The 2021 Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg was the second round of the 2021 IndyCar season. The race was held on April 25, 2021, in St. Petersburg, Florida. The race lasted for 100 laps, and was won by Colton Herta.
| Race details | |
|---|---|
| 2nd round of the 2021 IndyCar season | |
 | |
| Date | April 25, 2021 |
| Official name | Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg |
| Location | Streets of St. Petersburg |
| Course | Temporary street circuit 1.800 mi / 2.897 km |
| Distance | 100 laps 180.000 mi / 289.682 km |
| Pole position | |
| Driver |  Colton Herta (Andretti Autosport) |
| Time | 01:00.3210 |
| Fastest lap | |
| Driver |  Álex Palou (Chip Ganassi Racing) |
| Time | 01:01.4568 (on lap 67 of 100) |
| Podium | |
| First | Colton Herta (Andretti Autosport) |
| Second | Josef Newgarden (Team Penske) |
| Third |  Simon Pagenaud (Team Penske) |
Background
editThe race was originally due to take place on 7 March 2021 as the opening round of the championship, but the COVID-19 pandemic was still a concern for event organisers and IndyCar officials as the 2020 race was postponed from March to October. On January 6 2021, the race was rescheduled to 25 April 2021 so the event can accommodate more fans with loosening restrictions but it was capped to 20,000 fans to attend. [1]
Entry list
edit| Key | Meaning |
|---|---|
| R | Rookie |
| W | Past winner |
Practice
editPractice 1
editThere were 2 red flags during the session, one at the start due to timing and scoring issues, causing the session to be extended by 10 minutes, and another at the end after Sebastien Bourdais spun and stalled his car.[3]
| Pos | No. | Driver | Team | Engine | Lap Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | Josef Newgarden
|
Team Penske | Chevrolet | 1:00.8029 |
| 2 | 12 |  Will Power
|
Team Penske | Chevrolet | 1:00.8102 |
| 3 | 26 | Colton Herta
|
Andretti Autosport | Honda | 1:00.8348 |
| OFFICIAL REPORT | |||||
Practice 2
edit| Pos | No. | Driver | Team | Engine | Lap Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | Josef Newgarden
|
Team Penske | Chevrolet | 1:00.0622 |
| 2 | 27 | Alexander Rossi
|
Andretti Autosport | Honda | 1:00.1749 |
| 3 | 60 |  Jack Harvey
|
Meyer Shank Racing | Honda | 1:00.2192 |
| OFFICIAL REPORT | |||||
Qualifying
editQualifying classification
editThe field was split into two groups of twelve drivers, with the top 6 of each group progressing to the Fast 12. The top 6 of the Fast 12 proceeded to the Firestone Fast 6.
| Pos | No. | Driver | Team | Engine | Time | Final grid | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | |||||||
| Group 1 | Group 2 | ||||||||
| 1 | 26 | Colton Herta
|
Andretti Autosport | Honda | 01:00.3659 | N/A | 01:00.2207 | 01:00.3210 | 1 |
| 2 | 60 | Jack Harvey
|
Meyer Shank Racing | Honda | N/A | 01:00.5028 | 01:00.4262 | 01:00.5709 | 2 |
| 3 | 2 | Josef Newgarden W
|
Team Penske | Chevrolet | N/A | 01:00.4437 | 01:00.3428 | 01:00.6078 | 3 |
| 4 | 22 | Simon Pagenaud
|
Team Penske | Chevrolet | 01:00.6375 | N/A | 01:00.4385 | 01:00.6353 | 4 |
| 5 | 14 | Sébastien Bourdais W
|
A. J. Foyt Enterprises | Chevrolet | 01:00.7182 | N/A | 01:00.3573 | 01:01.0017 | 5 |
| 6 | 5 |  Patricio O'Ward
|
Arrow McLaren SP | Chevrolet | 01:00.6026 | N/A | 01:00.3999 | 01:01.0799 | 6 |
| 7 | 21 |  Rinus VeeKay
|
Ed Carpenter Racing | Chevrolet | N/A | 01:00.5414 | 01:00.4858 | N/A | 7 |
| 8 | 9 |  Scott Dixon
|
Chip Ganassi Racing | Honda | 01:00.7921 | N/A | 01:00.4997 | N/A | 8 |
| 9 | 15 | Graham Rahal W
|
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | Honda | N/A | 01:00.4825 | 01:00.5678 | N/A | 9 |
| 10 | 10 | Álex Palou
|
