg, on lap 40 when the wheel nut flew off his tyre and the tyre came off his car. As a result, there was a caution and the New Zealand driver was forced to retire.
Palou regained the lead on lap 42 and the field went back to green on lap 44.
Lap 63 saw McLaughlin gaining on Ericsson before eventually overtaking him on lap 65.
The following lap saw an intense battle beween Marcus Ericsson and Marcus Armstrong, with the latter nearly beimg forced into the wall. In the midst of the chaos, Christian Lundgaard was able to move up to P3. Lap 67 saw McLaughlin take the lead, but just two laps later Lundgaard took P1. On lap 69, there was also a minor collision between McLaughlin and Kyle Kirkwood.
Josef Newgarden took the lead on lap 70, and was overtaken by Palou three laps later.
The battle between Kirkwood and McLaughlin continued and on lap 89, Kirkwood reported that he was low on fuel. The battle soon became a three-way fight for the podium, with Lundgaard joining in on lap 93.
On lap 94, Kirkwood lost two placed and dropped to fourth whilst Lundgaard and McLaughlin were fighting for P2.
Lap 100 saw Álex Palou cross the line in first, followed by Scott McLaughlin in second and Christian Lundgaard in third place.
Grand Prix of St. Petersburg full results:
Álex Palou
Scott McLaughlin
Christian Lundgaard
Kyle Kirkwood
Pato O'Ward
Marcus Ericsson
Josef Newgarden
Romain Grosjean
Rinus VeeKay
Dennis Hauger
Marcus Armstrong
Felix Rosenqvist
David Malukas
Louis Foster
Kyffin Simpson
Alexander Rossi
Caio Collet
Graham Rahal
Christian Rasmussen
Nolan Siegel
Sting Ray Robb
Will Power (DNF)
Scott Dixon (DNF)
Santino Ferrucci (DNF)
Mick Schumacher (DNF)
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