IndyCar: Things we learned and questions that were raised during the St. Pete weekend

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida — The NTT IndyCar Series brought record crowds, gorgeous weather and the industry’s biggest movers and shakers to the paddock and hospitality areas during the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.

Teams use the season opener as a vehicle for kickoff events, making their personnel available to reporters in an atmosphere that usually breeds optimism and openness about the new season — as well as yielding some nuggets off the track about what might lie ahead over the next six months and 16 races of the 2022 season

Here are some things we learned and a few questions that were raised during a race weekend of full access to virtually all of the major decision-makers and drivers in IndyCar:

–Yes, Mario Andretti meant to send the F1 tweet … and here’s why: When the news of Andretti Global materialized out of the blue on a Friday afternoon through the social media account of an auto racing legend, there were some educated guesses that perhaps Mario Andretti inadvertently had tweeted the news. Perhaps it was meant to be a text from the 1978 world champion?

But Michael Andretti confirmed he had given his father the go-ahead to release the information in a manner that was so an unconventional and stunning, many key team personnel were unaware ahead of time.

“I know we were making it look like, ‘Here Dad goes again, he always gives away my news,’ ” Michael Andretti told NBC Sports, the Associated Press and the Indy Star during a Friday interview at St. Pete. “But he’s excited, and that would be great for him. He’d come to all the races there, and that helps keep him going.”

The tweet was Mario’s idea, and as Michael Andretti talked at length about his grandiose vision of entering Formula One in 2024, the