On a day when the 27 drivers were excited to get back behind the wheel following a long IndyCar off season, many of those same drivers left St. Petersburg full of disappointment.
Only 12 cars finished the race on the lead lap following the five caution periods, and nearly half of the field didn’t even see the checkered flag.
In the end, it was Marcus Ericsson that survived the carnage and brought home the trophy from the first race of the 2023 season.
READ MORE: IndyCar St. Petersburg – Race Results
Ericsson was one of the few drivers that was able to have an incident-free race, but it didn’t seem as if he would be able to take victory as late as three laps to go.
Pato O’Ward had been in the lead up to that point, but a single overboost event caused his Arrow McLaren Chevy to momentarily slow on the front stretch, gifting the win to the Swede.
The short loss of power was not the fault of anything he did in the car, but is a failsafe mechanism that is built into the car.
For Ericsson, the win is the fourth of his IndyCar career, and the first since he won the Indianapolis 500 last year.
There were an incredible amount of wrecks during the 100-lap race, including a large pileup just three corners into the event that brought out the red flag.
Six drivers were involved, and one went flying through the air, as the field approached a slow Felix Rosenqvist that was pushed into the concrete barriers.
All drivers climbed from their cars, but Helio Castroneves was given an ice pack after being seen in the infield medical center. The veteran confirmed he had no breaks, and is planning to be ready to race in Texas Motor Speedway.
Before the halfway point, three more cautions were thrown on account of various incidents around the 1.8-mile course.
Then, just as things looked like they might settle down a bit, Romain Grosjean and Scott McLaughlin took each other into the tire barriers while fighting for the lead.
McLaughlin was coming out of the pits on cold tires, and could not keep his car to the inside of the tricky turn 4. The Kiwi was given a penalty after he continued, but Grosjean was not able to continue.
McLaughlin took responsibility for the incident, and promised to go speak with Romain as soon as he climbed from the car.
Jack Harvey was taken to a local hospital after being involved in one of the other dramatic crashes of the event, with the situation being described as only necessary due to an abundance of caution.
Drivers and teams will have four weeks to recover from the tough weekend that tore up so many cars, and they will reconvene on the high banks of Texas Motor Speedway on April 2.
