IndyCar Firestone Grand Prix of St Petersburg Results and Race Recap

The Streets of St Pete, as this race is colloquially referred to, is an unforgiving season opener for the IndyCar Season ahead. The walls are close, the turns are sharp, and the heat beats down on the track for 100 laps of action.

This season is expected to draw more and more eyes to the series as IndyCar and Fox pull larger crowds and viewership numbers in their second year of partnership. Not to mention, the entrance of Mick Schumacher, promotion of two exciting IndyNXT rookies, Dennis Hauger and Caio Collet, and the return of Romain Grosjean.

Then, there is, of course, the Penske storyline that has threaded through multiple seasons. Struggling for performance in 2025. The exit of Will Power for the young 'gun' David Malukas. All of this alongside the usual driver 'jenga' that is played during the offseason.

Difficult start knocks Schumacher out of contention

Most, if not all, eyes were locked on Schumacher as he made his IndyCar Debut this weekend in St Petersburg. He qualified P21 yesterday in one of the tightest qualifying margins we have seen at this race, with under a minute differential to the pole qualifier, Scott McLaughlin.

Schumacher told Grand Prix on SI before the start of the weekend that his only goal was to have a smooth and successful weekend without 'biting off more than he can chew'. Unfortunately, that's not how his cards fell for the race.

Mick Schumacher, RLL, IndyCar, St Petersburg | Penske Entertainment: Joe Skibinski

On Lap 1 of the race, Schumacher was pulled into a crash caused by Sting Ray Robb of Juncos and Santino Ferrucci of AJ Foy,t ending his race before it even began. Mick reflected on his short stint with Fox's Bob Pockrass after the crash.

"Unfortunately, our real target was to finish the race, get all the laps in that we wanted, but we got even less than that. I’m still happy about all the knowledge we gained throughout this weekend and the things we can definitely take forward into Phoenix. Looking ahead, not looking back."
Mick Schumacher, DNF, RLL

Tire issues for former champions

Firestone has been the tire provider of IndyCar for over 25 years and the clear focus of strategy in every IndyCar Race. During St Petersburg, though, tire puncture after tire puncture plagued drivers throughout the session.

Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing, IndyCar St Petersburg | Penske Entertainment: Joe Skibinski

Scott Dixon of Chip Ganassi had to return to the pits under caution for a single tire change after a suspected puncture early in the race. Later, on Lap 40, Dixon left the pits and just a few seconds later entirely lost his tire due to a loose wheel nut, forcing him to retire.

Similarly, after Will Power clipped a wall early in the race, during his Andretti debut, he was forced to come into the pits for a tire replacement after a suspected puncture and what appeared to be a broken toe link in the suspension. The team was able to send him back out 30+ laps down on the rest of the field, but he retired in the last 15 laps of the race.

Dale Coyne's stunning comeback

Dale Coyne is often regarded as a backmarker team in IndyCar. In 2024, they only had one permanent driver. In 2025, they finished with only 1 podium and 7 top-10s across 2 drivers. In 2026, both drivers, Romain Grosjean and rookie Dennis Hauger, qualified in the top 6 AND finished in the top 10 at St Petersburg.

Romain Grosjean, Dale Coyne, IndyCar, St Petersburg | Penske Entertainment: Chris Owens

The grid was stunned, but once you study what has happened to the team during the offseason, the pieces begin to fall into place. The addition of a veteran to the series, Grojean, and Indy NXT's 2025 champion, Dennis Hauger, already created a strong lineup.

However, according to Grosjean, the speed the team extracted from the car in St Petersburg can be credited to their engineering team. After all, Grosjean and Hauger's cars are both led by Indy-500 and Championship winning race engineers. Grosjean told Racer's Marshall Pruett who on the team stood out for him this year.

"The engineering group is great, Mitch Davis, Bill Pappas, Mike (Cannon and Colliver). They have a lot of experience. There's zero doubt about that. There's a lot of input.
Romain Grosjean, Dale Coyne, P8

IndyCar Grand Prix of St Petersburg Results

Position	Driver/ Team	Time Diff from Lead
1	Alex Palou/ Chip Ganassi	1:05.368
2	Scott McLaughlin/ Penske	+12.495
3	Christian Lundgaard/ McLaren	+12.915
4	Kyle Kirkwood/ Andretti	+25.274
5	Pato O'Ward/ McLaren	+26.075
6	Marcus Ericsson/ Andretti	+26.256
7	Josef Newgarden/ Penske	+26.422
8	Romain Grosjean/ Dale Coyne	+28.039
9	Rinus Veekay/ Juncos	+28.715
10	Dennis Hauger/ Dale Coyne	+29.872
11	Marcus Armstrong/ Meyer Shank	+30.468
12	Felix Rosenqvist/ Meyer Shank	+30.811
13	David Malukas/ Penske	+33.776
14	Louis Foster/ RLL	+38.039
15	Kyffin Simpson/ Chip Ganassi	+38.909
16	Alexander Rossi/ ECR	+49.613
17	Graham Rahal/ RLL	+1:01.91
18	Caio Collet/ AJ Foyt	+1:03.12
19	Christian Rasmussen/ ECR	+1:03.17
20	Nolan Siegel/ McLaren	+1 lap
21	Sting Ray Robb/ Juncos	+7 laps
22	Will Power/ Andretti	DNF
23	Scott Dixon/ Chip Ganassi	DNF
24	Santino Ferrucci/ AJ Foyt	DNF
25	Mick Schumacher/ RLL	DNF

Picture perfect for Palou... again

Alex Palou is inevitable, yet again in 2026. Not only did he take home the win at St Petersburg, continuing the Palou era of IndyCar. Palou has now broken the record for the largest win margin at St Petersburg of all time with an over 12-second gap to second place, Scott McLaughlin.

Scott McLaughlin, Penske, IndyCar, St Petersburg | Penske Entertainment: Joe Skibinski

McLaughlin qualified on the pole Saturday but told the press that he had a "difficult first stint and got stuck behind the Andretti guys when they started losing their tires". He added that the inevitability of Palou is something that drivers consider throughout every race.

McLaren's Christian Lundgaard, P3, added that he felt the qualifying performance was the reason the challenge couldn't be taken to Palou, although he gained 9 positions to finish on the podium.

St Petersburg is the first race of a triple-header as the IndyCar circuit moves to Phoenix next Saturday for its first oval race of the season.