Reigning Indycar champion Palou extremely happy with his first race of the season in Saint Petersburg: “It’s huge.”

Narrow streets navigated at incredible speed; the Firestone Grand Prix of Saint Petersburg once again delivered a fabulous show to the motorsport world. Serving as the season opener of the 2025 NTT Indycar Series, numerous questions remained unanswered ahead of the race in Florida. The annual question on the form of the reigning champion, Álex Palou in this case, was immediately answered over the weekend.

Àlex Palou after winning the season opener, retrieved from indycar.com.

The Spaniard Álex Palou has clinched three Indycar titles in four years. Having made his debut in 2020 with Chip Ganassi Racing, Palou managed to get his hands on a first championship in 2021 and after losing out to team Penske’s Will Power in 2022, he became a back-to-back champion last year. Now, the new season has kicked off and there is no doubt the Chip Ganassi driver puts his sight on a third consecutive and fourth total title in the Indycar Series.

Debrief: the Grand Prix of Saint Petersburg

As Scott McLaughlin, who debuted in the American open wheel racing class in Saint Petersburg in 2020, departed the race from pole position, Àlex Palou found himself in a troublesome eighth place. The top ten did end up making it safely through the first couple of corners, but tough luck struck Will Power as he started further down the field and tapped the back of Nolan Siegel coming off turn 3 leading to both men dropping out of the race. Surprisingly, this was the only crash that caused a full course yellow. Once cleared, the battle up front between McLaughlin and Colton Herta raged on for nearly forty laps, interrupted only by differing pit laps. Meanwhile, Palou slowly made the race turn in his favor as he was one of the drivers pitting early under the caution. The Spaniard went on far longer than his competitors during the second stint of his race, entering the top 5 after the halfway point. For his third and last stop of the race, Palou sprung a trap on teammate Scott Dixon and pitted a few laps before him. As Indycar does not allow tire warmers, new tires take quite a while to get into an optimal operating window, which lead to a swap in positions between the teammates once Dixon had come out of the pitlane. Rubbing salt into his wounds, back-to back Indy-500 winner Josef Newgarden also passed Dixon as he was still on cold tires. Into the last part of the race, it would be Palou leading the way and never looking back at Newgarden. On the 100th and last lap of the race veteran Dixon, who enters his twenty-second season in the series, managed to get back up into second making it first and second place for Chip Ganassi Racing. This result put Palou in a place of comfort: on top of the championship standings.

Dixon in his Chip Ganassi Racing car during the race in Saint Petersburg, retrieved from motorsport.com.

With the race still running fresh through their minds, the Chip Ganassi drivers reflected on the deciding pit stops in the race: “I think he [Dixon] got trapped in traffic a little bit. That’s why the 10 stand [Palou’s pit crew] decided to pit a little bit early,” reflected the race winner to Fox Sports. “We had a really clean out lap, could run fast and just opened a gap from there.” Dixon had struggled with his radio communications during the latter part of the race, the 44-year-old acknowledged this might have cost him the chance of fighting his teammate “Ultimately, I think they were trying to call me in because on that last lap we had before we pitted, there was just so much traffic, and we lost two or three seconds. That’s where the 10 car got us.”

Palou went on about his excitement for the Chip Ganassi challenger: “They gave me everything I needed this weekend to win. I was looking forward to the race.” He added: “It’s huge, I’m super happy. We’ve been working really, really hard. It’s been a place where we’ve struggled a lot in the past, especially me personally. So to start with a win in 2025 is amazing.” 

Palou racing through the streets of Saint Petersburg, retrieved from motorsport.com.

Indycar champions off to a good start

The driver from Spain displayed a true race of a champion in Florida, however, most of his title competitors managed the same. Though the likes of Power and rumored future Formula 1 driver Herta both did not finish the race, three of the other consistent competitors for victories finished right behind Palou. The 27-year-old found himself on the top step of the podium alongside six-time champion Dixon and two-time champion Newgarden. Polesitter McLaughlin missed the boat early doors with the pit stops and finished in fourth position. The New-Zealander is no stranger to a championship battle either, having won seven races in the sport and wrapping up third place in the standings in 2023 and 2024. So, even though Palou holds the championship lead for now, the Spaniard must not get too comfortable in his Chip Ganassi as every opportunity will be seized by his title competitors.