As the NTT INDYCAR SERIES returns for the 2026 season, the first stop is the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. With the first on-track sessions of 2026, will Alex Palou continue his, and Chip Ganassi Racing’s, dominance? Did the drivers with new seats make their marks? This is how Friday went for the first session of IndyCar in 2026.
Green Flag for First Session
While many expected the Florida sunshine, the session ran under overcast conditions with the threat of rain early on. Every car hit the track at the green flag and 40 minutes on the clock, but returned to the pits after an installation lap.
With 34 minutes remaining in the session, Palou is on track alone but his 1:38 time was not representative. During the commercial break, Dennis Hauger lost a spring off the rear suspension of his No. 19 Dale Coyne Racing Honda. Hauger was able to get the car back to the pits, avoiding a red flag. Mick Schumacher and Will Power have some brief struggles but continue circulating.
Red Flags
Alexander Rossi spins coming out of Turn 4 to bring out a red flag with 25 minutes left in the session. After sitting on track briefly, Rossi kept the car running and drove back to pitlane. The session goes green again with 22 minutes still on the clock. Rinus Veekay, with a 1:01.904, is ahead of David Malukas, Scott McLaughlin, Rossi, and Marcus Ericsson. At 14 minutes to go, Palou claimed P1 with a 1:01.694 ahead of Scott Dixon and Marcus Armstrong.
With about 11 minutes to go, Josef Newgarden brings out another red flag after spinning, running off track, but keeping the No. 2 out of the wall. After some help from the AMR Safety Team, Newgarden was able to drive the car back to the pits.
Final Minutes of the First Session
The session returns to green with nine minutes on the clock. The Top 5, Palou, Dixon, Veekay, Malukas, and Pato O’Ward are separated by just 0.3s. Most notably as the session winds down, Malukas is the only driver running the Alternate Tires. As the checkered flag for the first session waves, McLaughlin, with a 1:01.579, leads a Penske 1-3 from Palou and Malukas.
Group 1 Session
The first of the shorter sessions gets started with about half the field running. Representative times start coming in with around nine minutes remaining. Christian Rasmussen puts in a 1:01.606 to lead from Kyffin Simpson and Christian Lundgaard. With four minutes left in the session, Simpson takes P1 with a 1:01.178 ahead of Armstrong and Rasmussen.
Dixon brings out another red flag after losing the rear of the No. 9 as he entered a corner and overcorrected into the exit wall. After his car was recovered, the session went green again with three minutes remaining. As the checkered flag flew for Group 1, Simpson led from Palou, Armstrong, and Malukas.
Group 2 Session
After drivers got an installation lap or two, the red flag waved again. Louis Foster ran off track and hit the tire barrier at the final corner in his No. 45 RLL Racing Honda. A short time later, the green flies again with 10 minutes remaining. Drivers were not able to set representative times at that point, and they dropped dramatically as the drivers began pushing.
With two minutes left, McLaughlin led with a 1:01.102 from Felix Rosenqvist and Kyle Kirkwood. Romain Grosjean, returning to IndyCar, reached P7 before being told to return to the pits for a possible engine issue.
Friday Wrap Up
With the session coming to close, we saw some good running and some surprises. The Top 5 of the day were McLaughlin, Rosenqvist, Kirkwood, Simpson, and Ericsson. It is hard to say how representative the colder, humid session will be for the weekend.
McLaughlin set the pace, Palou looked comfortable in the No. 10, Malukas was fast with Penske, and all the teams looked to be building data ahead of Sunday’s race. Follow the action tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. ET to see what changes are in store.
Feature Image Credit: Penske Entertainment, Joe Skibinski