Winners and Losers: Grand Prix of St. Petersburg
- Morgan Holiday
- 3 days ago
- 5 min read
Written by Morgan Holiday
Álex Palou put on a flashy performance in the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg to kick off the 2026 IndyCar season. The Spaniard came through from fourth to take the lead midway through the race and held on in dominant fashion to take the first win of the year and prove his intent to continue his streak of domination.
It’s hard to have a good weekend when Palou is on track. But what teams and drivers stood out, and who fell short of the 2026 debut they were hoping for? Let’s take a look at some of this past weekend’s winners and losers.
Winner - Arrow McLaren
Right off the back of finally reaching a settlement in their case with Palou, Arrow McLaren made a splash at the IndyCar season opener.
Qualifying was a hefty disappointment for the whole team as Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin grabbed pole position. Pato O’Ward finished second in the opening session of qualifying, but faltered in the second round and finished eighth to miss out on the Fast 6.
Christian Lundgaard also failed to get past the second round, lining up 12th for the start of Sunday’s race. Nolan Siegel, on the other hand, was out in the first round after finishing 11th in his group. The young American lined up 22nd for the start of the race.
Siegel’s pace unfortunately proved similar in the race, making up a few places for an eventual 20th place finish but ultimately well short of his teammates.
Lundgaard and O’Ward fell in line and stuck together throughout most of the race, the pair steadily making their way up the grid and solidly into the top 10. While O’Ward came through to improve to a fifth place finish, it was Lundgaard who shone through as he jumped up nine places to finish second overall after passing McLaughlin in the final laps.
Two drivers in the top five was the best result for any team on Sunday, with Lundgaard’s podium the shining moment of the weekend. While they may have missed out in qualifying or on a potential win, McLaren has clearly come through as the top team after this weekend.
Winner - Rinus VeeKay
VeeKay’s IndyCar future was somewhat uncertain for a good portion of time, and it’s fair to say he has well deserved a spot at a top team. Instead, he signed with Juncos Hollinger Racing (JHR) for 2026 after almost losing a seat on the grid altogether.
But VeeKay came out swinging at St. Pete, despite a less than ideal qualifying. He finished Saturday 19th in the standing order, just ahead of his JHR teammate Sting Ray Robb.
In the race, Robb made contact in the first lap with Santino Ferrucci and that dropped him out of contention early on for a good result. But VeeKay was able to bully his way through the field, jumping up 10 places for an eventual ninth place finish.
VeeKay’s IndyCar journey has been tougher than his performance may deserve, but he continues to prove that he’s worthy of a spot on the grid. Sunday’s performance and a top 10 result will be sure to catch everyone’s eye.
Winner - Dale Coyne Racing
Arrow McLaren may have had the best team result of the weekend, but no team’s joint performance was as exciting and surprising as Dale Coyne Racing’s (DCR).
Coming into the season with the brand new lineup of Romain Grosjean (returning to IndyCar after a season without a seat) and Dennis Hauger (the reigning Indy NXT champion and one of three IndyCar rookies this year), DCR had a lot to prove. And right off the bat they made a strong statement.
Hauger was fast enough to finish fourth in the first two qualifying sessions, breezing through to the Fast 6. In the Fast 6, his best time was just three-tenths off McLaughlin’s pole time, and he qualified third ahead of reigning champion Palou.
The Norwegian Nightmare, as they call him, was unable to keep pace with the front-runners in Sunday’s race but managed to stay in the top 10, finishing 10th in his debut. It was by far the best showing from a rookie throughout the weekend, proving early on that he’ll be hard to beat to the Rookie of the Year title.
Grosjean also qualified in the top six, starting the race from sixth and only dropping to eighth throughout Sunday afternoon. While Grosjean has a reputation of being an agent of chaos, he ran a remarkably clean race and solidified an excellent weekend for DCR, who had both drivers qualify in the top six and finish in the top 10.
Loser - Mick Schumacher
While Hauger’s IndyCar debut was a dream come true, not all the rookies fared so well. Worst off was Schumacher, coming into his first IndyCar season with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.
Schumacher qualified 21st, not the slowest on the grid or even the slowest rookie (that honor went to Caio Collet, who qualified only ahead of Alex Rossi). But it was the first lap of the race where things took a turn for the worse.
Robb and Ferrucci made contact on the first lap. While Robb was able to continue, albeit with a ruined race, Ferrucci was out after the damage to his car. Schumacher was an unfortunate victim of their accident and he sustained enough damage to be taken out of the race as well, effectively ending his debut before it could even begin.
Schumacher was classified last in the race results, so he more than anyone else will be looking for redemption come the next race weekend.
Loser - Will Power
Power made his official race debut with Andretti Global on Sunday, which also happened to be his birthday. It was a less than ideal day for either of those things, as Power hit the wall in the early stages of the race and was knocked fully out of contention after the resulting damage.
Power qualified 13th, not a stunning performance but not too shabby all things considered. He had hit the wall at Turn 10 early that day in practice, so he was lucky to still be in contention for the start of the race.
On Lap 22 of the race, Power pulled into the pits after hitting the wall at Turn 10 in the same place he had in practice earlier in the weekend. The team worked on his car but damage to the rear suspension put him well out of contention before they put him back on track, and he came out at the back of the field over 20 laps down on the leaders.
Power finished 22nd when all was said and done, a dismal first race with Andretti and a dismal birthday for the Australian driver.
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