IndyCar Arlington 2026: Mick Schumacher shocked by bumps

– “Welcome to IndyCar, Mick. This isn’t Monaco, Jeddah, or Singapore. This is how we race here.” – Commentator and former driver Townsend Bell was amused during the first free practice at the Arlington Grand Prix of Texas by a radio message from Mick Schumacher (RLL-Honda; 21.), in which he complained heavily about the bumps on the street circuit.

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“I feel like my car is falling apart!” the son of Formula 1 legend Michael Schumacher radioed to the pits towards the end of the session. His engineer confirmed to him that it was indeed bottoming out unpleasantly in Turn 10. (Result 1. Free Practice)

But that sums it all up, because actually there is only one topic of conversation after the first practice: the incredible bumps that, among others, caught out Sting Ray Robb (Juncos-Hollinger-Chevrolet; 25.). He caused the only major accident of the session.

Two Red Flags for Juncos Hollinger

The American, who triggered the accident with Santino Ferrucci (Foyt-Chevrolet; 22.) and Schumacher in St. Petersburg, caused the first red flag of the session after 15 minutes. A second interruption occurred shortly before the end of the collective session when Robb’s teammate Rinus “VeeKay” van Kalmthout (Juncos-Hollinger-Chevrolet; 24.) torched his rear brakes. Apparently, the team had set the cooling incorrectly.

But several other drivers also had their fair share of trouble. Especially a bump after the long back straight before Turn 10, right in the middle of the braking zone, presents drivers and teams with enormous challenges. In some cases, the front axles of the vehicles even lifted off, which caused several lock-ups, though these remained without consequences thanks to a generous run-off zone. There were also numerous harmless lock-ups in other corners.

Times were still secondary in the opening session. The new track still needs to be broken in, and the times kept improving by entire seconds.

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Nevertheless, initial trends can be seen, and it seems as if RLL has fallen back into its form from the season opener, which also took place on a street circuit, after the temporary high in Phoenix. Schumacher consistently stayed around 15. place in the collective session, but was consistently the fastest RLL driver.

When times were improved during the group phase, he didn’t find as much time as others and also fell behind his teammates. It is unclear whether he was running a different program.

Old Hands Set the Pace

The big names of the scene left a strong impression: Scott McLaughlin (Penske-Chevrolet), like his teammates, looked very strong throughout the practice and set the fastest time of the day in the first group with 1:34.893 minutes. He immediately declared Arlington his favorite track. This time is likely to be significantly improved over the course of the weekend once the grip has been properly laid down.

Defending champion Alex Palou (Ganassi-Honda; 2.) was 0,059 seconds slower but drove in the second group, which found the best track conditions. Ganassi seems to be still a small step behind Penske. Will Power (Andretti-Chevrolet; 3.) also drove in the first group and was consistently among the top 3. Patricio “Pato” O’Ward (McLaren-Chevrolet ;4.) was the fastest after the group phase.

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The second practice is scheduled for Saturday at 14:35.