The 2021 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama (officially known as the 2021 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama presented by AmFirst) was an IndyCar Series auto racing event held on April 18, 2021 at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama. It served as the season opener of the 2021 IndyCar Series and was the eleventh running of the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama.

Álex Palou won the race for Chip Ganassi Racing, scoring his first career victory in his second season. Team Penske's Will Power finished second, with defending IndyCar champion Scott Dixon rounding out the podium places in third.

Background The event was initially scheduled to be held on April 11, 2021, after the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, which was slated to be held on March 7 to become the season opener. However, the St. Petersburg race was rescheduled to April 25, making the Barber race the first round of the 2021 season. The event was then rescheduled from April 11 to be held on the weekend of April 17–18, a week prior to the St. Petersburg race. It marked the return of the event to the calendar, after being canceled in the previous season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Takuma Sato was the previous race winner, having won the race in 2019 for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.

Entrants

24 drivers entered the race, including IndyCar Series debutants Jimmie Johnson (Chip Ganassi Racing) and Romain Grosjean (Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing), with Scott McLaughlin (Team Penske) making his second career start after racing the season finale in 2020. KeyMeaningRookiePast winner Driver Team Engine2 Josef Newgarden Team Penske Chevrolet3 Scott McLaughlin Team Penske Chevrolet4 Dalton Kellett A. J. Foyt Enterprises Chevrolet5 Patricio O'Ward Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet7 Felix Rosenqvist Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet8 Marcus Ericsson Chip Ganassi Racing Honda9 Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing Honda10 Álex Palou Chip Ganassi Racing Honda12 Will Power Team Penske Chevrolet14 Sébastien Bourdais A. J. Foyt Enterprises Chevrolet15 Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda18 Ed Jones Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan Honda20 Conor Daly Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet21 Rinus VeeKay Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet22 Simon Pagenaud Team Penske Chevrolet26 Colton Herta Andretti Autosport Honda27 Alexander Rossi Andretti Autosport Honda28 Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Autosport Honda29 James Hinchcliffe Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport Honda30 Takuma Sato Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda48 Jimmie Johnson Chip Ganassi Racing Honda51 Romain Grosjean Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing Honda59 Max Chilton Carlin Chevrolet60 Jack Harvey Meyer Shank Racing Honda

Practice Practice 1 Practice 1 took place at 11:00 AM ET on April 17, 2021. A single red flag was called in the session, when Felix Rosenqvist made contact with the barrier while entering pit road. Álex Palou went fastest in the first practice session of the season with a time of 01:06.4721, ahead of Colton Herta and Josef Newgarden in second and third respectively.

+ Top Practice Speeds Driver Team Engine Lap Time110 Álex PalouChip Ganassi RacingHonda01:06.4721226 Colton HertaAndretti AutosportHonda01:06.489732 Josef Newgarden Team PenskeChevrolet01:06.4957 Source:

Practice 2 Practice 2 took place at 2:40 PM ET on April 17, 2021. The session saw multiple red flags for incidents involving a stall for Dalton Kellett, contact with the Turn 14 wall for Herta, and Newgarden losing power after correcting a slide. Andretti Autosport driver Alexander Rossi finished first in the second practice session with a time of 01:06.0797, ahead of Chip Ganassi Racing duo Marcus Ericsson and Scott Dixon.

+ Top Practice Speeds Driver Team Engine Lap Time127 Alexander RossiAndretti AutosportHonda01:06.079728 Marcus EricssonChip Ganassi RacingHonda01:06.219039 Scott DixonChip Ganassi RacingHonda01:06.3018 Source:

Qualifying Qualifying took place at 5:50 PM ET on April 17, 2021.

