IndyCar Portland 2026: No Power! Ninth Q1 Exit for Mick Schumacher

– The bitter statistic remains: Mick Schumacher (RLL-Honda; 23rd) has not yet made it past Q1 in the IndyCar series. This time, according to team sources, it was due to a suspected technical problem. He will start the race from 22nd position because Caio Collet (Foyt-Chevrolet; 18th) receives a penalty for an engine change. (Starting grid Portland)

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Schumacher was initially able to make a good impression in the first group, which determines the odd starting positions among themselves. After the first exchange, he was even in fourth position and ahead of his teammate Louis Foster (RLL-Honda; 13th), although some top drivers had not yet used the soft tires at that point.

In the second exchange, the times improved significantly. Schumacher also managed an improvement, but it was not good enough. His lap initially looked strong, but then he lost two tenths of a second on the straight for reasons still unclear.

Photo gallery: Mick Schumacher’s results in the 2026 IndyCar season

The first suspicion falls on the hybrid drive, but the team is still investigating the problem. According to team sources, Schumacher’s driving performance was good enough for Q2; the problem was solely with the straight-line speed. It could not have been due to the wing setting, as the downforce level matched that of his teammates.

Particularly bitter: His time would have been good enough for seventh place in the second group and almost enough to advance. However, since the starting grid beyond 13th place is sorted not by times but by placement in the different groups, he only ended up 23rd in the overall qualifying. Had he started in group 2, it would have been 14th on the grid.

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Rosenqvist snatches pole from Palou

In the subsequent sessions, times were no longer improved. In Q3, it came down to a thousandth of a second decision in a three-way battle between Felix Rosenqvist (MSR-Honda; 1st), Alex Palou (Ganassi-Honda; 2nd), and Will Power (Andretti-Honda; 3rd), who won the race the last two years – back then for Penske.

Rosenqvist ultimately prevailed with a spectacular lap and snatched the best time from Palou by 0.018 seconds. Power was on course for pole but suddenly had severe oversteer in turn 7 and missed the best time by 30 thousandths of a second.

“That hasn’t happened to me all day. The tires just spun. That definitely cost me a tenth of a second. I really enjoy being in this team and will get a pole for them very soon,” says Power.

The race starts on Sunday evening at 22:27 CEST. (All info about the IndyCar race in Portland) The first hurdle will be the first chicane, where there is often start chaos.

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