It’s good to be back.
After 175 tortuous days, two closed-door preseason tests, and one CW documentary series entering production, the NTT IndyCar Series finally drops the green flag on the 2023 season when America’s premier open-wheel series attacks the streets (and runways) of the Sunshine State’s fifth-most populous city in the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg (March 5).
The 1.8-mile, 14-turn layout was the first non-oval track visited by what was then the Indy Racing League when the series made its St. Pete debut in 2005, but the first IndyCar race of any type at the track came two years earlier, when Paul Tracy won the one and only CART event held in St. Pete for Forsythe Racing.
The Firestone Grand Prix consists of 100 laps (180 miles) around a circuit of extremes. The tight, bumpy back half of the layout takes drivers on a tour of downtown St. Pete, including passing alongside the marina on Bayshore Drive, before the final corners open up onto the wide, smooth runway of Albert Whitted Airport that serves as the frontstretch.
Keep your eyes on the first turn, which should be the site of the most action all weekend. Not only does the double-apex right-hand hairpin at the end of the runway serve as the prime passing opportunity on the track, the combination of wide entry and narrow exit (with a treacherous tire barrier) mean it has also seen more than its fair share of pileups, particularly on starts and restarts.
Adding to the cauldron of chaos, the white-painted runway markings are much slipperier than the surrounding asphalt, meaning that drivers who attempt to make an inside move are at a much, much higher risk of locking up or overshooting the corner, as Alexander Rossi did on a late-race restart in 2018. Rossi’s error brought a potential Cinderella story for Canadian rookie Robert Wickens to a close, and allowed Sebastien Bourdais through to claim the final win of his IndyCar Series career.
Traditionally the season-opener, St. Petersburg was run as the season finale in 2020 due to delays associated with COVID-19. That race saw Scott Dixon claim the championship for the sixth time,…
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