Mick Schumacher

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This is Off-Track.

Hello, guys, and welcome to a Tuesday episode of Off-Track with Hinch and Rossi.

We've got all of us here.

Oh, wait.

No, we don't.

Because apparently James is the first person on earth to move.

He's really dragging this out.

Apparently, it's never been done before.

So he's on a new frontier, so he's going to try and join from the car, but he's

not really going to be able to.

So basically, he's moving to a different neighborhood, which apparently has better internet, but it's

not getting off to a very good start.

I'll believe it when I see it.

Not getting off to a very good start for our boy.

But anyways, Tim and I are the professional ones on this podcast anyways.

So we've got a cool episode for you.

Mick Schumacher was kind enough to join us to talk about his journey to IndyCar

and what he thinks about it so far, especially going round and round in circles.

So enjoy.

First of all, Mick, thank you for taking the time.

Obviously, it's a busy week heading into your first IndyCar race down in St. Pete.

So before we talk about that, why don't you introduce yourself?

I'm sure a lot of people know who you are, have an idea of who you are, but just

give us a quick background of your racing career and what brought you to IndyCar.

Yeah.

So my name is Mick Schumacher.

I've been racing pretty much my whole life.

And yeah, most recently, I swapped over to IndyCar and I'm really excited about the

first race coming up.

Before that, I was in the World Endurance Championship, before that in Formula One.

And before that, Formula Two, Formula Three, and Formula Four, and Vokarts.

So yeah, the steps I went through pretty much all the categories to make my way to F1 and

then moved around a lot and got a lot of experience in different places and different

tracks, different conditions, sharing a car, not sharing a car.

So yeah, it's been really interesting the way here.

Excited to go into St. Pete and make my first IndyCar experience there on a proper

event.

And yes, see what that is all about.

So obviously, you talk about your career trajectory and being in Europe, obviously

the goal seemingly was Formula One, especially with your family's background.

Was IndyCar something that you kind of paid attention to from afar, or you just knew

about it and didn't really understand all of the variables, if you will, until you

kind of started to get over here?

Yeah, I mean, you grew up learning about it and hearing about it, but it was never

really something that I would follow super closely, as I guess, you know, time

zones and stuff were pretty difficult to match it up with what I was doing anyways

at the time.

You know, and once the whole situation with F1 became a bit more complicated,

you know, more and more teams were reaching out to me, where I was

obviously still in the trajectory of having good conversations with F1 teams

and, you know, the hope was still there to kind of go back.

So I kind of always, you know, kind of not looked at it as a real option until,

I guess, not last year, but the year before, where, you know, I was like kind

of more interested in it, learning a bit more about it and seeing also how

competitive it was, you know, kind of just trying to understand a bit more

about it, but now coming over here, you kind of learn so much more in detail

what it actually means to be driving an Indy car and how tough it is, but

also, you know, how tough and challenging it is, but also how I guess how

fun the championship is in itself.

Like the people working here are just amazing to work with.

They're really, you know, ambitious on the racing side of things.

And, you know, it feels very much like a raw motorsport environment, which

is, you know, I guess something rare to find in some places.

And I felt like here it was really just obvious that that was the kind

of thing that was happening.

So yeah, it's good to hear you say that because I think everyone that

has made the transition from whether it's Formula One or DTM or whatever,

right, the European model of racing and they come to IndyCar and they

realize that, yes, while politics and the business side of it are important,

it's not kind of the be all or end all, right?

People are here because they're passionate about the sport.

They're passionate about coming to the track and fighting for a chance

to win each weekend, which is ultimately, right, what we all fell

in love with as kids.

So to hear you kind of already experience that before your first

race is amazing because I think that's, that's what attracts so many

people to IndyCar and then keeps them here is because it's like, man,

I'm just loving what I'm doing all over again.

So yeah, but what would you know about that?

Well, other people I've heard.

So what, what was kind of the moment for you?

You've done, you've done a test at the Indy Road course.

You obviously did the test at Sebring.

We'll get into your oval kind of foray here in a minute.

But like, was there a moment at either of those two road course

tests where you're like, man, this is actually awesome.

