Rahal Letterman Lanigan adds Mick Schumacher, son of seven-time world champ, to 2026 IndyCar lineup

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INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Mick Schumacher is coming to America to jump-start his racing career.

The son of seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher will compete in the IndyCar Series next season for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, team officials announced Monday, less than two months after he drove for the team at an open test on Indianapolis Motor Speedway's 14-turn, 2.439-mile road course.

Mick Schumacher will drive the No. 47 car as a tribute to his father, who suffered a traumatic brain injury in a skiing accident in 2013, and will have Graham Rahal and 2025 Rookie of the Year Louis Foster as teammates.

The 26-year-old Schumacher wanted a fresh start after his once-promising Formula 1 career was derailed.

He won the Formula 2 championship in 2020, then jumped to F1 in 2021 and made 43 career starts but never finished higher than sixth.

The poor results and expensive crashes cost him his job. In 2023, the Swiss-born driver became a reserve driver for Mercedes-AMG Petronas while also competing for Mercedes' entry in the FIA World Endurance Series each of the past two seasons. He had three podium finishes in the endurance series.

But now he's leaving Europe for something different.

“I’ve been interested in doing a test in Indy for a while now, and I did see some of the guys that race full time at some of the F1 events across the past two years and they always said how fun it was,” he said at the October test. “So I just wanted to see what the car felt like and so far, so good. The people are very great to work with."

Schumacher is well acquainted with road and street courses, which make up 11 of next season's 17-race schedule. But he has not raced on ovals and the schedule features six of those, including the series' biggest event — the Indianapolis 500 on May 24.

The season opens March 1 on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida.

Michael Schumacher won five of the seven F1 races held on Indy's road course that has been changed since the series last competed at the Brickyard.

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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing