If anything can demonstrate how rough a season Mick Schumacher has had, it’s that he finished eighth Monday at Nashville Superspeedway … and remained 24th in the standings.
Considering there are only 25 drivers in the series, it shows that Schumacher’s season has been a struggle. And it begs the question: Will there be another?
It was announced Wednesday that Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing is going to sell one of its charters and scale back from three full-time cars to two. RLL didn’t announce its 2027 lineup, but both Graham Rahal and Louis Foster are under contract for 2027. That doesn’t mean one of those contracts can’t be broken, but the feeling in the INDYCAR paddock is that Schumacher is out of RLL after this season.
Does Schumacher want to stay in INDYCAR? Is there a place for Schumacher in the paddock? He potentially could secure the funding if needed. What is definitely needed is more seat time and seeing the small “wins” in a drivers’ growth.
Might Mick Schumacher be one and done in INDYCAR?
Racing at the top level of INDYCAR should be hard no matter the discipline a driver comes from. Schumacher has Formula 1 experience and no doubt can wheel a race car.
But racing in any series against drivers who are more familiar with the cars and the tracks is going to be a challenge, especially when some of the tracks are ovals — a discipline that Schumacher has had no experience prior to this season.
Schumacher has had a crashes in practice, which limited his much-needed track time. The Rahal Letterman Lanigan team has struggled on ovals, although that is where Schumacher has had his best results.
While he earned his first top-10 in his 12th race, Schumacher was quick to point out to me and others Monday that he felt the pace was always there.
“The pace overall this year has been showing that anyways,” Schumacher said.
Schumacher had a day when everything went well as far as execution. He felt if the car was a tick better, he might have finished even higher — although Nashville often is a track position game.
Rahal Letterman Lanigan isn’t considered one of the top elite teams — that would go to Ganassi, Penske, Andretti and McLaren — those organizations have won 11 of the 12 races this year and have eight of the top-10 spots in points.
RLL veteran Graham Rahal is 12th in the standings, Louis Foster (in his second season) is 18th and then Schumacher is 24th.
It would be a bit of a shame if Schumacher doesn’t do another year in INDYCAR. There will always be the “what if” when looking at his career because 18 races isn’t enough to evaluate a driver. Plus, going back to tracks a second time truly shows the potential of a driver if the driver can build on the previous performance, with the starting point of knowledge so much better.
Schumacher seemed positive Monday that he would find a ride. If he has funding, Michael Shank Racing and A.J. Foyt Racing would seem to potentially be the best opportunities.
“People know what they get, and obviously this hopefully will put it into the books that we are able to do this consistently,” he said. “I think there’s a high chance that I’ll be here next year.”
Let’s hope so. If INDYCAR wants more drivers to consider coming to the series, having “Schumacher spent only a year there and he then left, what a waste” storyline isn’t a great one. And for Schumacher himself, a second season would prove whether or not he has the potential to actually win races in this series.
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