Qualifying classification Driver Team Engine Time Round 1 Group 1 Group 2 1 5 Pato O'Ward Arrow McLaren SP ChevroletN/A 01:06.0696 01:05.5019 01:05.8479 1 2 27 Alexander Rossi Andretti Autosport HondaN/A 01:06.2344 01:05.6953 01:05.9177 2 3 10 Álex Palou Chip Ganassi Racing Honda 01:05.9032N/A 01:05.6328 01:06.0538 3 4 2 Will Power Team Penske Chevrolet 01:05.9191N/A 01:05.5226 01:06.1186 4 5 9 Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing HondaN/A 01:06.3775 01:05.6863 01:06.3976 5 6 8 Marcus Ericsson Chip Ganassi Racing Honda 01:06.4992N/A 01:05.6614 01:06.4102 6 7 51 Romain Grosjean Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing HondaN/A 01:06.0709 01:05.7643N/A 7 8 2 Josef Newgarden Team Penske Chevrolet 01:06.3881N/A 01:05.7902N/A 8 9 26 Colton Herta Andretti Autosport HondaN/A 01:06.4282 01:05.7957N/A 9 10 20 Conor Daly Ed Carpenter Racing ChevroletN/A 01:06.1033 01:05.9118N/A 10 11 60 Jack Harvey Meyer Shank Racing Honda 01:06.5234N/A 01:05.9634N/A 11 12 3 Scott McLaughlin Team Penske Chevrolet 01:06.4552N/A 01:06.7226N/A 12 13 18 Ed Jones Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan Honda 01:06.5578N/AN/AN/A 13 14 21 Rinus VeeKay Ed Carpenter Racing ChevroletN/A 01:06.4770N/AN/A 14 15 22 Simon Pagenaud Team Penske Chevrolet 01:06.6480N/AN/AN/A 15 16 14 Sébastien Bourdais A. J. Foyt Enterprises ChevroletN/A 01:06.5035N/AN/A 16 17 28 Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Autosport Honda 01:06.8512N/AN/AN/A 17 18 15 Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing HondaN/A 01:06.8489N/AN/A 18 19 30 Takuma Sato Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda 01:07.1026N/AN/AN/A 19 20 59 Max Chilton Carlin ChevroletN/A 01:07.0021N/AN/A 20 21 48 Jimmie Johnson Chip Ganassi Racing Honda 01:07.7092N/AN/AN/A 21 22 7 Felix Rosenqvist Arrow McLaren SP ChevroletN/A 01:07.0254N/AN/A 22 23 4 Dalton Kellett A. J. Foyt Enterprises Chevrolet 01:07.8100N/AN/AN/A 22 24 29 James Hinchcliffe Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport HondaN/A No TimeN/AN/A 24 Source: Notes Bold text indicates fastest time set in session.

Warmup Warmup took place at 11:30 AM ET on April 18, 2021. +Top Warmup SpeedsDriverTeamEngineLap Time1 15 Graham RahalRahal Letterman Lanigan RacingHonda01:06.73192 51 Romain Grosjean Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware RacingHonda01:06.86163 14 Sébastien BourdaisA. J. Foyt EnterprisesChevrolet01:06.8642 Source:

Race The race started at 3:00 PM ET on April 18, 2021.

Race classification Driver Team Engine Laps Time/Retired PitStops Grid LapsLed 1 10 Álex Palou Chip Ganassi Racing Honda 90 1:52:53.0361 2 3 56 53 2 12 Will Power Team Penske Chevrolet 90 +0.4016 2 4 4 41 3 9 Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing Honda 90 +2.9881 2 5 35 4 5 Pato O'Ward Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet 90 +3.9741 3 1 25 34 5 14 Sébastien Bourdais A. J. Foyt Enterprises Chevrolet 90 +10.6967 3 16 4 31 6 21 Rinus VeeKay Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet 90 +13.8750 4 14 1 29 7 15 Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda 90 +18.7387 3 18 26 8 8 Marcus Ericsson Chip Ganassi Racing Honda 90 +20.0700 2 6 24 9 27 Alexander Rossi Andretti Autosport Honda 90 +20.5601 3 2 22 10 51 Romain Grosjean Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing Honda 90 +45.0805 2 7 20 11 60 Jack Harvey Meyer Shank Racing Honda 90 +50.0788 3 11 19 12 22 Simon Pagenaud Team Penske Chevrolet 90 +59.0522 3 15 18 13 30 Takuma Sato Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda 90 +1:05.5887 3 19 17 14 3 Scott McLaughlin Team Penske Chevrolet 90 +1:06.0562 3 12 16 15 18 Ed Jones Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan Honda 90 +1:08.4093 3 13 15 16 20 Conor Daly Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet 90 +1:09.1076 3 10 14 17 29 James Hinchcliffe Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport Honda 89 +1 Lap 3 24 13 18 4 Dalton Kellett A. J. Foyt Enterprises Chevrolet 89 +1 Lap 4 23 12 19 48 Jimmie Johnson Chip Ganassi Racing Honda 87 +3 Laps 3 21 11 20 59 Max Chilton Carlin Chevrolet 86 +4 Laps 4 20 10 21 7 Felix Rosenqvist Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet 62 Contact 3 22 9 22 26 Colton Herta Andretti Autosport Honda 25 Contact 2 9 8 23 2 Josef Newgarden Team Penske Chevrolet 0 Contact 0 8 7 24 28 Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Autosport Honda 0 Contact 0 17 6Fastest lap: Pato O'Ward (Arrow McLaren SP) – 01:06.8182 (lap 65) Source:

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Driver Points1 Álex Palou532 Will Power413 Scott Dixon354 Pato O'Ward345 Sébastien Bourdais31 Source:

Engine manufacturer standings Manufacturer Points 1 Honda 90 2 Chevrolet 73 Source:

Note: Only the top five positions are included.

References

External links