Mick Schumacher returns to single-seaters in the 2026 IndyCar season with Rahal Letterman Lanigan (RLL) Racing. Having been raised with Formula 1 racing, he switched to the FIA World Endurance Championship in 2023. Two years later, he does an IMS IndyCar test session and decides to make his debut this 2026 IndyCar season with RLL.
Mick Schumacher is excited to start the 2026 IndyCar season
The 26-year-old spoke to Pit Debrief and other media outlets about his rookie season in IndyCar. He mentions more excitement than anxiety about racing in single-seaters again. The RLL driver is looking forward to getting behind the wheel as Sebring testing starts off the 2026 season.
“Yeah, I’m very excited about racing. That’s what we’re here for. I haven’t had much of that yet, so looking forward to getting under way next week. Testing starts the season, I think, in a proper way, so really looking forward to that and then taking it away from there.”
Learning oval tricks from Graham Rahal
The big change for Schumacher will be racing on oval tracks for the first time this 2026 IndyCar season. He admits this will be a challenge as it is where aerodynamics dominate. On oval tracks, he is being aware that dirty air can put you in the wall if you are not careful. Precision and making good choices in a split second is key. Racing is far from easy on the mixture of ovals.
“Oval racing. The challenges of it being so different and trying to understand what the high lines are, what the low lines are doing, what we can do in terms of aero disruptions from the front or the back.”
The former Formula 1 driver is trying to understand the added layer of high and low lines. The high lines mean a slightly longer distance but allow you to carry more speed through a corner potentially. While the low lines have more grip because of the banking. This feature is unique to IndyCar but an advantage if Schumacher can manage it this 2026 season.
“That’s all stuff that is very new to me. But I’m very curious and interested in learning about that. The good thing is we have Graham on board, who has done a couple of these races in his lifetime, and therefore I can learn very much from him.”
Schumacher is putting in time to learn from his team leader Graham Rahal. Having more than 20 years of experience in IndyCar, Rahal is one of the best resources to learn this 2026 season with RLL.
Schumacher’s experience keeps him steady
Though new to IndyCar, the German has been in racing for most of his life. Speaking to Pit Debrief and other media outlets, Schumacher says he doesn’t get nervous anymore. He emphasises that he feels excitement in many different ways such as building with RLL this 2026 IndyCar season. Over the years, he takes a more structured approach and builds on his variety of experiences.
“I’ve aged since then. I’ve gotten a lot older. I feel like I’m in a much more grown-up place in some ways. Maybe the excitement is still there, but it’s in a different way. It’s maybe less excitement of yeah, I’m all for it, and it’s more about a structured approach to it. I’m very excited about getting going, but I’m excited to also build a team around me and build my experiences.”
The 26-year-old is familiar with entering a new sport. He previously climbed the single-seater junior formula ladder and made the jump to WEC. Schumacher recalls his first year in F1 and how his mentality is more settled entering the 2026 IndyCar season. The RLL driver knows this season will be very different from anything he’s done previously.
“Basically I’m going into the season knowing much more of what I want and how I want things to be, and I’m much more straightforward about that. So that’s, I guess, very different to how my first year in F1 was, for example.
“Therefore, yeah, the season I’m sure is going to be very different.”
Managing spotters this 2026 IndyCar season
The former F1 driver agrees that he has more new territory to uncover with spotters. Spotters are positioned above the track and help drivers with gap management, traffic alerts, and line recommendations. He says he’s a driver who loves information from his engineer and believes that spotters will be similar to his previous racing.
“No, I haven’t, so that’s going to be a challenge and new. But I’ve always been a driver, I think, more than some others that loved information, so I always kind of pushed my engineers to talk to me as much as possible. So I guess that’s going to be pretty similar.”
In fact, Schumacher advocates for a ‘duel-way radio’ so that there is no waiting for another person to finish speaking. Drivers would be able to be reached by other people on the team despite already being spoken to by their engineer. The RLL driver is already pushing to making improvements this 2026 IndyCar season.
“I guess one of the points that I was very vocal to my team about was why don’t we have a duel-way radio system where those things that your engineer or whoever needs to can reach you even if somebody is talking so I think that’s something I’m quite keen on trying to figure out because we have the problem that if somebody talking to you, the other person on the team can’t get a hold of you.”
He is generally very receptive to the new challenges brought on by his switch to IndyCar. Schumacher is taking everything in stride and continuing to have open discussions with his team this 2026 season.
“I think that’s something where I come from that’s very common that we have an open discussion even as we’re driving. It’s something we need to figure out.”
