Mick Schumacher in the Indy oval: “I have to trust my butt”

– IndyCar rookie Mick Schumacher successfully completed his first laps on the oval course of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Tuesday. On the first of two days of the official pre-test for the 110th edition of the Indianapolis 500 Miles (May 24), Schumacher, as one of the newcomers in the field, first had to complete the obligatory Rookie Program (ROP). He succeeded immediately.

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In the rookie session, Schumacher initially got to know the famous 2.5-mile oval largely without traffic and passed the three-stage Rookie Program immediately. In the last session of the day, which was open to all registered IndyCar drivers, Schumacher then gained his first experience with pack driving on the Indianapolis oval. What is his verdict after the first day?

“It was interesting. The ROP at the beginning was a good thing to get to know the track and to understand how things work here. Gradually, I got used to staying full throttle. Afterwards, we started to flatten the wings,” said Schumacher.

When asked how much he enjoyed his first day on the most famous of all ovals, the IndyCar and Indy 500 rookie from Germany replied: “It was certainly interesting. But I also have to say that a short oval impresses me much more.”

Schumacher is referring primarily to the one-mile oval in Phoenix, where he sensationally qualified in fourth place in his first ever oval qualifying in early March. “When I drove through Turns 3 and 4 in Phoenix for the first time and felt how I could really push there, that was very impressive. Here [in Indianapolis], on the other hand, you drive much smoother through the corners, just as cleanly as possible,” said Schumacher.

Was Schumacher surprised by anything on the first of two days of the official Indy 500 pre-test? “No, not really,” he says, explaining: “Basically, everything went as expected. I guess that shows what good preparation we had. Now I’m looking forward to diving deeper into the data to make driving a little easier for me and ultimately to get faster.”

Speaking of driving faster: During the three-stage Rookie Program, in which it is precisely prescribed for each of the three stages in which speed window one must move to reach the next stage, Schumacher was briefly faster than required – and thus also faster than allowed.

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“Personally, I would have approached the whole thing exactly the same way anyway, slowly finding my speed,” Schumacher says about the Rookie Program, noting that he therefore “wouldn’t have needed a special guideline at all. But when I tried to stick to the guideline, I was a tad too fast once, which wasn’t well received by the people.”

And Schumacher made another experience on Tuesday during the three-stage Rookie Program: “There was a moment when the car didn’t feel exactly as it should have. The rear was a bit unsettled. So I came into the pits and indeed a problem with the car was found there. That was fixed and we could continue.”

In this moment, which occurred in the second of the three phases of the ROP, Schumacher heeded the tips given to him by his driver coach Ryan Briscoe, among others. “One of the most important pieces of advice I was given right at the beginning for oval racing is that whenever something doesn’t feel quite right, you should come into the pits,” says the IndyCar rookie in the service of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.

But Schumacher not only relied on advice in that moment, but also on his own instinct, which he has honed in racing series such as Formula 3, Formula 2, Formula 1 and WEC: “I am someone who doesn’t just drive a car blindly. I always try to listen to what the car tells me and what feeling it gives me. It’s about trusting my gut. And I believe that’s all the more important here, where the speeds are so much higher.”

One experience that Schumacher inevitably has not yet been able to gain on his first test day at the Indianapolis superspeedway is laps with increased boost pressure for qualifying. He will only experience this additional engine power from his Honda engine for the first time on “Fast Friday” (May 15), the last practice day before Indy 500 qualifying.

“Driving with really flat wings or with the engine power for qualifying, those are things I don’t know yet and that I still have to experience, feel and understand,” says Schumacher, emphasizing: “So far, things are going extremely calmly for me. I’m currently building up my database to be prepared for what’s to come.”

Read more Indy 500 Pre-Test: Mick Schumacher passes Rookie Program