Austin Lawton, Staff Writer
After a five-month offseason, the 2025 NTT IndyCar Series season kicks off this weekend with the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding. The series returns to the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida for the 22nd time since 2003, once again looking to provide fast-paced, street course action.
FOX will debut as the television partner for the series and for IndyNXT by Firestone, starting this weekend, ushering in a new era for the sport, after having a deal with NBC for the last 15 years.
FOX has tapped Will Buxton, James Hinchcliffe and Townsend Bell as the talent in the booth, with Kevin Lee, Jack Harvey, Georgia Henneberry and Jamie Little (filling in for Henneberry), in the pits, giving the series familiar names to call the action.
FOX has gone all out with promotion for the series, with three advertisements featuring Team Penske driver Josef Newgarden, two-time defending series champion and Chip Ganassi Racing driver, Alex Palou and Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward. The advertisements have circulated on various FOX programming, including Super Bowl LIX on February 9, earning millions of views over the last few months.
FOX will air all of the 17 races on the main FOX channel, with practice and qualifying available on FS1 and FS2. For those looking for a streaming option, the FOX Sports app is available to stream all of the action, but a cable provider is necessary.
Last year, Newgarden sat on the pole by 0.0058 seconds, over Felix Rosenqvist, setting the closest front row on a street course since the 2012 Detroit race on the street course at Belle Isle.
Newgarden would eventually take his Team Penske Chevrolet to Victory Lane, after leading most of the race, but two months later, Newgarden was disqualified due to having access to push-to-pass functions, when other teams did not. Newgarden’s teammates, Scott McLaughlin and Will Power, were also penalized as well. Newgarden had the win stripped away and O’Ward was granted the victory.
Fast forward to 2025, Newgarden, a two-time St. Pete winner, and O’Ward are once again favorites to go for the win in St. Petersburg, along with McLaughlin, Power, Palou, six-time series champ and CGR teammate of Palou, Scott Dixon and Andretti Global driver, Colton Herta.
McLaughlin earned his first IndyCar win on the streets of St.Petersburg in 2022 and Herta earned a win at the track, the year prior, in 2021. Palou and Dixon have not won at St. Pete but have always proved to be a threat on street courses.
Sunday’s race will see three rookies make their IndyCar debuts: Jacob Abel, driving for Dale Coyne Racing, Rahal Letterman Lanigan’s Louis Foster and Prema Racing’s Robert Shwartzman. Abel and Foster graduate from the IndyNXT series, with Foster taking home the 2024 championship, after battling Abel for the title.
Shwartzman is a former Ferrari Academy product, having competed in Formula 2 for Prema, a Formula 1 reserve driver for Scuderia Ferrari and in the World Endurance Championship for AF Corse Ferrari in the HyperCar class.
The 1.8-mile street course will give drivers a challenge to get a clean lap in during qualifications, as the tight confines of the street circuit will not be forgiving if they cannot get the clean air that is necessary to set a fast time.
Passing opportunities will be limited, so having good track position will be key, especially with the stacked field of drivers currently in IndyCar. The best passing opportunities come in turns 1, 4, 13 and 14, the last two corners before coming onto the main straight. Drivers will have to manage fuel and tire strategy all race long, due to passing opportunities being few and far between.
Cars will hit the track for the first time on Friday afternoon for the first practice session. A second practice session will be held on Saturday morning, with qualifying later that afternoon. Practice and qualifying will be available on FS1 and FS2. The 2024 Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg takes place on Sunday, March 2, with the first FOX race broadcast starting at 12:00 p.m. EST.