Mick Schumacher reveals what has surprised him the most about IndyCar so far

For Mick Schumacher, the IndyCar adventure is slowly but surely getting serious. In preparation for his first full season in the series, the rookie from Germany has now completed two road course tests and one oval test. During the two-day road course test in Sebring on Monday and Tuesday this week, Schumacher had the chance to test alongside most of the field for the first time.

Four months have passed since Schumacher’s IndyCar test debut in October of last year on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, and it has been almost three months since he was confirmed as one of the full-time drivers for 2026 at Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL). What has surprised Schumacher most about the IndyCar environment so far?

“I really like the way people are here, working-wise. It’s very raw,” Schumacher said in an exclusive interview at the track during this week’s Sebring test. “It feels a bit old-school, if you want, but I like that kind of feeling. There’s a really nice flair to it. So, I’m really enjoying it. I mean, working with my group of guys and the whole team has been really good so far.”

It was precisely this good working relationship at RLL that Schumacher noticed even before he had signed his contract for 2026. “The IMS road course has been really good,” he recalled his first IndyCar test on October 13, 2025.

“We weren’t even signed in, so they could have been much more closed up, but they were really open and I really enjoyed that. It was the first day where I felt like, hey, we’re really setting off to enjoy the year, which is really good.”

“So, I think it’s going to only get better from here”. With that, Schumacher is looking ahead to the opening race of the 2026 season: the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on March 1: “St. Pete is a great place to do that and start off with everything and start the season on the right foot.”

Road courses or ovals: Which does Schumacher prefer?

When asked whether he is more looking forward to the road course races – a discipline he is familiar with in principle from various other racing series – or the oval races – a discipline that is completely new to him – Schumacher initially responded with a comparison.

“One thing that I have to say here, I’m very used to a track to have the same tarmac throughout the whole course,” he said. Among other series, not only in Formula 1, where Schumacher was a full-time driver for Haas in 2021 and 2022, the topic of track surface is an important one. “It’s very similar grip from corner to corner, like the only change will be the wind, maybe.”

What applies to Formula 1 also applies to the World Endurance Championship (WEC), where Schumacher was a full-time driver for Alpine in 2024 and 2025. With the exception of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, all races on the WEC calendar take place on current or former Formula 1 tracks.

These are tracks that have the highest FIA classification (Grade 1). It is precisely this highest possible classification that is a prerequisite for a race track to be allowed to host a Formula 1 race. The Sebring International Raceway by contrast, where IndyCar teams were testing on Monday and Tuesday this week, is classified as ‘Grade 2’ by the FIA.

This is partly due to safety standards, such as the size of the run-off areas. But the track surface at Sebring is not exactly world-class either. “Here, because we have patch after patch, every corner is different,” Schumacher said, referring to the aging Sebring surface, which has been renewed here and there over the years.

“I’m still getting used to what is actually a car doing and what is a track doing for me. And that’s something that I have to get acquainted with here, especially. And I don’t think it’s going to be very different on other road courses that we’re going to. IMS, the road course there, was a bit better in that sense. It just seemed more consistent throughout the whole lap.”

“What am I looking most forward to?” Schumacher responded to the question about his preference for road courses or ovals. “I don’t really have a preference. I think everything’s pretty fun and I’m curious about all three stations that we’re going to.”

By three types, the IndyCar rookie means permanent road courses, temporary street circuits, and, last but not least, ovals. There are six races on each of the three track types on the 2026 IndyCar schedule.

“Obviously, Oval is going to be very new for me. So there will be hopefully a very steep learning curve and a lot of things that I’ll have to just learn new about racing, simply. You know, there’s a lot of overtaking opportunities that may arise and you don’t actually want to take them because it’s not the right moment to take them. So again, there’s things there that I need to learn,” he said.

Plenty of support at RLL

Mick Schumacher during Sebring test

Photo by: Michael L. Levitt/Lumen via Getty Images

To help Schumacher settle into oval racing as smoothly as possible, RLL signed eight-time IndyCar race winner Ryan Briscoe as a driver coach a few weeks ago. Although he will be on hand to offer advice to all three drivers on the team, his primary focus will be on the rookie.

“I have Graham, I have Louis, but I also have Ryan there to really help me do that,” Schumacher said. “And obviously the whole team behind me who will support me in that. So, yeah, I guess overall, I’m just very excited to get going and have the season start properly.”

Before the first of the 18 races of the season, Mick Schumacher has one last important pre-season test on the agenda, specifically in the oval discipline. On Tuesday and Wednesday of next week (February 17/18), the IndyCar teams will be testing on the one-mile oval in Phoenix, Arizona. 

In contrast to his Homestead test on February 4, where he was alone on track, Schumacher will be testing alongside the rest of the competition at the Phoenix test, which will give him his first taste of “dirty air” on an oval track.

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