#stpetegp

Fuel saving sounds boring until the wall is waiting at Turn 1.

That is what makes Josef Newgarden at St. Petersburg so tense. The No. 2 Penske Chevrolet cannot simply attack every straight like pride is the strategy. Sometimes the winning move starts with the engine going quiet before the driver wants it to.

Lift early. Coast longer. Brake late enough that nobody behind knows whether you are vulnerable or setting a trap.

That is the whole game.

St. Pete gives drivers long straights, hard braking zones, concrete walls and almost no room for panic. Newgarden has to save fuel without looking slow, protect the tires without losing bite, and trust the pit wall when the tank starts telling ugly truths.

The pass gets the replay.

The IndyCar season kicked off with a solid season opener, it wasn’t the crash fest that we have been used to over previous years, instead we got a strategy filled race, but it was still quite entertaining with plenty of battles through the field.

Mclaughlin came into IndyCar surrounded by a lot of hype, and we did see signs last year of what he could do, but this was the weekend where he put it all together, and showed he is a real contender for the title this year. For a driver so new to this style of racing, he seemed so comfortable and in control, which is crucial at this level of racing. It was a well-deserved win, and will be a worry for the rest of the field. Team Penske too showed, that last year was a one off, in terms of their lack of pace, with both Scott and Will able to be fast all weekend. Power was simply unlucky with the caution, which meant his stint on reds was longer than he wanted it to be, otherwise he may have been able to challenge the leaders more. Newgarden, the driver who saved Team Penske’s season last year, had an uncharacteristically poor weekend, especially given he has been fast here the last 3 races. He wasn’t happy with the car on Saturday, and claimed it was fixed for Sunday. His strategy undeniably hurt him a lot, but he didn’t have the pace either in the race.

After qualifying, it looked as though Chip Ganassi Racing would not start the season off amazingly, as none of their cars made the Fast 6. It got better for them on Sunday though, at least for Palou, who choose the right strategy, and gradually made his way through the field during the race. He just didn’t have enough pace to get past Mclaughlin, however, this is the perfect way to start a title defence. Dixon had a great race, given he was the first of the 3 stoppers, unfortunately it wasn’t the right strategy to be on, so he only ended up 8th.

Andretti Autosport have lost the stranglehold they had on this track for the past few years, as whilst Herta was quick, other teams are now able to match them. On his first stop, Colton’s team couldn’t get the car full of fuel, which meant he had to pit early for the second stop, and this hurt his race. I doubt the win was on for him, but a podium was on the cards. Grosjean had a great weekend, given he is in a brand new environment, he will obviously want more from it, but that will surely come later this year. He pulled a brave move through the chicane, which he probably came to regret. I honestly cannot believe what is happening to Rossi right now, he had a terrible qualifying, and then the team made the wrong decision in staying out under the caution, which ruined his day.

One of my stars of the weekend, who wasn’t really talked about enough, was Veekay. He reached the Fast 6 on Saturday, and was the top driver who converted from the 3 stop to the 2 stop. I am sure he learnt a lot about fuel saving today! Rahal did what you expect from him, he quietly went and maximised his day, no heroics, or mistakes, just there where he needs to be. If he can keep doing that, and get the odd great weekend, he could return to being a title contender.

Sato debuted well for Dale Coyne Racing, and much like Rahal just went about his business, with his experience and Dale’s strategies, there is the potential for a shock win this year. Lundgaard, who replaced Sato, did pretty well, given he isn’t used to the street courses in IndyCar, just wait until we see him on the purpose built tracks! McLaren weren’t able to salvage their weekend at all after qualifying, O’Ward tried to use the 3 stop to gain places, but it didn’t work out as well as they would have hoped.

Pagenaud was the biggest loser today, again thanks to the 3 stops. A mixture of the yellow and traffic really hurt that strategy, meaning it was a painful race for some drivers. Just want to give a shout out to Kirkwood, who had an excellent qualifying, but his final result doesn’t show his pace. He will be one to watch in the next races.

Already we can see that the big three teams of Penske, Chip Ganassi and Andretti will be so fast this year, however, with all of them having big, star line ups, I doubt it is going to be a dull season at all! We can’t count out teams like McLaren or Meyer Shank yet either!