Michael Schumacher ‘too dangerous’ worry unearthed as Mick responds to Indycar oval fears

Mick Schumacher has been confirmed for the full IndyCar 2026 calendar, a series which both his father Michael Schumacher, and more recently his uncle Ralf, called “too dangerous”.

Mick will race in IndyCar next year with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL), ovals included, but has had “good conversations” with people ahead of making the decision, while he stressed that danger is present throughout motorsport.

Mick Schumacher on IndyCar: ‘Motorsport in a whole is dangerous’

Next year, Mick will make his return to single seater racing with RLL, having spent time as a Mercedes and McLaren F1 reserve, as well as racing sportscars, since losing his Haas F1 seat at the end of 2022.

With that move confirmed, comments made by his father – the iconic seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher –  about IndyCar, have resurfaced.

“First of all, it’s a step down from Formula 1, and second, it’s too dangerous,” Michael said of IndyCar in 2002.

“The speed you do, that close to the walls — if you have an accident, there is no way a chassis can survive a certain way of having a crash.

“That means your legs are going to be heavily damaged, or even further. I don’t see any point in that. I have nothing to prove there, I don’t see a challenge in it.

“Usually the people who cannot survive in Formula 1, they go to Indy. People coming from Indy hardly survive in Formula 1.”

Mick’s uncle Ralf, meanwhile, said ahead of Mick’s Indianapolis road course test with RLL that “I don’t really understand” Mick’s burning desire for single-seaters leading him to trying IndyCar.

Ralf also said that he would now allow his son David – also a racing driver – to compete in IndyCar as it would be “too dangerous”.

However, Mick will be a full-time IndyCar driver in 2026, so was asked to explain the process which led him to this decision.

“Ultimately, for me, it was just interesting to exploit that single seater route again and kind of be more settled in it,” he told PlanetF1.com and other media outlets.

“I think to me, then, IndyCar was the best option.

“I just had to kind of confirm it to me and to everybody around me that this is something that I can see myself doing for the long term, and therefore, I think that the decision making process was pretty simple.

“It was just trying to figure out, ‘Okay, how committed would I be?’ Obviously, I wouldn’t be here if I wouldn’t be 100 per cent committed. So, yeah, I’m very excited for it. I think it’s a great championship.”

“Looking forward to the oval testing,” he added. “It’s something that still is on the cards, and trying to explore that.

“But to me, it was important not to do like a half thing, but actually go in and do it 100 per cent and therefore, ovals are part of that.

“I’ve had good conversations with people around who, you know, had good and bad views on it, and I just kind of had to make an average out of that, and yeah, decided for myself.”

Considering the previous comments from Michael and Ralf, it was put to Mick that there is a perception within Formula 1 of increased danger when it comes to IndyCar.

Mick was asked whether this is something which he weighed up.

Romain Grosjean, another former Haas driver, did not take part in the oval events in his first IndyCar season, while reigning four-time world champion Max Verstappen has also previously expressed a reluctance regarding racings on ovals.

“Yeah, of course, it’s something that I’ve been thinking about,” said Mick. “But on the other hand, I think motorsport in a whole is dangerous, so I don’t really see why, particularly, that one thing should be more dangerous than anything else.

“Obviously, there’s been multiple things – and Jay [Frye, RLL team president] has been a big part of that – in making oval racing or just racing in IndyCar safer. And therefore we’ve had multiple conversations about that, and they’ve all been positive in my ears, and so therefore, that’s why I ultimately took the decision.

“Of course, it’s not to be taken on the easy shoulder. I don’t take it on the easy shoulder. I think that it is crazy speeds. It’s super quick. We’re obviously racing hard side-by-side, but I accept the risk for the enjoyment of the racing sake.”

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Frye would provide details on the testing programme which is being pieced together for Mick, which will include various oval tests.

“We’ve thought about how to divide it up,” he said. “So it’s probably going to be four oval tests, two road courses, and then one street course, which would be Sebring.

“So three of those have been already scheduled, and the other ones, we’re kind of working on now to see how it fits throughout the race calendar too. So it’ll probably be four, two and one.”

Mick is set to partner Graham Rahal and Louis Foster at RLL in his rookie IndyCar campaign.

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