| Race details | |
|---|---|
| 1st round of the 2018 IndyCar Series season | |
 | |
| Date | March 11, 2018 |
| Official name | Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg |
| Location | Streets of St. Petersburg |
| Course | Temporary street circuit 1.800 mi / 2.897 km |
| Distance | 110 laps 198.000 mi / 318.670 km |
| Pole position | |
| Driver | Robert Wickens (Schmidt Peterson Motorsports) |
| Time | 1:01.6664 |
| Fastest lap | |
| Driver | Alexander Rossi (Andretti Autosport) |
| Time | 1:01.7244 (on lap 87 of 110) |
| Podium | |
| First | Sebastien Bourdais (Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan) |
| Second | Graham Rahal (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing) |
| Third | Alexander Rossi (Andretti Autosport) |
The 2018 Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg was the first round of the 2018 IndyCar Series. The race was held on March 11, 2018, in St. Petersburg, Florida, on the city's temporary street circuit.
The race was the debut of the new standard aero kits.
Rookie Robert Wickens took the pole in his first ever IndyCar Series start, while newcomers Matheus Leist and Jordan King also made the Firestone Fast Six, qualifying third and fourth, respectively.
The race featured a record number of cautions (8), on-track passes (366) and lead changes (11).[1]
Robert Wickens lead most of the race, until the last restart, when the 2nd place car of Alexander Rossi attempted a pass down the inside of turn 1. It seemed as though Rossi had completed the move, until he slid up the track, taking Wickens out, and leaving himself to limp home to 3rd in a damaged car.
| Icon | Meaning |
|---|---|
| R | Rookie |
| W | Past winner |
| Pos | No. | Name | Grp. | Round 1 | Round 2 | Firestone Fast 6 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 |  Robert Wickens R
|
1 | 1:00.0999 | 1:00.5428 | 1:01.6643 | ||||
| 2 | 12 |  Will Power W
|
2 | 1:00.5969 | 1:00.5911 | 1:01.7346 | ||||
| 3 | 4 |  Matheus Leist R
|
2 | 1:00.6331 | 1:00.7679 | 1:01.7631 | ||||
| 4 | 20 |  Jordan King R
|
1 | 1:00.0476 | 1:00.7305 | 1:01.7633 | ||||
| 5 | 30 |  Takuma Sato
|
2 | 1:00.9580 | 1:00.8470 | 1:01.8821 | ||||
| 6 | 28 |  Ryan Hunter-Reay
|
1 | 1:00.4087 | 1:00.9243 | 1:02.0385 | ||||
| 7 | 5 | James Hinchcliffe W
|
2 | 1:00.8441 | 1:00.9986 | |||||
| 8 | 88 |  Gabby Chaves
|
2 | 1:00.8507 | 1:01.1191 | |||||
| 9 | 9 |  Scott Dixon
|
2 | 1:00.8435 | 1:01.6527 | |||||
| 10 | 14 | Tony Kanaan
|
1 | 1:00.2828 | 1:01.7213 | |||||
| 11 | 22 |  Simon Pagenaud
|
1 | 1:00.3242 | 1:04.6739 | |||||
| 12 | 27 | Alexander Rossi
|
1 | 1:00.0936 | 1:07.0377 | |||||
| 13 | 1 | Josef Newgarden
|
1 | 1:00.4320 | ||||||
| 14 | 18 | Sébastien Bourdais W
|
2 | 1:00.9587 | ||||||
| 15 | 26 | Zach Veach R
|
1 | 1:00.4585 | ||||||
| 16 | 21 | Spencer Pigot
|
2 | 1:00.9668 | ||||||
| 17 | 10 |  Ed Jones
|
1 | 1:00.5009 | ||||||
| 18 | 98 | Marco Andretti
|
2 | 1:01.3013 | ||||||
| 19 | 60 | Jack Harvey R
|
1 | 1:01.0270 | ||||||
| 20 | 59 | Max Chilton
|
2 | 1:01.3360 | ||||||
| 21 | 23 | Charlie Kimball
|
1 | 1:01.1868 | ||||||
| 22 | 19 | Zachary Claman DeMelo R
|
2 | 1:01.8567 | ||||||
| 23 | 32 |  René Binder R
|
1 | 1:01.7003 | ||||||
| 24 | 15 | Graham Rahal W
|
2 | 1:04.0990 | ||||||
| OFFICIAL BOX SCORE | ||||||||||
Source for individual rounds:[2]
Notes: 1 Points include 1 point for leading at least 1 lap during a race, an additional 2 points for leading the most race laps, and 1 point for Pole Position.
|
|
| Previous race: None |
IndyCar Series 2018 season |
Next race: 2018 Desert Diamond West Valley Phoenix Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 2017 Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg |
Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg | Next race: 2019 Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg |
