"Shockingly good!": IndyCar ace pays respect to Mick Schumacher

– “That was shockingly good.” – Josef Newgarden didn’t mean his teammate David Malukas, who had just beaten him in qualifying, but Mick Schumacher. With fourth place on the grid in his very first oval race ever, the son of Formula 1 legend Michael Schumacher has earned massive respect from the entire field of drivers.

Read more After Qatar postponement: New location and date also for WEC Prolog

Newgarden’s word carries weight in the IndyCar scene. The 35-year-old is a fixture of the series and, with 32 wins, including two at the Indianapolis 500, and two titles, is one of the most successful IndyCar drivers of the present day. He credits Schumacher with a “fabulous job”.

Asked if Mick’s fourth place on debut surprised the competition, Newgarden replied: “I thought he was shockingly good. What do you expect? I mean, the guy is – literally – a stranger to oval racing. He did a great job.”

Praise for the whole team

Newgarden qualified this, however, by saying that it wasn’t just the driver, but also the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing package that worked excellently that day. RLL had massive problems on short ovals until last season. Grid positions three and four for Graham Rahal and Mick Schumacher are therefore a joint sensation.

“I would also say that Rahal generally looked significantly better than in the past. I haven’t seen Graham [Rahal] qualify that strongly on an oval in a long time. So that’s also a compliment to the team,” said Newgarden. To put it in perspective: The last time RLL had two cars in the top 4 on a short oval was 2005 in Chicago.

Nevertheless, the rookie’s performance remains outstanding for him: “What an enormous achievement by Mick. The race is another story again, but I say this all the time: you have to be open-minded in this series. He could just come in as a natural talent. That’s not unprecedented. We’ve seen people adapt to these conditions immediately. He passed his first test with flying colors.”

Starting order factor

Of course, the Penske driver also points out that Schumacher, who was the first to take to the track, had a small technical advantage due to the track conditions, because the track continued to heat up in the midday sun:

Read more IndyCar Phoenix 2026: Mick Schumacher starts from the top 4!

“I think, especially at the end of qualifying, you saw a significant drop-off in the second lap for most drivers, including myself. Compared to the very early drivers, it was probably a bit worse; you just weren’t as consistent in the second lap anymore.”

Newgarden continues his analysis: “Mick, for example, was the first one out. He was extremely consistent in both laps. With the last driver to take to the track, you could clearly see that loss of performance in the second lap. I think that was the decisive difference today.”

Rahal: He is so smooth with his feet

Teammate Graham Rahal also paid respect to Mick Schumacher and caused a stir with an interesting statement. Both embraced in the paddock after Rahal had dethroned Schumacher from the temporary lead – well aware of what they had just accomplished for their team.

“I think Mick did a first-class job. He is incredibly smooth with his feet, much smoother than me or Louis [Foster]. That is obviously a big advantage for him. But this is really a big step for all of us, because we knew that short ovals were our Achilles’ heel,” said the IndyCar veteran.

Despite the slight time advantage from the cooler temperatures, the conclusion in the Arizona paddock remains clear: Mick Schumacher has arrived on the oval much faster than many experts would have given him credit for. Whether he can maintain this pace in the heavy traffic of the Good Ranchers 250 will be seen on Saturday evening from 9 p.m.

Read more Carlos Sainz rules out Team Principal role: “Pure chaos”