Scott Dixon "frustrated" with Chip Ganassi Racing's big blunder despite podium finish at St. Petersburg GP

The first race of the 2025 IndyCar season is over, and Alex Palou led Scott Dixon home for a Chip Ganassi Racing 1-2 finish at St. Petersburg. Despite finishing second after starting from sixth, the six-time champion was unhappy with his team as he revealed that he was troubled with radio woes throughout the race.

After a lap one crash, the St. Petersburg Grand Prix transformed into a strategy chaos. Multiple drivers switched to a three-stop strategy as the green-walled alternate tires had a high level of degradation.

Only a few drivers were able to make their strategies work as pole-sitter Scott McLaughlin ultimately finished fourth on the road. While Scott Dixon finished the race behind his teammate Palou, he revealed that he had no radio during the race and had to guess with the aid of his fuel gauge whether his team was calling him in the pits for a tire change and said:

"It was frustrating. We had no radio. So kind of just flying blind out there. Ultimately, I think they were trying to call me in, because the last lap we had before we pit, there was so much traffic and we lost 2 or 3 seconds. Definitely frustrating. I think we had the speed, the pit stops were fantastic... would've been nicer to have the radio to know what was going out there. But Kudos to the 10-Car. But frustrated man, I thought we really had that one, and we came up short," Dixon said (via the official streaming of the race).

Dixon was on course to finish third, but he caught Josef Newgarden off guard on the final lap and took home P2 for the Indianapolis-based squad.

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Scott Dixon's tale of results at the St. Petersburg Grand Prix

Scott Dixon at the Rolex 24 at Daytona - Source: Getty

While the 44-year-old has 58 wins in the premier racing series in the US, he has never won the St. Petersburg Grand Prix in his elusive career. Dixon has seven podiums around the streets of St. Petersburg and has finished runner-up five times, but has never been able to name the victory to himself.

If he did not have the radio troubles, the six-time champion could have been ahead in the pecking order and finally taken the win that has eluded him for so long. However, Scott Dixon has started the 2025 IndyCar season on the front foot with a strong finish in the season opener.

With the St. Petersburg done and dusted, drivers will now look over to the next race at the Thermal Club. The 3.067-mile track features 19 turns and will be a points-paying race this time around.

Last year's race at the Thermal Club was won by Alex Palou, but it remained a non-championship exhibition event. The race is scheduled to take place on March 23 at 3 P.M. ET.