Ahead of media content days on Tuesday and Wednesday, RLL have confirmed that Mick Schumacher’s race engineer will be Mike Pawlowski in the 2026 IndyCar season, with Ryan Briscoe joining as driver coach.
Mick Schumacher gets a high quality race engineer at RLL for 2026 IndyCar season
Pawlowski comes with a lot of experience in various engineering roles. He engineered Kyle Larson’s McLaren entry at the Indy 500 in 2024 and 2025. Alongside that, he has previously worked for other racing powerhouses like Andretti Global, Chip Ganassi Racing and AJ Foyt Racing.
Alongside getting to know each other at the factory, Mick Schumacher and Mike Pawlowski will work together at the track for the first time at the Miami-Homestead Speedway venue in early February. Further testing takes place at Sebring less than a week after as the former Haas F1 driver gets up to speed on different types of tracks in IndyCar. The season-opener takes place at St. Pete on March 1st.
Ryan Briscoe joins RLL as driver coach
Australian-born Ryan Briscoe is a massive addition to the RLL IndyCar squad as driver coach. He has left that role at PREMA Racing as uncertainty continues over their future in the series. Nonetheless, he played a crucial part as Robert Shwartzman stunned the Motorsports world to take pole for the Indy 500.
Before heading to IndyCar as a driver in the mid-2000s, the now 44-year-old was a test driver for Toyota in Formula 1. He had some practice outings with the team.
Briscoe won 8 races in the North American series and had a best finish of 3rd in 2009 in the championship during a successful career.
With Louis Foster heading into his second season in IndyCar and Mick Schumacher making his debut, the guidance of Briscoe will be invaluable, alongside their other driver Graham Rahal.
RLL president Jay Frye:
“Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing has the foundation, infrastructure and commitment.
“We have made multiple, impactful strategic additions this off season, the latest being Ryan and Mike as we position our INDYCAR program to compete at a high level on a weekly basis.”
