4 takeaways from IndyCar Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg

What did we learn from the first race of the 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series season? Here are our takeaways from the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.

The Verizon IndyCar Series is back and even in the first race of 2017, it did not disappoint. Dale Coyne Racing’s Sebastien Bourdais made a splash with his new team by winning the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg from the worst possible starting position.

Meanwhile, Spencer Pigot of Ed Carpenter Racing had his car catch fire thanks to a problem with a brake disc, and Team Penske’s Will Power just had problems for days. After what happened to him on Sunday he probably would’ve been happier feeling under the weather again.

If you missed any of the IndyCar season opener, you can catch up with the on-track action with our results post here.

Here are our takeaways from the 2017 Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg:

1) Dale Coyne Racing could be a legitimate spoiler team

It had been years since Dale Coyne Racing had been to Victory Lane. Since then, the team had become something of an also-ran, never considered to be a serious threat to the likes of Penske, Ganassi and Andretti. DCR showed promise last year when Conor Daly finished second in one race but then allowed him to walk to A.J. Foyt. So what was Coyne going to do?

As it turns out, reload in a big way. The team picked up Sebastien Bourdais after KV Racing hit hard times (RIP) and then signed last year’s Indy Lights champion Ed Jones. Both drivers came up big at the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. Not only did Bourdais win the race but Jones finished in 10th place. Coyne likely still won’t contend for the championship, but if they can post results like these, they could seriously mix things up come August and September.

2) Honda will challenge Chevrolet for the Manufacturers’ Cup

Did you know that Chevrolet has won the Manufacturers’ Cup every season since they returned to IndyCar in 2012? Last year it was downright ridiculous with Chevy having an almost 300-point gap between themselves and Honda. Well, that won’t be the case in 2017.

Helped immensely by the return of Chip Ganassi Racing, Honda took four of the Top 5 spots on Sunday. Only Simon Pagenaud represented Chevrolet in that upper echelon. We’re not saying that it’s going to be Honda in a walkover, but we are saying that with Bourdais’ win Honda is already halfway to reaching the number of races that they took last year (a whole two).

Expect a much more even playing field between the two brands this year.

3) Brakes are the new aero kits

Remember the 2015 Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, when the new aero kits were first introduced and so many pieces of them broke off that people started playing “Broken Wings” by Mr. Mister? The 2017 Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg was like that but for brakes.

Pagenaud and Ryan Hunter-Reay reported brake problems before the start of Sunday’s race. Will Power locked up a front tire that started his no-good, terrible, very bad day. Spencer Pigot lost a brake disc that ruined what could’ve been a good run for him. IndyCar made the decision to switch to new supplier Performance Friction Brakes in the offseason, and so far it’s working out about as well as the aero kits did.

4) St. Petersburg has a secret grudge against Graham Rahal

Did Graham Rahal do something to St. Petersburg that we don’t know about? Last year Rahal was involved in the massive pile-up that took out several cars and wound up finishing 16th. Then this year on the very first lap he’s in a wreck and ends up coming home 17th. This man cannot buy a break on this racetrack recently; he has finished outside of the Top 10 every year since 2011.

Ironically, the same two people were involved in both of Rahal’s recent accidents – Carlos Munoz and Charlie Kimball. Yeowch. Let’s hope they all have better luck in Long Beach.

Next: IndyCar standings after Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg

The next Verizon IndyCar Series race is the 2017 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach on Sunday, April 9 on the streets of Long Beach, CA. Until then follow along with IndyCar by checking out the Motor Sports category at FanSided here.