Mick Schumacher has reportedly got an offer to join IndyCar from Dale Coyne Racing. The team’s owner, Dale Coyne, confirmed talks of a potential seat for the German driver for next year. However, Mick Schumacher may follow in the footsteps of his father, Michael Schumacher, to snub IndyCar and pin his hopes on an F1 return.
Michael Schumacher once deemed IndyCar to be inferior to F1 and also called it too dangerous. While Mick Schumacher has issued no such statement, the 25-year-old has voiced previously how his priority would be to return to Formula 1.
About the IndyCar offer, Coyne mentioned at the Indy 500, as quoted by @junaidsamodien_ on Twitter (now X), “We’re talking to Mick Schumacher. He’s still pinning his hopes on the Alpine commitment. I would be happy if we got the chance.”
As in the case of Romain Grosjean, Dale Coyne tried to make contact. Apparently, there is an exchange with the German. “We’re talking to Mick Schumacher. He’s still pinning his hopes on the Alpine commitment. I would be happy if we got the chance.”#AMuS
— Junaid #JB17 (@JunaidSamodien_) May 31, 2024
Coyne also cited how multiple young drivers graduating from Formula 2 have not gotten a chance in F1. Besides Mick Schumacher, F2 prodigies like Theo Pourchaire, Felipe Drugovich, Frederik Vesti, and several others are waiting on the sidelines for a full-time F1 seat. Coyne would like to have them on the IndyCar grid.
However, Mick Schumacher‘s case is different. After having a mixed bag of two seasons with Haas, the German driver had to take the exit door in 2023. Since then, he has become the reserve driver for Mercedes. In 2024, Mick Schumacher also started to race for Alpine’s WEC HyperCar program.
Hence, his F1 return ambitions are also rested on Alpine. With both of the French team’s seats vacant for 2025, Mick Schumacher is aiming at securing either of those. Even Alpine boss Bruno Famin admitted that the 25-year-old is one of the candidates for next season, given Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly are reportedly in talks with other teams.
As a result, IndyCar might be the last resort for the former Haas driver. Besides, he may think about his father’s perspective of the American open-wheel series being more dangerous than F1.
Michael Schumacher’s perspective on IndyCar
Michael Schumacher once gave an interview and highlighted his perspective on IndyCar. When the interviewer asked him why he wouldn’t race in the open-wheel series across the pond, the seven-time champion had a nonchalant response of IndyCar and specifically the Indy 500 not being as challenging for him.
“First of all, it’s step down from Formula 1. And second, it’s too dangerous. 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”, the Ferrari legend stated.
The German former driver cited how one’s leg or any other body part could suffer severe damage and injury after crashing in IndyCar. Besides, he also mentioned how he had “nothing to prove” in that series, highlighting the lack of challenge in it for him.
Now, Michael Schumacher was not completely wrong about the dangers of IndyCar, considering the lack of advanced safety features when compared to F1. On top of that, crashes and collisions in IndyCar races are a lot more frequent than in Formula 1.
The reason behind it is IndyCar is a spec racing series with the cars and engines being relatively similar. Thus, the drivers competing closely with little to no big gaps across a race increases the risks of crashes and accidents on the track.
The Indianapolis 500 last week had numerous crashes and collisions that caused multiple stoppages in racing. And as it goes in motorsport, the cascading effect of incidents can cause more incidents at the restart.
