The victory was Palou’s 20th of his career and also marked his 45th podium finish in 99 starts.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — It’s Alex Palou’s world and we’re all just living in it. 

The four-time and defending IndyCar champion took a statement victory in Sunday’s season-opening race on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida. 

Palou started fourth, but quickly found a way to the top spot following the first round of pit stops.

“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,” Palou said after the race. 

The victory was Palou’s 20th of his career and also marked his 45th podium finish in 99 starts. Adding to Palou’s list of impressive feats, his margin of victory on Sunday — 12.4948 seconds — was the largest in the history of the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg dating all the way back to the inaugural running in 2003. 


“I’m pushing. I’m giving everything I have. Sometimes you leave a margin, but it’s just because you need to do 34 laps on the tires,” Palou said about his margin of victory. 

Pole winner Scott McLaughlin led the opening 34 laps of the 100-lap grand prix, but found himself chasing Palou while holding off Arrow McLaren’s Christian Lundgaard and Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood for the remainder of the race. 

“It was a difficult first stint, and then I sort of got stuck behind the Andretti guys when they were losing their tires,” McLaughlin said after the race. “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.”



Fast Freshman

While most of the attention was focused on Palou and McLaughlin, rookie Dennis Hauger had himself a quiet but impressive day on the streets of St. Pete. 

Hauger started the race from the second row after a veteran-like performance in qualifying. The Norwegian earned a spot in the “Fast Six” and proceeded to set down a lap quicker than defending champ Palou and his F1 veteran teammate Romain Grosjean. 


During the race, Hauger kept his nose clean and quietly earned a tenth-place finish. 

While it might not have been as shocking as his qualifying run, Hauger’s debut still resulted in a top-10 finish, just about a second behind eighth place finisher and teammate Grosjean. 


Mick’s Quick Exit

Mick Schumacher’s IndyCar debut was over before it could even really get started. 

The 2020 Formula 2 champion and son of seven-time F1 World Champion Michael Schumacher started 21st in his first race in an open wheeler since 2022. But by the fourth turn, his race was over. 

Sting Ray Robb locked up his brakes heading into Turn 4 and crashed into the tire barrier while also collecting Santino Ferrucci. Schumacher, running behind the two, had nowhere to go but into the back of Ferrucci’s AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet. 

Turn 4 turns into CHAOS! 😬

Sting Ray Robb, Santino Ferrucci and Mick Schumacher are involved in an incident on Lap 1. pic.twitter.com/JzRWGlMTqS

— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) March 1, 2026

“I saw Santino lock up and I wasn’t aware that there was another guy on the inside locking up a littler deeper than what’s supposed to be, and that kind of chain-reactioned the whole scenario,” Schumacher told the Associated Press. “Unfortunately our real target was to finish the race and get all the laps that we wanted.”

The crash not only left Schumacher with a last-place finish in his IndyCar debut, but also with hardly any track time as he now prepares to run his first-ever oval event at Phoenix Raceway on March 7.


Power’s Out

After 16 years as a Team Penske driver, former series champion and Indy 500 winner Will Power took the green flag behind the wheel of an Andretti Global Honda on Sunday. 

Power started the race in 13th after just missing out on advancing into the second round of qualifying on Saturday. Despite the early elimination, Power appeared to still have confidence in his new team and was optimistic prior to the race start.


That optimism was diminished on the 21st lap. 

Power’s No. 26 car appeared to understeer on the exit of Turn 10, sending it into the wall and damaging the suspension. Power climbed out of the car unhurt, but frustrated by an early exit. 

“Felt like the same issue when I hit the wall the other day. Exactly the same problem that we’ve had. I feel really bad for the guys. We were doing such a— the car was really good and, yeah, it’s just plagued us all weekend, this thing, and haven’t been able to fix it. Feel really bad,” Power told FOX Sports after his early race retirement. 

Will Power is OUT! 😳

After contact in Turn 10, he exits the car on pit lane after 21 laps. pic.twitter.com/GvDU4Qzj5a

— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) March 1, 2026


Up Next

The series now heads to Phoenix Raceway for a doubleheader with the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series on Saturday, March 7. It will be the first time IndyCar has raced at Phoenix since 2018.

IndyCar races were held at the track in Avondale, Arizona nearly every year from 1964 until 2006. The series returned in 2016, but left again after the 2018 race. 

The March 7 race will be the first IndyCar race on the one-mile oval since it was renovated prior to the 2019 season and moved its start/finish line to the backstretch.