Will this ex-F1 driver grab Mick Schumacher’s IndyCar cockpit in 2027?

– Mick Schumacher could have significantly worsened his chances of a better IndyCar seat for 2027 with his crash in Markham. According to Motorsport.com USA, a sister edition of Motorsport-Total.com in the Motorsport Network, the Japanese ex-Formula 1 driver Yuki Tsunoda is in talks with Meyer Shank Racing for a 2027 seat.

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For Mick Schumacher, this is bad news, as he now has a more than high-caliber rival for the seat. Actually, the son of Formula 1 legend Michael Schumacher seemed already on the best path to move to Meyer Shank Racing.

A seat became available there due to Felix Rosenqvist’s move to McLaren. So it is at least a seat in the team of the reigning Indy 500 winner. MSR can demand a considerable amount of sponsorship money for that.

Hardly hotter irons than Schumacher among the active drivers

Schumacher’s biggest chance so far was that the hottest irons on the IndyCar driver market for 2027 are already taken among the active drivers. The only high-caliber driver without a contract currently is Christian Lundgaard, but the announcement at Chip Ganassi Racing as Scott Dixon’s successor is just a formality.

Rinus “VeeKay” van Kalmthout is expected to stay at Juncos, provided things continue in an orderly manner there. It is said that the two owners Ricardo Juncos and Brad Hollinger have been in a business divorce process for over a year.

Schumacher is thus the only active IndyCar driver who on one hand brings good sponsorship money – reportedly six to eight million US dollars – and at the same time has at least potential as a driver. His performances on ovals, but especially his work ethic, precede him with a good reputation.

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

Especially when the alternatives are Nolan Siegel and Sting Ray Robb, who are said to have double-digit million-dollar sponsorship budgets but have already exhausted their sporting potential at a rather low level, Schumacher suddenly holds good cards. The other rookies Caio Collet and Dennis Hauger lack sponsorship money to buy into a team like MSR.

So far, so good. The only thing missing to convince Jim Meyer and Mike Shank was a good result from Schumacher on a road or street course. Markham was the perfect opportunity to deliver exactly that, because RLL was competitive across all three cars for the first time this season. But then came the crash in lap 14.

It was the third time this season that Mick Schumacher lost his nerves in a promising position. The other two times were the Indianapolis Grand Prix, when he spun Santino Ferrucci, and Road America, when he braked too late at a restart and had to change the square-worn tire. Some might add Detroit, but there radio problems were involved and his tires were not up to temperature.

In all cases, he misjudged a duel and ruined a possible top result. This time it was an “unforced error” at rather moderate speed, as he himself said, in the early phase of a “survival” race.

Will Tsunoda shake up the driver market?

With Tsunoda, a driver now comes into play who can not only match him in terms of speed but also, thanks to his long-standing connection to Honda Racing Corporation (HRC), could presumably settle any financial demands in one fell swoop.

HRC US, the American branch of HRC Global, will tie its IndyCar charter for 2028 to MSR. The arrangement directly connects to the joint factory effort of Acura and MSR in the IMSA SportsCar Championship, which will be paused after the 2026 season.

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Tsunoda already drove an IndyCar for show purposes ahead of the 2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix. When asked about a possible engagement back then, the now 26-year-old said: “If a good opportunity arises at the right time, I would like to do it.” The only open question with Tsunoda would be how he would perform on ovals.

“I like the USA, so I could definitely live here. For the moment, though, I can’t imagine driving 350 km/h for more than two hours at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. That’s really scary. So I am not thinking about IndyCar right now, but why not in the future?”

Tsunoda is not the only contender for the seat. Callum Ilott would also be a candidate, who will watch the 2026 IndyCar series from the sidelines due to the abrupt end of the Prema engagement. However, he is only said to have a budget of two to three million US dollars.

On the other hand, there is the junior series Indy NXT, whose champion receives a scholarship of 850,000 dollars for the following IndyCar season. However, no new standout is pushing through in the IndyCar junior league this season.

Points leader Enzo Fittipaldi, after three and a half years in Formula 2 with a best ranking of seventh place, is not exactly considered the next Alex Palou. He won four of the 14 races so far. The other wins were distributed among six other drivers, none of whom has more than two season wins. Not exactly a generation producing champions.

Foster: Have confirmation from RLL to stay

For a long time, there were indications that RLL and Schumacher might buy Louis Foster out of his long-term contract at Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. Because Schumacher and Rahal form a good unit and prefer the same setups on the car, while Foster goes his own way.

In addition, Schumacher is said to have impressed the team with his work behind the scenes and thus also contributed to Rahal’s podiums. It would make sense from a sporting point of view for RLL to pay Foster a severance and keep Schumacher.

But in Markham, Louis Foster suddenly affirmed: “I have a contract and also received the promise [that it will continue].” He promptly had a very strong weekend, took pole position, but then crashed in the race in a similar way to Schumacher. It looks like the dice have been cast at RLL.

Mick Schumacher makes no secret of the fact that he would like to stay loyal to the IndyCar series. “I really like these cars and I am here to stay,” he said already in July in the podcast SpeedStreet by Conor Daly – ironically the very driver who will take over his car, which will then be run under the charter of Dreyer & Reinbold Racing.

If MSR now decides against Mick Schumacher, there would still be options for the German at Juncos, A.J. Foyt Enterprises, where Santino Ferrucci is under pressure for results, and Dale Coyne Racing. However, these are seats that would not mean a step up compared to RLL, quite the opposite of Meyer Shank Racing.

Mick Schumacher’s best application letter would still be a good result on a road or street course. The chances for that are now rapidly decreasing, as only Washington D.C. next weekend and the finale at Laguna Seca Raceway remain on the schedule. The other two races take place in Milwaukee on an oval. (IndyCar calendar 2026)

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