And I'm super excited to be here.

I mean, I guess I would be the whole preparation of the Indy Road course.

You know, we went through so many in-depth kind of conversations

of, you know, preparing that test.

And it just showed me that, you know, there's, there's a lot to it.

And, and the whole test itself in Indy went really well.

I feel like, you know, the car is pretty fun to drive.

It's maybe a little underpowered here and there.

I guess I have to say that.

But what would you, what would you compare the car to?

Like things that you've driven in the past, what would you say?

I guess an F2 car just with better tires.

Sure.

Okay.

So I feel like, you know, if we bumped it up with like maybe 100 or 200

horsepower and got the weight down a little bit, I think that'd be pretty good.

And I mean, I guess that's kind of the transition that the future car is going into.

So that would be, that would be pretty, pretty fun to see.

And you were in love 10 years ago.

Yeah.

You know, it seems like that car has been around for so many years.

I mean, from what I understand, this chassis has been around for like, what?

12 years.

And I feel like 15 years.

Okay.

I don't like to draw too much attention to that part.

Yeah.

About 12 years too many is the correct answer.

Right.

Yeah.

Um, but you know, I think that it's a, it's a, it's a fun car.

It's good that the safety is going up and you can see that like everybody's

involved really trying to go that direction.

So that's great.

Um, but yeah, I guess with, with weight and stuff, it's, it's quite tough.

But anyways, like the, in the, in the road course, like really gave

me a good, fun, uh, experience where I was seriously considering it.

The only thing I didn't know was an oval.

So how does an oval work?

Right.

Um, and that was probably the only thing that stopped me from saying, okay,

let's do it right away.

I just had to understand a bit better of what it was, how it was working,

what are the safety measurements that have been taken like care of, let's

say in the, in the close, uh, past that, that kind of evolved it to

what it is today.

And, and, you know, once I understood that, there was really nothing

in my way to try and come over here.

So, so let's dive into that a little bit.

You, you talk about how, you know, you wanted to learn a little bit more

about the oval side of things.

Ultimately, the test you did was on a road course and, you know, you signed

up to do the series before you ever drove on an oval.

You've done that now.

We'll talk about that in a sec, but what was it that you sort of learned

or saw or figured out just from the road course test that made you

comfortable and confident to kind of proceed with, with doing the whole season?

You know, I had a lot of people out here to talk to.

I had Graham to talk to, um, Jay Frye.

I would say, you know, he was the one who was really involved in, in

all safety side of things.

So hearing them kind of, you know, explain the whole measurements

taken play, taken care of, uh, or the, the whole things that we

took care of to, to try and make it safer.

Um, pretty kind of late, let's say I understood the ambition of the

series and, um, yeah, I hadn't done a test yet.

I hadn't had any sort of experience on an oval, but already alone from

hearing that, but also the preparation that the team has gone through

with me for the Indian road course, I knew that I would be well prepared

for my first test in Homestead.

Well, I kind of want to get into, into that test in Homestead.

So obviously not a track that we race at, um, mile and a

halfs are known to be pretty, um, intimidating for, for everyone,

regardless of if it's your first day or your 10th year, right?

Um, so what was your kind of like nerves and mindset going into that?

And then like roughly how long do you think it took before you kind of

got comfortable and realize, all right, this is ultimately just a bunch

of ISP corners attached to each other and nothing crazy is happening.

Like what was the walk us through the progression kind of of your day there?

Well, I guess I didn't know that people would be afraid of all

like cautious of it in the first place.

So I kind of went in a bit with an oblivion, um, and really not maybe

a bit more of a naive approach to it as well.

That's sometimes good.

Yeah.

Um, and you know, I, I guess the main thing that I was, uh, unsure

about was where, where was my, where I was on the track, essentially.

Like that was the thing that I was struggling in most in the beginning

is where am I now on the pit straight or am I on the back straight?

Yeah.

Um, and once I figured that out, I felt like I kind of got a hang of, okay,

I know that I'm now in turn one and two or three and four.

And you know, understood how to approach these corners

because they are different, right?

And that's one thing in Europe.

I guess we're very much taught that every, every oval is the same,

essentially, but just, you know, aligned a bit differently.

And you kind of learned that every corner on an oval is different.

So, um, that's one thing that I was kind of getting used to.

Um, and you know, I guess initially, uh, we were, because we

haven't driven in homestead for so long, we kind of were a bit

further off with the setup than what we wanted to be.

So we were pretty loose in some of the corners.

Was it, was it fairly easy for you to feel like being loose,

because I remember when Fernando came over and was my teammate, uh,

for the 500, like he kept saying, oh, it's understeer, understeer, understeer.

And then you'd look at like the onboarding, look at the data and be like, bro,

you're, you know, you're good.

Like you're, you're pretty much at the limit of, of kind of being too free.

Did you kind of already figure out what that line was?

Are we just letting that subtle flex go Fernando, my teammate?

For one event.

Yeah.

Um, was, did you, did you, were you able to read into the balance pretty

quickly or did that take some like help from Graham or, or the engineers

looking at data?

No, it was pretty apparent because I did get some snaps going into the corner.

And I think, you know, it was pretty clear that it was loose at that point.

Um, but you know, I think once we got into a, in a better window, I

started to feel like what it was actually supposed to be doing.

Um, but I only really understood what setup effects you had coming to

Phoenix, you know, like changing through so many different approaches,

different setup options.

Um, and also really to have a little understanding of what driver preference

I had for my car, let's say in homestead, uh, even though it was

only a day and pretty much a half day because of tires, I, I still kind

of got a good understanding of what I wanted from the car to feel from the car.

And, uh, and so in Phoenix, we kind of confirmed some of that and, and

like understood some, some different parts, which, which were really beneficial

to me to like, you know, get the next step of understanding, okay, what

are the limitations?

What are the things that we need to work on?

Um, and, and so yeah, there's, there's a bunch of things that I'm

still learning today, but overall I feel like I'm quite confident in being

able to express my feelings and hopefully have a good, you know, result

in terms of set up changes that we, that we won't go through and, and

you're going to go for it.

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apply.

