Mick Schumacher’s first morning in an IndyCar yielded 18 laps in the No. 75 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s 2.4-mile, 14-turn road course.
The former Haas F1 driver dealt with the same issue as the rest of the runners as the IndyCar Series’ timing and scoring beacon at the start/finish line malfunctioned for the first hour of action, which limited the track usage as workarounds were sought.
By the 12pm lunch break, Schumacher was among the fastest of the seven drivers in attendance, producing a 1m11.78s lap that wasn’t captured by the timing system, but would have placed him third behind the Ed Carpenter Racing’s Alexander Rossi (1m11.50s) and reigning Indy NXT champion Dennis Hauger with Dale Coyne Racing (1m11.69s). With more sets of tires to use in the afternoon and more rubber applied to the racing surface, lap times were expected to fall for everyone.
Despite the interruptions that pushed serious lapping to the late morning, the 26-year-old was unfazed as he got the feel for the Dallara DW12-Honda. It was Schumacher who sought out an IndyCar test while wanting to determine whether a switch to the American open-wheel series should be his next career move.
“I think there’s always importance anytime you get into a car, right?” he said. “And the opportunity came to do with RLL, and we’re very happy about it. The team has been great in preparing me for today. You know, we’ve done quite an extensive preparation for it, which is what you want and want to see. And it gives you the full picture of what it would be like to race here.”
Schumacher spent Friday on Honda’s driver-in-the-loop simulator before using Saturday to run through the test plan and finer workings of the chassis and engine at RLL’s shop. He took some time to himself on Sunday, playing golf on the Brickyard Crossings course, and returned to IMS in the IndyCar on Monday as his mother and friends looked on from the RLL timing stand.
“Everybody was saying how heavy it is to drive, and I found it actually lighter than expected, which is a positive, right?” he said of the lack of power steering. “So, no, I think it’s good. And the car is fun to drive. You know, you can really muscle around the corners. And I think that’s what you want from race cars, like full push, and go for it. So yeah, it’s positive.
“Again. I think the preparation that I’ve gone through has been really preparing me for that, and I’m happy to have the ability to work with the team, but also go through their own plan and make sure that they get out of what is beneficial to them.”
Schumacher’s last outing in an open-wheel car came nearly five months ago with the McLaren F1 team and its TPC (testing of previous car) program. Since then, it’s been lots of FIA World Endurance Championship running as a member of the Alpine factory team.
RLL has gone to great lengths to arrange and fund the test for Schumacher, bring Honda Racing Corporation US into the effort to provide valuable time on its DIL, and to surround the son of seven-time F1 champion Michael Schumacher with all of the mechanical and engineering talent RLL has to offer with technical director Todd Malloy, race engineer Yves Touron, and engineering R&D leader David Cripps in attendance on Monday.
Team co-owner David Letterman even said he wanted to stop by, which almost never happens for a test.
It’s too early to say whether Schumacher will join Graham Rahal and Louis Foster next season, but it’s clear that both sides have broached the subject as a possibility if the test and terms meet their expectations.
“Of course, I mean, IndyCar has to be considered seriously,” Schumacher said. “It’s a single-seater. It has 17 races in a year, and I think that’s all a racing driver can want for. Obviously, I’ve got no obligations on the side and I can really move along. And also, being in my own car is something that I do love, and I love single-seaters. I’ve said it before. So yeah, for sure, it’s a great place to be considered for, and also consider myself racing here. But we’ll get this day over and then see what the future brings.”
