The first race of the 2023 IndyCar season is in the books, and points have been awarded to the 27 drivers that competed in the Firestone Grand Prix of St Petersburg. Marcus Ericsson came away with the victory, and earned 51 points towards the championship. That is ten points more than runner-up finisher Pato O’Ward, who had the victory in hand before an electrical issue allowed Ericsson to take the lead.
Scott Dixon sits third in the standings after scoring his seventh podium finish at St Petersburg. Oddly enough, the six-time series champion has never won at St Petersburg. He earned 36 points today after tying Mario Andretti for the most (193) top-five finishes in IndyCar history.
Alexander Rossi’s debut with the Arrow McLaren team went extremely well, as he finished 4th in the race. That is where he sits in the championship standings, four points behind Dixon. Callum Ilott trails Rossi by two points after scoring the first top-five finish of his young IndyCar career.
Several championship contenders find themselves with plenty of work to do after the first race. Romain Grosjean is 16th, two-time champion Josef Newgarden is 18th, and Colton Herta sits in 20th position. Their next opportunity to earn points comes April 2 at Texas Motor Speedway.
| 2023 INDYCAR Series Championship Standings | ||||
| Pos | Driver | Team | Manufacturer | Points |
| 1 | Marcus Ericsson | Chip Ganassi Racing | Honda | 51 |
| 2 | Pato O’Ward | Arrow McLaren | Chevrolet | 41 |
| 3 | Scott Dixon | Chip Ganassi Racing | Honda | 36 |
| 4 | Alexander Rossi | Arrow McLaren | Chevrolet | 32 |
| 5 | Callum Ilott | Juncos Hollinger Racing | Chevrolet | 30 |
| 6 | Graham Rahal | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | Honda | 28 |
| 7 | Will Power | Team Penske | Chevrolet | 26 |
| 8 | Alex Palou | Chip Ganassi Racing | Honda | 24 |
| 9 | Christian Lundgaard | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | Honda | 22 |
| 10 | David Malukas | Dale Coyne Racing | Honda | 21 |
| 11 | Scott McLaughlin | Team Penske | Chevrolet | 20 |
| 12 | Marcus Armstrong | Chip Ganassi Racing | Honda | 19 |
| 13 | Agustin Canapino | Juncos Hollinger Racing | Chevrolet | 18 |
| 14 | Conor Daly | Ed Carpenter Racing | Chevrolet | 16 |
| 15 | Kyle Kirkwood | Andretti Autosport | Honda | 15 |
| 16 | Romain Grosjean | Andretti Autosport | Honda | 14 |
| 17 | Sting Ray Robb | Dale Coyne Racing | Honda | 14 |
| 18 | Josef Newgarden | Team Penske | Chevrolet | 13 |
| 19 | Felix Rosenqvist | Arrow McLaren | Chevrolet | 11 |
| 20 | Colton Herta | Andretti Autosport | Honda | 10 |
| 21 | Rinus VeeKay | Ed Carpenter Racing | Chevrolet | 9 |
| 22 | Jack Harvey | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | Honda | 8 |
| 23 | Helio Castroneves | Meyer Shank Racing | Honda | 7 |
| 24 | Santino Ferrucci | AJ Foyt Racing | Chevrolet | 6 |
| 25 | Devlin DeFrancesco | Andretti Autosport | Honda | 5 |
| 26 | Benjamin Pedersen | AJ Foyt Racing | Chevrolet | 5 |
| 27 | Simon Pagenaud | Meyer Shank Racing | Honda | 5 |
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