IndyCar Long Beach 2026: Schumacher out in Q1 – Pole for Rosenqvist

– The 51st edition of the Grand Prix of Long Beach will start on Sunday with Felix Rosenqvist (Shank-Honda) as polesitter, while Mick Schumacher (Rahal-Honda) will tackle the fifth IndyCar season race of 2026 from 21st on the grid. In Saturday’s qualifying, Schumacher’s journey ended directly in the Q1 segment. This adds another chapter of frustration to what has been an absolutely botched weekend for him so far.

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On Friday, Schumacher was prevented from completing even a single flying lap due to a technical defect in the powertrain area. On Saturday morning, he slid into the tire barriers.

Although it was the first crash ever for the IndyCar rookie from Germany in his fifth race weekend, both incidents together made Schumacher’s preparation for qualifying on the street circuit, which was new to him, anything but easy.

Schumacher only drove the soft tires (“Reds”) for the first time in qualifying. So it was no big surprise that he couldn’t get past P11 in his group (Group 1) in the two-part Q1 segment and thus failed to make it into the twelve-car Q2.

Schumacher will start Sunday’s race from the third-to-last row (Row 11). His teammates Graham Rahal and Louis Foster qualified for the fifth and ninth rows, respectively.

Felix Rosenqvist on Pole in the Again New Q3 Format

Felix Rosenqvist (Shank-Honda) emerges from qualifying in Long Beach as polesitter. In the once again redesigned Q3 segment (individual time trial, where the timing for the single Q3 lap is now chosen after the Q2 segment), Rosenqvist decided to drive third. The right of choice belonged to David Malukas (Penske-Chevrolet), who had been the fastest in the Q2 segment. He decided to drive first.

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In the six-car Q3 (“Fast Six”), it was Rosenqvist who prevailed in the individual time trial with a lap time of 1:07.463 minutes, primarily against Patricio “Pato” O’Ward (McLaren-Chevrolet). The Mexican drove last in the Q3 segment according to his choice, but couldn’t quite match Rosenqvist’s time. For Rosenqvist, it’s a pole again for the first time in exactly two years (Long Beach 2024).

Starting from the second row on Sunday will be four-time and reigning IndyCar champion Alex Palou (Ganassi-Honda) and current championship leader and last year’s Long Beach winner Kyle Kirkwood (Andretti-Honda), followed by David Malukas and Scott Dixon (Ganassi-Honda) in the third row. (Complete starting grid in Long Beach)

For Dixon, the six-time IndyCar champion, it was not only his first Q3 participation this season. He also made it into the Q2 segment for the first time this season. Missing out on Q3 this time were primarily Will Power (Andretti-Honda) and Scott McLaughlin (Penske-Chevrolet). Power was pushed out by Dixon in the final seconds of Q2.

Already in the Q1 segment, it was the end of the road not only for Mick Schumacher, but surprisingly also for Josef Newgarden (Penske-Chevrolet) and Marcus Ericsson (Andretti-Honda), among others.

The race distance in Long Beach is set at 90 laps. The race will start, converted to Central European Time, on Sunday night into Monday at 11:57 PM CEST.

Read more IndyCar Long Beach 2026: Mick Schumacher in FT2 in the tire barrier