By Austin Lawton, Staff Writer
Picking up where he left off in 2025, Alex Palou enters 2026 a winner in the IndyCar series yet again. The Spaniard dominated on the streets of St. Petersburg, FL to go back-to-back in the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on Sunday.
Palou, the reigning champion of the IndyCar Series, claims his 20th career victory in just 99 starts and becomes the first driver since Sebastian Bourdais in 2017 & 2018 to win back-to-back at St. Petersburg. Palou’s margin of victory, 12.4 seconds, is also the largest in the history of the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
“Incredible. I mean, I don’t know what to say from this team anymore,” Palou said. “It’s been a long offseason. 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. This team has done it again here for this weekend. 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.”
With new rules for the alternate tires being introduced in 2026 (for road & street courses), pit strategy would determine the winner of the race. Indycar mandates two stints on the red, alternate tire
Palou and the No.10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing crew put themselves in position for the race win after pitting on Lap 38, executing the overcut on Scott McLaughlin and Marcus Ericsson, who ran 1-2, for the first stint of the race.
McLaughlin, who started on pole, led Ericsson and Palou for the entire first stint, with McLaughlin leading the first 34 laps. McLaughlin was the first to pit out of the three but just ended up behind Ericsson on Lap 36. Palou managed to stretch his red, alternate tires and fuel three laps longer and came out ahead of Ericsson by more than four seconds on Lap 39 on used alternates.
Palou’s lead would shrink after a caution flew on Lap 42 for Scott Dixon losing a tire, but it was precessional and business as usual for the No.10 crew, holding the race lead and cycling out after their last pit stop on Lap 67.
McLaughlin would end the day in second, after arguably having the fastest car all weekend long, along with Palou. It was all about executing for the “Thirsty 3’s” as the Team Penske driver looks to bounce back from a tumultuous 2025.
“Obviously you want to be top step,” McLaughlin said. “I think that was a solid day for us. I think we maximized our strategy. I think it was going to go one way or the other with tires. I maybe thought the black tire could have probably performed a little bit better in that first stint, but yeah, my car just didn’t probably turn that tire on well enough. Wanted to pull a gap, but I was also trying to save fuel and make it a two-stop in some ways. Yeah, it was a difficult first stint, and then I sort of got stuck behind the Andretti guys when they were losing their tires. I thought our car was really good. Just probably was a little bit hidden today just where it was position on track, but that’s okay. Like I said, I think we maximized our day. No mistakes. Pit road was great. Just good start.”
Ericsson, who was the fastest Andretti Global car all day long, would end the day in sixth after staying out too long on the second stint. The No. 28 crew kept Ericsson out one lap too long and as Ericsson started to lose the handling of his Honda, he lost three spots at the end of the stint.
Assuming Ericsson’s place in third was Christian Lundgaard. The Dane would pass Ericsson in Turn 10 on Lap 66, just as Ericsson was losing the handling of his car. After taking his last pit stop on Lap 69, for new red, alternate tires, Lundgaard would battle with McLaughlin and Kyle Kirkwood for the last 30 laps.
“It was a good race,” said the Arrow McLaren driver. “I think we just very clearly just missed it in qualifying yesterday. We made some changes after Practice 2 that just simply didn’t work. Got out of the car. Obviously didn’t transfer from Qualifying 2 and wasn’t necessarily that upset, because I knew exactly where we had gone wrong. It was just undo that, and I think the car just came alive like we expected it to today. Again, you have to do the job out there, and I thought it was a very exciting way to start out the season.”
Lundgaard enters his second year with the Arrow McLaren program and earns his seventh podium with the team after Sunday’s race.
Kirkwood would be a surprise candidate for a podium in the last 30 laps. After setting multiple fast laps, combined with good pit stops, Kirkwood put the No.27 Andretti Global Honda in the fight with Lundgaard and McLaughlin. Kirkwood passed McLaughlin on Lap 69 and held second until Lap 94.
Kirkwood took his last pit stop four laps earlier than McLaughlin and Lundgaard and by the end of the race, battled with older tires to finish in fourth.
Lundgaard’s Arrow McLaren teammate, Pato O’Ward, would round out the top five.
SEE: Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Results
The IndyCar series will race again in just a week’s time as the series heads to Phoenix, AZ for the Good Ranchers 250, marking the first time Indycar’s have raced there since 2018. The Good Ranchers 250 will run on Saturday, March 7.