Sports
By Katy Korstange, Staff Writer
Alex Palou won the 2026 Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg last Sunday, opening the 2026 IndyCar season with a dominant victory over pole sitter Scott McLaughlin.
Palou has won four of the last five series championships and won the 2025 Indy 500. Coming off of his most dominant season yet, Palou picked up right where he left off and started fourth to eventually work his way up and take the victory over McLaughlin by a record breaking 12 seconds.
Arrow McLaren driver Christian Lundgaard started 12th but was able to strategize and move through the field to join Palou and McLaughlin on the third step of the podium. Lundgaard’s teammate, Pato O’Ward, drove a strong race and put two Arrow McLaren cars in the top five after finishing fifth.
The Streets of St. Pete is a 1.8-mile temporary street circuit in downtown St. Petersburg, Fla. with 14 turns. Historically, the race has never gone 100 laps fully green as its tight corners and close concrete walls are notorious for creating on-track incidents.
The race began with a three-car pile-up and a caution on lap one caused by Sting Ray Robb. He came into the fourth corner of the race on an aggressive line with no grip because the tires had not gotten up to temperature since it was so early on. Inevitably, he locked his tires and collected two others.
This incident also involved Santino Ferruci and former Formula One driver, Mick Schumacher. Schumacher’s IndyCar debut with Rahal Letterman Lanagan Racing was cut short before it could even start. Somehow, Robb was able to stay in the race before causing another incident and finishing 21st.
Last year, after a sub-par season for Team Penske, long-time Penske driver Will Power announced his departure from the team and move to Andretti Global. He was set to take over the 26 car in the 2026 season because long time driver Colton Herta was moving to Formula Two.
Power had a promising start to the season and qualified well. Unfortunately, the team was struggling with brake issues all weekend which eventually sent Power into the wall, ending his first race with Andretti before the checkered flag.
David Malukas will be taking Power’s spot at Penske in the 2026 season. Malukas has been in the IndyCar series since 2022 and has shown strength on oval races, a key characteristic of Penske drivers. He finished the race, and his Team Penske debut in 13th position.
Scott Dixon, a long-time driver for Chip Ganasi Racing, finished his race early when an issue on pit lane caused his right rear tire to be not tightened correctly. As he was entering a turn, the wheel nut keeping the tire in place came completely off, and so did the tire. This sent him into the turn overshoot and forced him to retire.
This year, IndyCar implemented a new rule stating that drivers must use at least two sets of softer compound tires in the race. This would throw an additional strategic element into the race. Despite this new challenge, Palou’s strategist Barry Wanser was able to make the right calls, allowing him to take home the victory.
Next weekend, IndyCar goes back to Phoenix Raceway for the first time since 2018. That year, Josef Newgarden, who had a rough 2025 season, won at the oval course. IndyCar will race on Saturday and will share the weekend with the NASCAR series who will race on Sunday.
