ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The fresh start was a rough one for two-time IndyCar champion Will Power in his first race with a new team, and Mick Schumacher’s debut in North America’s premier open-wheel series was even worse.
Alex Palou? It was hard to tell the calendar had flipped from 2025 where the driver of the Honda-powered Chip Ganassi Racing No. 10 was concerned, and considering the 28-year-old Spaniard is chasing his fourth straight series championship and fifth in a six-year span, that was good news for Palou and his team.
Palou opened IndyCar’s 2026 season back on top of the podium in Sunday’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, winning the race on a temporary street circuit downtown for the second year in a row, but this time in record-setting fashion. Palou was 12.4948 seconds ahead of runner-up Scott McLaughlin — who started in pole position in his Chevrolet-powered Team Penske No. 3 — to post the largest margin of victory in this race’s history.
“We’re so back, baby!” Palou radioed his team as he crossed the finish line.
Palou’s win last year in St. Petersburg kicked off what proved to be one of the most dominant IndyCar seasons in decades, with his Sunshine State triumph the first of eight victories that included his first Indianapolis 500 triumph on his sixth attempt.
“All the other teams aren’t flat-footed going into the season; they work hard to beat us,” said Chip Ganassi, the 67-year-old team owner whose organization holds 22 all-time drivers’ season championships. “We work hard to keep a gap between us and them, and it’s a challenge. You never know how hard they worked or how hard you worked.
“I’m pleased with what we’ve been able to accomplish in the offseason to maintain some gap here with the competition.”
The win on the 1.8-mile course with 14 turns came two days after Ganassi and Palou said they had settled a breach of contract lawsuit the driver fought with McLaren Racing the past two-plus years.
“It’s been an amazing offseason. Everybody has done a tremendous job,” said Palou, who picked up the 20th win of his IndyCar career in his 99th start. “I don’t know what to say. It was unbelievable today. This team keeps on improving, keeps on making new changes, and they just keep raising the bar. It’s pretty impressive.”
Ganassi felt it was the perfect way to open the year after last year’s five-week court trial in London.
“Obviously it’s been an interesting offseason, on the track and off the track,” Ganassi said. “It’s all behind us now. We’re back right where we want to be.”
McLaughlin, who was winless last season after posting three victories in 2024, led the first 34 laps Sunday before pitting. The 32-year-old from New Zealand never made it all the way back to the front.
“Look, he’s just doing a great job,” McLaughlin said of Palou, who started fourth.
Christian Lundgaard finished third for McLaren after starting 12th, but the 24-year-old Danish driver was frustrated with the result.
“Every time I am on the podium, he’s always first,” said Lundgaard, who opened his fifth full-time season with the 10th top-three finish of his career but is still seeking a second win to go with his victory in Toronto in July 2023. “It’s pretty annoying.”
It could have been worse, though.
Schumacher didn’t even complete a lap, with the 26-year-old German driver unable to escape a crash in the opening minutes when Sting Ray Robb and Santino Ferruci collided.
The son of record-setting seven-time Formula 1 champion Michael Schumacher had nowhere to go as he drove his Honda for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing into the fourth turn and saw two crashed cars directly in front of him. Robb received a 30-second penalty for avoidable contact and continued the race, while Ferruci and Schumacher got a car ride to the medical center.
“That’s racing,” Schumacher said after exiting the checkup.
AP photo by Jenna Fryer / Mick Schumacher talks to reporters Sunday at the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg in Florida. Schumacher’s IndyCar Series debut came to a quick conclusion when he was involved in a crash on the first lap of the 2026 season opener.
Power, who turned 45 on Sunday, had a short debut race for Andretti Global when he brushed the wall on the 21st lap.
“I feel really bad for the guys. The car was really good,” the Australian driver who was the IndyCar champion in 2014 and 2022 — and won the Indy 500 each of those years — said after a difficult weekend with his new team.
Power had driven for Roger Penske since 2009. He was replaced in that team’s lineup by David Malukas, who at 24 years old made his team debut for the most storied organization in the series and finished 13th after starting fifth.
Power spent a long time on his timing stand speaking with Ron Ruzewski, the team principal at Andretti, before putting on his helmet and safety gear and walking down pit road back to his garage. Andretti crew members repaired the car, and he was able to return to the race 31 laps behind the leaders.
He finished 22nd.
Schumacher and Ferruci were not as fortunate as their days ended with Robb’s aggressive, early contact.
“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 said. “Unfortunately our real target was to finish the race and get all the laps that we wanted.”
Schumacher made the move away from F1 after three seasons without a ride. He drove for Haas in the international open-wheel series and became a Mercedes reserve driver after losing that seat at the end of 2022. He hasn’t made an F1 start since 2022 and instead competed in the World Endurance Championship.
Schumacher said his debut weekend wasn’t a wash because he was still able to learn over three days on the circuit. He indicated he won’t dwell on the results and is already mentally preparing for his oval debut next Saturday at Phoenix Raceway.
“Looking ahead. Not looking back. Trying to understand what we could have done better on our end, qualifying maybe being one of them,” said Schumacher, who started 21st in the 25-car field. “Like always, when you starting in the back, things end up being quite difficult, but I think I made it extra difficult.
“I think as a team, we really needed that race to not have doubts going into the next event. But, hey, we’ve got 16 or 17 more races to go.”