VIDEO: Flying cars or Race for survival! Former F1 driver Ericsson triumphs in IndyCar season opener

On the first Sunday in March, the circuit racing season finally got underway. Alongside Formula 1 and its VC Bahrain, the American Formula IndyCar Championship made its debut this year in Saint Petersburg, Florida. However, the opening event of the 2023 season started with a huge pile-up, with Devlin DeFrancesco’s car even going airborne after a collision with rookie Benjamin Pedersen! After 100 laps of accidents and collisions, Sweden’s Marcus Ericsson took the win.

Starting the first race of the new season from pole position, former F1 driver Romain Grosjean led a field of a record 27 cars. Partly for this reason, and because of the characteristics of the opening part of the Saint Petersburg circuit, a five-car pile-up occurred just after the start.

Devlin DeFrancesco, whose car was hit head-on at high speed by rookie Benjamin Pedersen, was the worst offender. The Canadian’s car shot several dozen numbers into the air after the impact! The track was suddenly impassable, forcing race directors to raise red flags.

Halfway through the race there was another mass crash, this time involving Kyle Kirkwood.

Immediately following the ensuing restart, contact between Colton Herta and last year’s champion Will Power ensued, with Herta coming out worst, his race ending prematurely in the barrier on the outside of turn eight.

On the restart, Grosjean was down on leader Scott McLaughlin. The Geneva native then attempted an undercut, but the Australian exited the pits just ahead of his French rival after his stop.

Grosjean, on heated tyres, attacked McLaughlin on the outside through turn four. But the winner of last year’s race on the streets of Saint Petersburg saw the rear of the car fly off and the two headed for the tyre barriers.

The clearing of the field didn’t stop with five laps to go when flames began to clear from Josef Newgarden’s car. This brought the total number of cars eliminated to eleven.

Another former F1 driver, Marcus Ericsson, emerged victorious from all this to claim his fourth IndyCar triumph. He was joined on the podium by Pato O’Ward and six-time champion Scott Dixon.

Saint Petersburg Grand Prix results (Race 1/17, 100 laps = 289.682 km; top 10 only):

1. Marcus Ericsson (Sw., Chip Ganassi) 2::05::30.7907

2. Pato O’Ward (Mex., Arrow McLaren) +2.4113

3. Scott Dixon (Aus., Chip Ganassi) +2.9257

4. Alexander Rossi (USA, Arrow McLaren) +6.7689

5. Callum Ilott (Brit., Juncos Hollinger) +8.2650

6. Graham Rahal (USA, Rahal Letterman Lanigan) +10.7671

7. Will Power (Aus., Team Penske) +11.6798

8. Álex Palou (Span., Chip Ganassi) +14.7244

9. Christian Lundgaard (Dan., Rahal Letterman Lanigan) +14.9528

10. David Malukas (USA, Dale Coyne) +15,4401

Sources:: IndyCar, motorsport.com