New year, same Palou perfection at St. Petersburg

It was the first race of the 2026 IndyCar season but it felt like a continuation of the last championship run as Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou converted a fourth-place start into another emphatic victory to launch his quest for a fifth IndyCar crown.

Palou cleared polesitter Scott McLaughlin from Team Penske by 12.4s at the checkered flag and had 12.9s in hand over Arrow McLaren’s Christian Lundgaard, who charged from 12th to third.

McLaughlin led for the first half of the race in the No. 3 Chevy, but behind him, Palou was flying on approach to their final pit stops where he built a giant lead of nearly 14 seconds. Palou opened the race with the No. 10 Honda on new Firestone alternate tires, bolted on a used set of alternates to follow and proceeded to drive away from the field.

Using the overcut to his advantage, the combination of the huge lead and going two laps longer than his rivals meant Palou leapfrogged McLaughlin and the rest of the former front-runners. The Spaniard closed the race on new primaries to seal his 20th career win and put Honda in victory lane to open the defense of its manufacturers’ title.

“Those Firestones were like everlasting,” Palou said. “They would just keep going. I had an amazing car today.”

Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood was on pace to take second but had to settle for fourth. Facing a poor start from 15th on the grid, Kirkwood’s No. 27 Honda team started him on new primaries and closed with two sets of new alternates, which allowed the Floridian to do some leapfrogging of his own on home soil. But surrendering tires and a need to conserve fuel allowed McLaughlin and then Lundgaard to push him off the podium as he trailed to the checkered flag 25.2s behind Palou.

“Good start for the DEX Chevy and the Thirsty Threes," McLaughlin. "Alex was super fast, but I think it’s a mixed bag of what tire you start on – if we come back here again, do you start on reds and just get them out of the way. We made the passes that we needed to make at the right time, and I thought we maximized what we needed to do.”

“Our strategy was good, the car was really good. I think we missed it in qualifying," he said. "Ultimately, I just have to say thanks to Chevy and Arrow McLaren. We put so much into the off-season moving into a new shop. Pato [O'Ward] and I were really fast there. It’s nice to get it done at the beginning of the year, so here we go!”

Except for the late dramas that saw Kirkwood shuffled from second to fourth, the race wasn’t particularly exciting in terms of passing at the front. The biggest and most impressive mover was McLaughlin’s teammate Josef Newgarden, who shot from 23rd to seventh in the No. 2 Chevy.

Front-row starter Marcus Ericsson frayed a few nerves with multiple hard defenses – one might have called it blocking, but IndyCar Officiating, in its first event, took no issue with the maneuvers – that eventually resulted in a sixth-place result, one position behind Lundgaard’s Arrow McLaren teammate Pato O’Ward.

Best rookie of the event was Dale Coyne Racing’s Dennis Hauger who started third, finished 10th, and made his presence felt.

Adversity met Santino Ferrucci (24th) and Mick Schumacher (25th) on the opening lap as Sting Ray Robb locked his brakes and hit Ferrucci who was then hit by Schumacher. Robb (21st) was the only driver to continue. David Malukas (13th) nearly wore a hole through his left-front tire with a lockup into Turn 1, and it finally blew, which cost a lap while getting into pit lane.

Will Power (22nd) hit the wall at the same spot he crashed earlier in the weekend and bent his suspension; repairs would be made but he was dozens of laps down when he returned to the race. Scott Dixon (23rd) pitted and had his right-rear wheel fall off moments after taking to the track.

AS IT HAPPENED

The 100-lap Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg opened with Alex Palou improving from fourth to third as third-place Dennis Hauger dropped to fifth. Marcus Armstrong improves from seventh to fourth.

Lap 1 caution as Sting Ray Robb, Santino Ferrucci and Mick Schumacher collide as Robb locks his brakes and wipes out Ferrucci and the collateral damage in Schumacher. Robb is able to reverse and drive away while Schumacher’s car is stuck, having ridden over the back of Ferrucci’s car. Ferrucci and Schumacher are out on the spot. Robb heads to pit lane and repairs are made at the back of the car.

Lap 2 and the pits are open. Last-place Alexander Rossi and Scott Dixon pit.

Lap 5 and Robb is assessed a 30-second stop and hold for causing avoidable contact.

Lap 6 restart and McLaughlin has a great run into Turn 1.

Lap 9 and the top 10 is McLaughlin, Marcus Ericsson, Palou, Armstrong, Hauger, David Malukas, Romain Grosjean, Louis Foster, Felix Rosenqvist and Pato O’Ward.