Chip Ganassi Racing | Honda | N/A | 01:00.6521 | 01:00.6220 | N/A | 10 |
| 11 | 27 | Alexander Rossi
|
Andretti Autosport | Honda | 01:00.2949 | N/A | 01:00.6476 | N/A | 11 |
| 12 | 29 |  James Hinchcliffe W
|
Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport | Honda | N/A | 01:00.6368 | 01:00.8671 | N/A | 12 |
| 13 | 28 | Ryan Hunter-Reay
|
Andretti Autosport | Honda | 01:00.8524 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 13 |
| 14 | 3 | Scott McLaughlin R
|
Team Penske | Chevrolet | N/A | 01:00.7044 | N/A | N/A | 14 |
| 15 | 30 |  Takuma Sato
|
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | Honda | 01:00.9167 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 15 |
| 16 | 8 |  Marcus Ericsson
|
Chip Ganassi Racing | Honda | N/A | 01:00.7058 | N/A | N/A | 16 |
| 17 | 7 | Felix Rosenqvist
|
Arrow McLaren SP | Chevrolet | 01:00.9569 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 17 |
| 18 | 51 | Romain Grosjean R
|
Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing | Honda | N/A | 01:00.8127 | N/A | N/A | 18 |
| 19 | 20 | Conor Daly
|
Ed Carpenter Racing | Chevrolet | 01:01.4220 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 19 |
| 20 | 12 | Will Power W
|
Team Penske | Chevrolet | N/A | 01:01.1140 | N/A | N/A | 20 |
| 21 | 18 |  Ed Jones
|
Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan | Honda | 01:01.4453 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 21 |
| 22 | 59 | Max Chilton
|
Carlin | Chevrolet | N/A | 01:01.5065 | N/A | N/A | 22 |
| 23 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson R
|
Chip Ganassi Racing | Honda | 01:01.8364 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 23 |
| 24 | 4 | Dalton Kellett
|
A. J. Foyt Enterprises | Chevrolet | N/A | 01:02.3396 | N/A | N/A | 24 |
| Source:[4][5][6][7] | |||||||||
- Notes
- Bold text indicates fastest time set in session.
Warmup
editWarmup
edit| Pos | No. | Driver | Team | Engine | Lap Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 26 | Colton Herta
|
Andretti Autosport | Honda | 01:00.6632 |
| 2 | 30 | Takuma Sato
|
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | Honda | 01:00.6768 |
| 3 | 9 | Scott Dixon
|
Chip Ganassi Racing | Honda | 01:00.8092 |
| Source:[8] | |||||
Race
editRace classification
editChampionship standings after the race
edit
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
- Note: Only the top five positions are included.
References
edit- ^ "St Pete: Postponed to April". www.indycar.com.
- ^ "St Petersburg entry list" (PDF). Retrieved April 23, 2021.
- ^ "Newgarden rebounds to lead opening practice at St. Pete".
- ^ "Qualifications - Results Qualifications - Segment 1 / Group 1" (PDF). indycar.com. April 24, 2021. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-03-27. Retrieved March 27, 2022.
- ^ "Qualifications - Results Qualifications - Segment 1 / Group 2" (PDF). indycar.com. April 24, 2021. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-03-27. Retrieved March 27, 2022.
- ^ "Qualifications - Results Qualifications - Segment 2 / Top 12" (PDF). indycar.com. April 24, 2021. Retrieved March 27, 2022.
- ^ "Qualifications - Results Qualifications - Segment 3 / Firestone Fast 6" (PDF). indycar.com. April 24, 2021. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-03-27. Retrieved March 27, 2022.
- ^ "Results of Session - Warm-Up" (PDF). indycar.com. April 25, 2021. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-03-27. Retrieved March 27, 2022.
- ^ "Race - Results (11inch) - Final" (PDF). indycar.com. April 25, 2021. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-05-13. Retrieved March 27, 2022.
- ^ "Race Results - Racing-Reference". Racing-Reference. Retrieved April 5, 2021.