Schumacher “very much at home” in IndyCar despite injury
- Archie O’Reilly
- 5 hours ago
- 3 min read
Mick Schumacher is feeling increasingly comfortable in his IndyCar rookie season ahead of his maiden Indianapolis 500 this month.
The German driver sits 25th and last of the full-season field in the standings but is aware that, despite his experience in Formula One and the Hypercar class of the World Endurance Championship, patience is required in the adaptation process.
“It’s just a different championship,” said the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing driver. “Everything [is different]. You have to get used to everything that is new. Obviously the racing is very specific and there’s still lots to learn from my side. But I’m very eager to do that.
“It’s a great championship and I feel very much at home here. So [I am] excited to go on with the season and get towards the end because that means we’ve run through everything and we can really prepare for the future.”
This said, it recently came to light that Schumacher has been battling a left-wrist injury since being involved in a crash on the first lap of March’s season-opening race in St. Petersburg.
He will require surgery at the climax of the season to correct the issue.
“I got a cortisone, steroid shot into it one week ago now,” Schumacher said. “It’s improving so hopefully I’ll be able to pass around the surgery at the end of the year because obviously that’s just not a great place to be in. But hopefully it will be healing.”
Schumacher was set for a personal-best finish last time out on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, running 12th when he ran into the rear of AJ Foyt Racing’s Santino Ferrucci and was handed a drive-through penalty on Lap 84 of 85.
The pair have since played golf together ahead of the week of Indy 500 practice.
“There were no hard feelings from his side - also from my side,” Schumacher said. “It was a bit of a weird one. He ran out of tyres pretty early and I had a pretty fresh set. I didn’t expect him to check up quite as much as he did in that corner so just ended up getting under him.
“It was a bit of a tactic, maybe, from his side to try and purposefully check me up because obviously I had a good run on him in the lap to go. It’s a bit of a shame. We spoke it out and no hard feelings.”
This month, Schumacher - son of seven-time F1 champion Michael - will become the first member of his illustrious racing family to compete in the Indy 500. He made headlines during April’s open test for downplaying his first experience of the Speedway.
He has since clarified the rationale behind his measured assessment.
“Those [test] days were mainly about running high downforce, going through different setups and pretty much running on my own,” he said. “That’s what I was trying to say. It’s not that I don’t like driving here; I love driving here.
“It’s more about a feeling of not knowing what is yet to come, not knowing how it is once the fans are out, once we go into quali power and once the race week starts. All these things are things I’m very, very excited for and I’m very much looking forward to it.
“But those [test] days were very strictly business so that’s how I approached it and that’s why maybe things came around as they did.”
