Grosjean led Alex Palou away but Pato O’Ward was inside Palou into Turn 1 - however, when O’Ward also tried to get around Grosjean at Turn 5 he lost momentum, and Palou was able to draft by him into Turn 8 to reclaim second.
Further back, Scott Dixon got around McLaughlin, as all three Penske drivers were struggling with pace on primary tyres, although Josef Newgarden did move up to sixth, but only after side-by-side contact with Felix Rosenqvist at Turn 1 that looped the Arrow McLaren machine into a spin.
Newgarden was the first to commit to a three-stop strategy, ducking into the pitlane at the end of lap 13 of 90 to take on a set of alternates - and this early stop paid off, as he jumped ahead of McLaughlin, who pitted two laps later.
The two-stoppers started coming in on lap 28, while Grosjean and Palou went a lap longer even than Dixon, who got in a tight battle with O’Ward on the pit exit, the Ganassi driver conceding.
Palou emerged from his stop ahead of O’Ward but, on cold tyres, he didn’t have a chance of stemming the McLaren driver. In fact, Palou’s colder tyres meant he accidentally bottled up team-mate Dixon, allowing the opportunistic Christian Lundgaard to lunge inside the six-time champion at the final turn.
Having cycled to the front, McLaughlin snatched the lead from Newgarden and Tim Cindric called the erstwhile leader in for scuffed alternates on lap 37.
When Sting Ray Robb stopped his Dale Coyne Racing car with a mechanical issue, McLaughlin, Alexander Rossi, Will Power and Rosenqvist were called in before the pitlane closed under caution. Rossi and Rosenqvist took on more primaries, unlike the Penske drivers.
The caution helped the two-stoppers save fuel, but now the fastest three-stoppers were in the same boat as them – requiring just one more pitstop – and they had alternate tyres.
Source: Autosport