– Early exit for Mick Schumacher at his IndyCar premiere: In qualifying for the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg in Florida, the German in his Dallara-Honda from Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL) did not get past eleventh place in his qualifying group, which means a start beyond the top 20.
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For qualifying late Saturday afternoon local time, the vehicles were divided into two groups as usual. Thus, twelve vehicles in one group and 13 in the other fought for entry into Q2. The six best from each group secured a ticket for the “Fast 12”.
Schumacher was fitted with a fresh set of soft tires for his first Q1 run and therefore even led the field at halftime. However, the opponents only had the soft tires mounted afterwards and attacked directly.
Schumacher was subsequently caught off guard and could not improve sufficiently. However, he surprisingly left Josef Newgarden (Penske-Chevrolet) behind, who finished last in the group after a mistake and must therefore start a recovery race.
In fact, Schumacher’s teammate Louis Foster (RLL-Honda) managed to enter the Fast 12 session as the fourth fastest. Schumacher’s other teammate, Graham Rahal (RLL-Honda), competed in the second group but also failed to make it into the Fast 12.
Of the rookies, Dennis Hauger (Coyne-Honda; 3rd) made it into the Fast 12, while the third rookie, Caio Collet (Foyt-Chevrolet), also exited in Q1 as twelfth in his group.
Read more IndyCar opener FP2: Three red flags again, Mick Schumacher far back again
Hauger and Grosjean surprise
Hauger ultimately caused a sensation, as he qualified for the Fast 6 and secured third place on the starting grid behind pole-setter Scott McLaughlin (Penske-Chevrolet; 1st) and former Formula 1 driver Marcus Ericsson (Andretti-Honda; 2nd).
Defending champion Alex Palou (Ganassi-Honda) starts from fourth position after his teammate Scott Dixon (Ganassi-Honda) also surprisingly exited in Q1. David Malukas (Penske-Chevrolet) qualified for the Fast 6 on his debut for the top team and was even considered a co-favorite for pole, but lost some ground in the final session.
Romain Grosjean (Coyne-Honda; 6th) completed the sensation of the day by qualifying the second Dale Coyne Racing Honda for the Fast 6 shootout alongside Dennis Hauger.
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The race starts on Sunday at 18:29 (yes, that really is the official time for the “Green Flag”) CET, which corresponds to 12:29 local time. The race lasts 100 laps.
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