The 2025 IndyCar season was off to an exciting start this afternoon as they raced through Florida during the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. Meyer Shank Racing’s dominance fell short, Arrow McLaren had to jump through some hurdles and we have our first winner of 2025.
The Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Really set the Tone for the Rest of the Season
Alex Palou Secures the First Win of the Year
This weekend’s podium consisted of previous IndyCar champions.
Fresh off his third championship-winning season, Alex Palou is taking home the first win of 2025. What started as a difficult weekend for Chip Ganassi ended in triumph. Palou started from P8 while Dixon entered the Fast Six during qualifying and started from P6. Palou fought off Josef Newgarden for the final 25 laps of the 100-lap race.
Dixon and Newgarden Complete the Podium
In an exciting last-lap overtake, Scott Dixon managed to get past Josef Newgarden for a P2 finish. Making this the first Chip Ganassi 1-2 finish since 2023. Dixon had no radio for the duration of the entire race so he was essentially racing a bit blindly but pulled off a phenomenal drive to come in second.
Newgarden who dealt with a wave of controversy following last year’s race in St. Pete came back this year with something to prove. He worked his way up through the grid and went from P10 to P3. The Penske driver was inching closer and closer to catching Palou but that last-second overtake from Dixon is what cost him in the end.
Lap One Incident
It didn’t take long for things to get dicey following an incident on the opening lap. Louis Foster unfortunately had his IndyCar debut cut short this afternoon while going into turn three.
Will Power and Nolan Siegel made contact with Foster, unfortunately getting thrown into the mix. The incident brought out the first and only caution of the race and resulted in DNFs for all three drivers.
After the first lap incident, the No. 6 car has retired from the race.
An unfortunate end to the weekend for the No. 6 crew. We’ll come back stronger in Thermal. 💪 pic.twitter.com/uU3et8kBko
— Arrow McLaren IndyCar Team (@ArrowMcLaren) March 2, 2025
Additional Notable St. Pete Moments
A fan favorite, Pato O’Ward was hit with a load of bad luck when it came to his tires this weekend. The No. 5 Arrow McLaren had a tire puncture on the primaries he started on which led to O’Ward having to pit while others stayed out during the initial lap one crash.
O’Ward had to switch his primaries out for a set of soft tires making it increasingly difficult for him to keep up with the rest of the grid. Arrow McLaren managed to pull off a successful pitstop for O’Ward and he finished the race in P11.
Meyer Shank’s weekend started strong with both Felix Rosenqvist and Marcus Armstrong starting on the second row. Armstrong however, had his race come to an early end after experiencing a few different issues.
After making contact with the wall, Armstrong was dealing with suspension issues. As a result, he was forced to retire on lap 48 and finished the race in P24.
Today marked Colton Herta’s 100th race start but the odds weren’t entirely in his favour. What started as his race unraveled a bit. What started as an opportunity to finish on the podium resulted in a P16 finish. A struggle to get the right rear tire onto the 26 Gainbridge Honda during a pit stop ultimately decided the outcome for the rest of Herta’s afternoon.
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