Mick Schumacher says learning to enter a corner without braking was \u201cone of the weird parts\u201d of his first IndyCar oval test at the Homestead-Miami Speedway.<\/p>\n
Schumacher is preparing for his first season in the US-based IndyCar Series with the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing team.<\/p>\n
Mick Schumacher completes first IndyCar oval test ahead of 2026 season<\/p>\n
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Add us as a preferred source on Google<\/a> to your favourites list for news you can trust<\/p>\n The son of seven-time F1 world champion Michael Schumacher made 43 F1 starts for the Haas team across 2021\/22 before becoming Mercedes\u2019 reserve driver in 2023.<\/p>\n He spent the 2024 and 2025 seasons competing for Alpine in the World Endurance Championship before turning his attention back to single-seater racing.<\/p>\n Schumacher carried out his first oval test in Miami this week, completing 97 laps and reaching a top speed of 194 miles per hour.<\/p>\n How the Indy 500 evolved Fernando Alonso\u2019s driving style<\/p>\n Revealed: Fernando Alonso\u2019s secret weapon in battles with F1 rivals<\/a><\/p>\n PlanetF1.com\u2019s Hall of Fame: Michael Schumacher \u2013 the beating heart of Ferrari<\/a><\/p>\n Five of the 18-round IndyCar season will take place on ovals in 2026 with the first scheduled to take place at Phoenix Raceway on March 7, one day before the start of the F1 2026 season in Australia.<\/p>\n The 2025 IndyCar season will start in St Petersburg on March 1 with the iconic Indianapolis 500 race set to take place on May 24.<\/p>\n In a statement issued by Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, Schumacher admitted that it took him some time to adjust to entering a corner without touching the brake pedal.<\/p>\n He said of the differences between an oval and traditional circuits:\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s different.<\/p>\n \u201cThe orientation was a bit of a difficulty at the beginning \u2013 like kind of knowing what side of the track I\u2019m on, which corner I was on at the moment.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter that, you get the hang of it. It\u2019s very new to me so I\u2019m just getting acquainted with the procedures, getting acquainted with how the car feels on track and I think we got a pretty good hang of it today. It can only go better from here.<\/p>\n \u201cI think one of the weird parts of coming to test on an oval for the first time was going into the corner without braking which was a very new thing.<\/p>\n \u201cApproaching the corner and still being pretty much flat out going into the corner without braking, and then bleeding off as you go into it, is something I had to get used to.<\/p>\n \u201cWe [IndyCar] haven\u2019t been driving on this track in so many years, so the approach and setup especially was very conservative, so we weren\u2019t quite in the right window at that point so everything felt a bit weird and awkward.<\/p>\n \u201cBut as we were getting into a better spot with the car, things started to feel a bit more natural and a bit more self-explanatory.<\/p>\n \u201cTowards the end I felt like I was in a very good spot in terms of confidence and how I was approaching the corners.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s a great place to come and do your first [oval] test.<\/p>\n \u201cThe weather is great and conditions are a bit tricky with the wind blowing and being gusty. It was a good place to start off and have your first experience.<\/p>\n \u201cI was definitely trying out different lines, either going on the high line or the low line, trying to see what the differences are.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was about trying to figure out what I could do before the first real test in Phoenix where everybody will be on track and I will get my first real experience with the other guys.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we are in a very good spot; everything is going really well. I think we\u2019re putting all of the puzzles together.<\/p>\n \u201cSo far already, in the first day, I didn\u2019t think we were going to be that far ahead of what I expected our starting point was going to be but we\u2019re definitely on a good track toward having everything sorted for the first race.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m very curious to see how its going to be with the other cars on track and feel that dirty air and the wash out that we\u2019ll get from that.<\/p>\n \u201cLots to learn still. By no means am I at the point where I can say I\u2019m very confident with everything but we\u2019re chipping away at things.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re making sure that we\u2019re getting ready for St. Pete now and, after that, we\u2019ll worry about the rest.<\/p>\n \u201cOverall, I think it was a good day; I think we got everything done that we wanted to.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause the track was so green, we had to be very specific with what we wanted to do in the runs because we only had four sets of tyres and ran through them pretty quickly.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m feeling prepared for what\u2019s to come at Phoenix but have lots to learn still. Great job by everybody on the team.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we can be really happy and proud of what we did today.\u201d<\/p>\n Schumacher\u2019s comments come after Zak Brown, the McLaren chief executive, left the door open to reuniting with Fernando Alonso<\/a> at the Indy 500.<\/p>\n Alonso entered the Indy 500 three times with McLaren between 2017 and 2020, recording a best result of 21st.<\/p>\n Alonso, who will turn 45 in July, is currently competing for the Aston Martin F1 team, but faces an uncertain future with his contract believed to expire at the end of this year.<\/p>\n Want to be the first to know exclusive information from the F1 paddock? Join our broadcast channel on WhatsApp<\/a> to get the scoop on the latest developments from our team of accredited journalists.<\/p>\n You can also subscribe to the PlanetF1 YouTube channel<\/a> for exclusive features, hear from our paddock journalists with stories from the heart of Formula 1 and much more!<\/p>\n