Mick Schumacher makes IndyCar intentions clear after breakthrough result
Mick Schumacher is "here to stay" in IndyCar
Mick Schumacher declared that he is “here to stay” in IndyCar after cracking the top 10 for the first time, prompting conversations about his future.
Schumacher secured a P8 result around the Nashville Superspeedway, believing that to be a demonstration of his and RLL’s pace without factors working against them.
Mick Schumacher ‘here to stay’ in IndyCar
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It has been a challenging rookie IndyCar season for Schumacher who sits 24th in the championship, but secured a breakthrough top 10 in Nashville, a race which was pushed back to a Monday last month due to rain.
“I think it was just the first time we had a clean race,” Schumacher declared on the Speed Street podcast. “We didn’t have any gun failures, we didn’t have any issues in the pits, we didn’t have any contact or whatever it was.”
It was put to Schumacher that the oval events seem to have matched well with his driving style in 2026, leaving the German to suggest that “the ovals in general just probably suit my style a little bit more.”
“Just because we’re on the limit of the tyre, so I’m very good at understanding, ‘Okay, where is that. How does a tyre need to feel.’
“I’m hypersensitive to tyre deg specifically because that’s what we had in Europe. So I guess that, in some ways, is coming my way on an oval, because you have to be so precise and have those feelings that, ‘Okay, am I at the edge now. Am I on the limit, on the way to my limit,’ so that then you can adjust your tools essentially.”
Yet, Schumacher’s rookie season has been lacking headline results outside of Nashville.
“I’m carrying around an injury in multiple places, which doesn’t help,” he revealed.
Schumacher suffered a broken wrist after his crash at the St Petersburg season-opener, his performances also not helped by his Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing team having lacked smooth weekends.
“In terms of pace, we’ve been there or thereabouts, and it just came down to, again, those little issues that we had here and there that ended up making it difficult for us in a race so far,” he said.
“But hopefully, with us showing that we’re able to have a consistent and clean weekend, that will be much easier for us now to really just repeat and keep going and essentially show that we’re able to be on par with the top guys.”
He added: “I think that the pace has always been there, and the results really don’t show what we actually were able to do in many places.”
After two years in the World Endurance Championship following his exit from the F1 grid, Schumacher began a new career chapter by heading for IndyCar.
“I really, really, really like IndyCar, and I’m here to stay,” he declared, making his intentions for the future clear.
With what team is to be decided. But, Schumacher looks beyond just performance when making that decision.
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“It would be wrong of me to say that we didn’t have any conversations,” Schumacher said when quizzed on his future plans. “It’s obviously an important thing to evaluate your options and see what potentially would be a good match.
“As a racing driver, it’s not only the car that matters, but it’s also the human connections that matters, in my opinion, even more.
“Because only with a team you will be able to win, and with somebody who you can really gel with, and somebody who you can really bond with.
“That’s going to be more of the decision making than trying to find just ultimately the one seat that might just stand out in terms of performance. Be with the right people, and the performance will come with that.”
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