The 2026 IndyCar season begins on Sunday at the 1.8-mile St. Petersburg street course.
Will Power, Mick Schumacher and Álex Palou are among the main storylines identified before the opening race.
Power, a 44-year-old Australian, spent 17 seasons with Team Penske before moving to Andretti Global during the offseason. The source states that Power is a two-time IndyCar champion and the 2018 Indianapolis 500 winner.
According to the source, Power felt Team Penske viewed him as a devalued commodity during the final year of his contract. The source also states that he rejected a short-term offer after an opening became available at Andretti last summer.
"I sat down with [his manager[ while we were talking at the beginning of '25 and we said that the best-case scenario was having a spot at Andretti, because I felt like it's going to become the best team," Power said. "They've got all the ingredients there. So it's funny that it worked out the way it has."
The source compares Power's change of teams to Fernando Alonso's move from Alpine to Aston Martin. Alonso is identified in the source as a two-time Formula 1 world champion who took fourth in the championship in his first season with Aston Martin.
The source states that the 2025 season was long for Power as he waited for Roger Penske to decide whether to continue with him or replace him. It also states that until Colton Herta left IndyCar for a season of Formula 2 in 2026 and testing for Cadillac's Formula 1 program, Andretti and other top seats were limited.
"Because honestly, in the middle of the year, if Roger just offered me a one-year deal, yeah, we would have taken it, because there was no seat to be had, really, at Andretti or anywhere desirable," Power added. "So it kind of dragged on and dragged on."
The source states that Power delivered Team Penske's most recent IndyCar championship in 2022. It also states that in 2025, during a season in which Penske struggled to match key rivals, Power was the first Penske driver to win, doing so late in the season at Portland.
Mick Schumacher and Álex Palou are named by the source as two other significant figures to follow entering the season. No further details about Schumacher or Palou are included in the provided source text.
Team Penske and Andretti Global are the teams directly referenced in the source.
