Ericsson snatches win from O’Ward as crashes claim all four Andretti cars · RaceFans

Marcus Ericsson won a bizarre, incident-filled Grand Prix of St. Petersburg after passing Patricio O’Ward with two laps to go.

Ericsson hit the front when his McLaren rival’s engine seized momentarily exiting the final corner. The pair arrived in the top two places after Romain Grosjean and Scott McLaughlin – the dominant drivers of the day – crashed into one another, capping a race full of crashes and controversies.

The opening lap of the race was marred by an eight car pile-up which saw Devlin DeFrancesco’s Andretti car launched into the air after being hit in the side by rookie Benjamin Pedersen. The incident began when Scott Dixon and Felix Rosenqvist made contact into turn two, causing the field behind Rosenqvist to slow around the fast, blind turn three.

Santino Ferrucci turned Helio Castroneves around, then Graham Rahal got into the back of DeFrancesco and spun him. Sting Ray Robb lost control and left Simon Pagenaud nowhere to go but sandwiched into the barriers. Pedersen then arrived on the scene with excessive speed and ran into the side of DeFrancesco.

In total, seven cars suffered significant damage. Thankfully, DeFrancesco and all other drivers involved walked away without any significant injuries, though the race had to be stopped while the carnage was cleared away.

When the race finally resumed, Grosjean and Colton Herta streaked away from the field behind them. The Andretti pair started the race on the softer, alternate-compound tyres. Herta struggled towards the end of his stint and dropped to ninth before making his first pit stop on lap 27. Grosjean, with the benefit of clean air, led all the way until he made his first pit stop on lap 32.

Last year’s race winner Scott McLaughlin was one of the drivers that started the race on the primary compound tyre. He worked his way into the top five towards the end of his stint, and cycled to the lead after Grosjean’s first stop. He pitted on lap 35 and rejoined the track right ahead of Grosjean. Even on cold tyres, McLaughlin’s car took on a strong defensive posture to keep the race lead on the softer compound rubber

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On lap 36, Kyle Kirkwood made contact with Conor Daly at turn eight, spinning Daly around, bringing out the second full course caution. The ensuing restart on lap 42 lasted only four corners when another multiple-car crash unfolded.

It began when Rinus VeeKay slid off into the tyre barriers. Kirkwood and Jack Harvey made contact with VeeKay’s car, sending Kirkwood airborne off the back of Harvey’s. Somehow, Kirkwood was able to drive his car back to the pits, but VeeKay and Harvey weren’t as fortunate, retiring from the race due to damage.

At half-distance, there was another restart and yet again, another crash. Reigning champion Will Power collided with Herta through turn six, and then they touched again which sent Herta wide and into the tyre barriers at turn seven. The Andretti driver was out of the race, and for his troubles, Power was sent to the rear of the field on the following restart for causing avoidable contact.

Only then, with 45 laps remaining, did the field finally complete another full lap of racing without incident. McLaughlin on the alternate tyres and Grosjean on the primaries chased one another and pulled out a margin to Pato O’Ward in third.

The leading pair ran tail-to-nose until lap 70 when Grosjean was brought in from second place for his final pit stop. McLaughlin stayed out for one more lap but had to deal with the lapped car of Agustin Canapino in front of him on the way to the pits. A great stop from McLaughlin’s crew helped him rejoin, narrowly, ahead of Grosjean on cold tyres.

Grosjean sized up a move around the outside of turn four on warm tyres, McLaughlin went in deep into the braking zone to defend his position – and the two leaders crashed into one another. Both were sent into the tyre barrier, Grosjean’s race was over – all four Andretti drivers having been claimed by misfortune – and McLaughlin’s chances of victory were ruined.

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O’Ward drove past the scene of the crash, and an incensed Grosjean, into the lead. On the ensuing restart, with 21 laps to go, O’Ward rocketed off to a lead of over two seconds and stretched his advantage out to as much as three seconds, before Ericsson began closing in to within less than a second.

A race that had a season’s worth of twists and turns, had one final surprise in store: With three laps to go, O’Ward’s engine seized momentarily – the result of a plenum fire in the engine, according to the driver – allowing Ericsson to drive past with ease and take the lead down the front stretch.

Ericsson, who’s never won an unmemorable IndyCar race, led the final few laps to seal the victory, while a bitterly frustrated O’Ward consolidated second place. Scott Dixon, who started the race on primary compound tyres, finished in third.

In his debut race for the McLaren Indy squad, Alexander Rossi finished a strong fourth place. After starting 22nd, Callum Ilott fought through the pack and the carnage around him to finish a career-best fifth place.

Rahal recovered from a 20th-place start and the first-lap incident to finish sixth, while Power bounced back from his penalty to finish seventh. Alex Palou, Christian Lundgaard, and David Malukas completed the top 10, while Marcus Armstrong recovered from a collision with the aforementioned Malukas to finish 11th on his IndyCar debut, best of the four rookies in the race.

McLaughlin was credited with a 13th place finish, while Josef Newgarden dropped out late with a an engine fire and was credited with 17th place.

The IndyCar Series returns after four weeks for its second round, the first oval race of the season at Texas Motor Speedway.

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Provisional race results

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