2017 Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg
| Race details | |
|---|---|
| 1st round of the 2017 IndyCar Series season | |
 |
|
| Date | March 12, 2017 |
| 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 | Will Power (Team Penske) |
| Time | 1:01.0640 |
| Fastest lap | |
| Driver | Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing) |
| Time | 1:02.0786 (on lap 82 of 110) |
| Podium | |
| First | Sébastien Bourdais (Dale Coyne Racing) |
| Second | Simon Pagenaud (Team Penske) |
| Third | Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing) |
The 2017 Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg was the first round of the 2017 IndyCar Series. The race was held on March 12, 2017, in St. Petersburg, Florida, on the city's temporary street circuit. The race was won by Sébastien Bourdais, coming from last place on the grid.
Prior to the 2017 running of the event, many of the streets used for the circuit were repaved. However, a series of bumps caused by the repaving in the turn 3 area caused several cars in support races to lose control. As a result, the turn was reconfigured, with the outside wall moved back 40 feet and curbing added to the inside of the corner, making the turn sharper and slower.
Qualifying for the event took place on Saturday, March 11. Will Power grabbed pole position, marking the seventh time that the Australian had qualified first at St. Petersburg. His time of 1:01.0640 stood nearly two-tenths faster than second place qualifier Scott Dixon's. Rounding out the top six were James Hinchcliffe, Josef Newgarden, Takuma Sato, and Tony Kanaan. Defending champion Simon Pagenaud struggled during qualifications, relegating him to a 14th place start. Sébastien Bourdais brought out the lone red flag of qualifying after crashing into the outside barriers in turn 13 during his out lap. Under new IndyCar regulations, Bourdais was parked for the remainer of the session for bringing out the red flag. Having not completed a lap, Bourdais was relegated to starting 21st and last.
The race was held on Sunday, March 12. The beginning of the race saw Will Power protect his first place start, while James Hinchcliffe managed to pass Scott Dixon for second place. While the entire field made it through the first turn cleanly, the second and third turns caused issues. Coming through turn 2, Graham Rahal and Charlie Kimball made contact, sending Rahal into a spin and sending Kimball toward the outside wall in turn 3, where he collected Carlos Muñoz. Hélio Castroneves, Ed Jones, and Mikhail Aleshin also suffered damage in the incident. The incident brought out the first full-course caution of the event.
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