IndyCar is officially back! The 2025 IndyCar season begins with a street race in St. Pete and recently renewed Penske driver Scott McLaughlin starting from pole position ahead of Herta and Rosenqvist.
Dixon can never be disregarded, and today he is the best starting Ganassi driver from P6, next to the other Andretti drivers and behind McLaren’s Lundgaard. Surprisingly, on track 2024 winner Josef Newgarden will start from P10, and even more shockingly, 2024 winner Pato O’Ward will have to do a recovery race from outside the top 10.
Race start
McLaughlin held strongly on to his lead at the beginning of the race, but many cars were involved in a Turn 3 crash. Rookie drivers Siegel and Foster took the brunt of it and won’t be able to resume the race. A full course yellow flag was issued.
All the contact was caused by two times champion Will Power running into Siegel’s car no. 5, with t6he Penske driver who turned 44 yesterday not rejoining the grid either. The accident will be bad news for the drivers who had started the race on softs, including Herta, Palou, Dixon and Newgarden who all dove into the pitlane as soon as it opened.
However, it might not be an unwise call as all of them have been able to mark off the compulsory two laps on alternates already. Only nine drivers remained out on track.
Racing resumed on Lap 7 with Rosenqvist attempt an unsuccessful move on the race leader, whereas the AJ Foyt drivers Ferrucci and Malukas almost collided in P7 and 6 respectively. At the back of the top ten, Herta passed Prema’s Ilott for P9.
The top 5 on Lap 9 was McLaughlin, Rosenqvist, Armstrong, Lundgaard and Rossi, with the former McLaren driver up a couple positions.
Race restart
Veekay almost completed a move on Kirkwood for P14, but the Andretti driver managed to hold on to his position. Newgarden mentions oversteer issues on the radio.
McLaughlin at the lead holds a very steady pace, lapping comfortably in 1:01s which have allowed him to build an almost one second gap on the Swede in P2. The duo then is quite away from the other Meyers Shank Racing driver in P3, with 3.7s separating the teammates.
It’s a very positive return to full time racing for Malukas in P6 following his tremendous wrist injury at the beginning of the past season, and a great presentation to his new team as well.
O’Ward is the first driver to pit on Lap 23, but it’s in unfortunate circumstances as he had a puncture. It’s a very early second pit for the unlucky Mexican driver, who resumes in P24 almost two laps off everyone else, and a stark contrast from his only remaining teammate running, Christian Lundgaard in P4.
The top ten on Lap 28 remains the same as earlier: McLaughlin, Rosenqvist, Armstrong, Lundgaard Rossi, Malukas, Ferrucci, Rahal, Herta and Ilott.
Pitlane frenzy
The first driver to pit from the front riders was Rosenqvist on Lap 31, opting for softs, followed on the next lap by McLaughlin and many others including Rossi, who instead monted primaries again.
Armstrong, Lundgaard and Rahal are the top 3 on Lap 33, having stayed out on track. Herta, Newgarden and Dixon are the following three.
Lundgaard pitted on Lap 34 and Armstrong on the 35th, but the Kiwi suffered from a messy stop as his team tried to fix something with the fuel hose already off.
Herta pits from the lead, but his pit was incredibly slow as his rear right tyre remained stuck on its bolt, rejoining the grid in P13.
Newgarden, Dixon, Palou, McLaughlin and Armstrong are the top 5 on Lap 37, with Newgarden pitting on the following lap. It was not a smooth one either, with the fuel hose not removed swiftly. Ganassi opts for a double pit next, with both Dixon and Palou out without any issues. Herta completes a great move on Palou who had just resumed his race.
Jacob Abel, a Dale Coyne lapped driver, almost collided with race leader McLaughlin, but was ultimately able to steer off and avoid the recently turned dad. The Penske driver leads from Lundgaard, 11s away and Rosenqvist.
Not a great day for Meyer Shank Racing
Armstrong had slightly made contact with the wall at Turn 3, picking up a bit of damage. He pits on Lap 44 for fresh tyres and a quick check, but he is passed by Daly as he resumes his race.
McLaughlin pits next, whereas Rosenqvist opts to stay out for one lap more. Armstrong’s rear left wheel appears to be quite loose, slowing him significantly.
The new top 5 on Lap 46 features Lundgaard, Rossi, Malukas, Rahal and Dixon. Herta has to pit again for more fuel on Lap 47, exiting in P18 but managing to stay ahead of Ganassi’s Simpson.
Lundgaard and Rossi in the lead are the only two driver who have yet to switch to the alternate tyres, thus who will have to pit twice by the end of the race. Three different strategies are playing, but which one will be the most successful?
At the halfway point of the race on Lap 50 Armstrong has to retire his car no. 66 following the severe issue from earlier. At the same time, Herta mentions on his radio that his engine is making a weird noise.
The full top 10 on Lap 53 is: Lundgaard, Rossi, Dixon, Newgarden, Palou, Kirkwood, McLaughlin, Ilott, O’Ward and Veekay. Meyers Shank is hard at work on Armstrong’s car, repairing the tow link.
Ilott ran wide into the Turn 10 runoff, but was able to resume his race without any issue or losing track positions.
Last pit stops
Rossi takes an extra stop on Lap 64 to mark off the alternatives. Will this be the time Dixon actually wins in St. Pete after 20 years? He is in a great spot right now, in P2, but it’s only lap 66, there’s still plenty of time for anything to happen.
Lundgaard pits for the alternates on Lap 69. Will he be able to get to the end of the race without pitting again? Newgarden takes his final green flag stop next.
With thirty laps to go this is the top 5: Dixon, Palou, McLaughlin, Rosenqvist and Newgarden, who managed to exit ahead of Lundgaard and Rossi. The McLaren driver couldn’t overexert his alts already, thus he took a bit of a step back.
Dixon pits on Lap 73 from the lead and rejoins behind reigning champion Palou, who has effectively completed an overcut on his Ganassi teammate. McLaughlin is the next to pit, while Newgarden passes Dixon who was still bringing his tyres at the right temperature.
Palou leads from Newgarden, Dixon, McLaughlin, Kirkwood, O’Ward, Ericsson, Rosenqvist, Veekay, Lundgaard with 25 laps to go. The Ganassi three times champion has 5 seconds of advantage on the two times 500 winner.
It’s a frustrating day for O’Ward, who will have to pit again from P7 with 15 laps to go and return on already used hards, rejoining in P11. At the same time, race leader Alex Palou has encountered traffic from the lapped drivers, including Robb’s Juncos Hollinger car. -In two laps, the Spaniard has already lost 3 seconds of his initial 5 of advantage.
The final race setting laps
Newgarden on a quest to take what has been taken from him last year, signs the fastest lap of the race will 11 laps to go, lowering his distance to Palou to 1.7s and to only one second on the following lap.
As laps go by it’s closer and closer, with Newgarden only 0.500s off Palou and Dixon closing up as well on the duo, while his Ganassi teammate can’t pass lapped Robb. Ultimately, Palou gets by with 5 laps to go, with Newgarden though shortly after.
It’s not far from over however, as Shwartzman for Prema is the next lapped driver ahead. The duo both have plenty of Push To Pass as well, 27s for the Spaniard and 29s for Newgarden.
In clean air Palou is able to build back a nice 1.4s gap on Newgarden with 2 laps to go, but the Penske’s car doesn’t seem to be operating as smoothly as earlier, swerving around and looking slower.
With an impressive final lap move Dixon takes P2 from Newgarden for a Ganassi 1-2 as the Penske driver ran out of fuel. Reigning champion Alex Palou is the first winner of the 2025 season, ahead of Dixon, Newgarden, McLaughlin, Kirkwood, Ericsson, Rosenqvist, Lundgaard, Veekay and Rossi.