Lap 11 and McLaughlin leads Ericsson by 0.7s – both are on primary tires – and Palou by 1.9s, who is on alternates.

Lap 12 and Malukas has the left-front tire blow after locking the brakes badly a few laps earlier, which sends him down the Turn 4 escape road. He’s able to rotate the car and get back to pit lane, but he’s lost a lot of time.

Lap 15 and McLaughlin leads Ericsson by 0.9s and Palou by 1.7s. Those with poor qualifying runs haven’t made a ton of progress so far with Will Power in 14th, Kyle Kirkwood in 15th and Josef Newgarden in 17th.

Lap 20 and McLaughlin sits 0.7s ahead of Ericsson and 1.4s clear of Palou. Foster reports his alternate tires are starting to fade.

Lap 22 and Power is in after making contact with the right-rear corner which bend his suspension. His race is over. Rough debut for Andretti's new driver with two bouts of contact.

Lap 23 and Foster is on for another set of alternates.

Lap 27 and it’s the same up front with Ericsson 0.7s back from McLaughlin and Palou down 1.3 to the leader. Rasmussen spins in Turn 1 after he and Kyffin Simpson collided at the apex.

Lap 32 and Kirkwood pits to trade primes for alternates. Rosenqvist stops as well and does the opposite.

Lap 33 and McLaughlin’s lead is down to 0.5s over Ericsson and 1.2s on Palou. Armstrong is 2.9s back in fourth.

Lap 35 and McLaughlin’s pushing and has created a 0.9s pad to Ericsson and 1.6s over Palou.

Lap 35 and O’Ward and Christian Lundgaard pit to take alternates

Lap 36 and McLaughlin pits to trade primes for alternates.

Lap 37 and Ericsson pits to trade primes for alternates. Hauger pits as well and goes from alternates to alternates. Ericsson comes out ahead of McLaughlin and puts a huge block on Rossi. Ericsson taps the Turn 10 wall with his right-rear.

Lap 38 and Armstrong pits and comes out ahead of Ericsson and McLaughlin but loses the position to Ericsson.

Lap 39 and Palou pits to take used alternates and returns in front of Ericsson and the lead group by a mile. Ridiculous.

Lap 44 restart and it’s Palou ahead of Ericsson, McLaughlin, Armstrong, Kirkwood, O’Ward, Lundgaard, Hauger, Grosjean and Graham Rahal in the top 10. Robb has another issue, reverses, and continues.

Lap 50 and Palou leads Ericsson by 1.6s and McLaughlin by 3.8s.

Lap 53 and Palou holds 2.1s over Ericsson and 4.2s on McLaughlin. How long will his used alternates survive?

Lap 60 and Palou’s driving away with a 7.0s lead on Ericsson and 8.4s on McLaughlin. Wild. He’s building a big lead while knowing he’ll need to close on slower primes while Ericsson and McLaughlin have new alternates.

Lap 65 and McLaughlin takes second from Ericsson and now Armstrong is trying to make a pass. The field is stacked up behind Ericsson.

Lap 66 and Palou is 13.8s ahead of McLaughlin as Ericsson fights Armstrong all the way to the pit wall in a bad blocking move. Armstrong gets by but slides long into the Turn 1 brake zone and stays in fourth. Ericsson and Armstrong pit at the end of the lap.

Lap 67 and it’s Palou leading McLaughlin by 13.7s and Lundgaard by 20.5s. Palou pits at the end of the lap for new primes.

Lap 68 and McLaughlin pits for new alternates. Kirkwood gets by but there’s contact.

Lap 70 and Newgarden pits from the lead.

Lap 73 and Palou leads a needs-to-pit Foster by 1.0s. The closest driver on the winning strategy is Kirkwood in fifth, 7.1s back to Palou.

Lap 75 and Kirkwood has it down to 6.4s.

Lap 77 and all the cars between Palou and Kirkwood have pitted, leaving a 6.1s gap between first and second. McLaughlin is 7.6s back in third, then it’s Lundgaard, O’Ward, Ericsson, Newgarden, Grosjean, VeeKay and Hauger.

Lap 80 and Palou’s lead continues to shrink; it’s 5.5s to Kirkwood.

Lap 90 and Palou’s got 6.9s over Kirkwood – who might be saving fuel – and McLaughlin who’s charging in third and has 7.9s to the leader. From there it’s Lundgaard, O’Ward, Ericsson, Newgarden, Grosjean, VeeKay and Hauger.

Lap 100 and Palou has walked this one while Kirkwood had to throttle back to make the finish.

RESULTS