Well I mean I have to agree with that right because you talk about

Phoenix you mentioned how you know ovals are so unique from from

once the next it doesn't get much more dramatic of a shift in going

from a homestead to a Phoenix and for the listeners that didn't

really follow along with the test or look at the end results you

ended up I think 15th 16th but regardless it was like three

three and a half tents off so it was super tight from the top to

the bottom and I think that as as your first time on a short

oval which quite honestly are more challenging than the bigger

ovals just in terms of the commitment and bravery if you will

that you need to have like I think that was incredibly impressive

so so clearly what you're saying in terms of getting an idea in

homestead and starting to know the direction you want to go with

the car that that did translate but I want to know like this was

the first time on oval with other cars were you able to kind of

experience that at all and how much of an effect that ends up

yeah I mean definitely you know I guess it was a little cautious

overall throughout the test because I you know I guess you guys

you know how to approach things how to you know if you have a

checkup what you have to do what reactions you have to have I

didn't right so I was taking things very cautiously and and

trying to to understand what gaping you need to have where

you need to sit and I'm sure that there's still a lot to

come in terms of knowledge of that bit like that side of

things one thing that I've I guess noticed was yes you have a

washout but it's not really the washout that is the issue it's

the marbles you can't see yeah right so those those marbles

they're super invisible and you know when you drive and like

it really doesn't take much to get on to them and if you

do like your tire I mean my tire set was pretty much

dirty for at least four or five laps after right so you

got to experience them you actually got a little high in

the gray and yeah yeah I mean like I had I guess it was

Christian who who lifted off to get a better run I guess and I

just checked up on it and I just like washed out essentially

and yeah I guess that you know getting the understanding of

that will probably my my learning curve will probably

be very steep once I go into the race weekend I mean it's

a short race weekend we only have two days on track and

essentially you'll see I want to get two laps and

qualifying right so I I'd need to to adapt to things

pretty quickly good thing is I had the opportunity to try

out some things in in a test such as long run but also as

the qualifying simulations and you know I think we were you

know we're all racing drivers so I wasn't satisfied with

seeing myself in p15 I thought there were there was more in

it and and we know there is more in it so but we know

that as a team and collectively we've we've kind of

improved our whole package and that's that's great right so

we know we're doing something right and we just got to keep

working on it keep keep chipping away and I think yeah if

we do all that will probably be in a pretty solid position

and you know hopefully be a bit out of that mid pack which

is usually the most dangerous part to be in on a race

track I guess is the same in ovals I think you'll you'll

continue to to learn to to love it especially when you get

to May and and that's really when you'll get a lot of time

you know you have so much track time is there a lot of

practice for the 8500 or something there's there's

there's a little bit Tim so you you really start to get

the cadence of of how that timing works and everything

so before we get into to St. Pete and and kind of

expectations just just tell everyone like you know you

kind of alluded to the fact RLL short ovals have not

been you know they're they're strong suit for the past

couple of years that obviously has nothing to do with you

but you're getting to work super closely now obviously with

Graham and and Louie walk us through your relationship

with them and and Graham's like such an amazing teammate

to have with with him seeing the the changes of the

organization and the changes of the series and and

everything like how are you using him to kind of speed

up your progression yeah I mean I guess that comes

naturally you know we all we always love talking about

racing I mean we don't only talk about racing but I

think overall you know racing is obviously the thing we

love the most so we do and and you know Graham as

said has so many interesting not only theories but

also like evidences throughout the years to to see how

the development goes what you know direction the car

is doing how the car feels what the car should be

like and I think he simply also knows so well

what changes to make to get the feeling that he wants

um and that's something that I'm still learning obviously the car is very

different to what we have all that not very different but

the the ways you describe the things and the changes you would make

and the way they're called is very different here than they are in

Europe right so um to to learn all these new

vocabularies is important to me and and Graham's very very good at

you know explaining them and that's why like when we're in Phoenix I was

sitting at Graham's spot and just listening to him talk about his debrief

like in the car his debrief and the way he would explain it and

and hear about it um on the other with Louis because he you know he had the

experience last year but he's still also pretty fresh like he

you know I can see the like where he is I can see what Graham is and I can

kind of tell where I am right so in terms of knowledge and in terms of

approaches and and um you know I think that's something that is

is very good for me to have this like comparison um

and also to just hear what they say but yeah the Indy 500 for example like

you know Louis was explaining me his first experience with it and

that was pretty intense he said so um you know I guess I go in

in with a certain well I definitely go in with a certain amount of respect

but I also go in with a certain amount of

uh kind of type feeling that I know that I might not be right there in the

beginning but I know that I'll build up to yeah um luckily now more than I

guess a couple years back you know simulators become better simulators

are uh have the ability to to to do the um you know to

simulate the wake from another car and stuff like that so I get to run the

procedures through beforehand before I

actually go into drive which then helps me to maybe not think too much about those

but actually think more about driving and and about what the car is doing on

track yeah yeah for sure it's um it's obviously a

tool that all of us use and and certainly um for for rookies or guys in

their second year like it's it's it's pivotal and and and accelerating that

has Graham got it I gotta know has Graham tried to sell you a car yet

or are you guys not there I've actually uh I've actually approached him uh

I need a car

better to ask than uh than Graham in this case that's true um all right so

st pete is is just around the corner um obviously in in formula one formula two

etc like they do race on street courses but as most of us know uh street courses

in indycar are a little bit different in terms of the uh let's just say quality

of the surface um st pete probably is actually you're starting off with kind of

our best so you're welcome there um what was even though seabring isn't

a street course we kind of use it for for street course testing was

was that eye-opening at all and and what are your thoughts going into st pete

in terms of you know expectations what would you like what would be a

successful weekend for you and and what do you hope to accomplish

you know I think everybody says that I guess the tracks are pretty rough and stuff

but people forget that f3 went to po and mccavel yeah so you know those two tracks are

like robust and pretty violent to drive and those cars you know you could push them

pretty far so I guess like it wasn't a total shock I guess coming from f1 yeah this has

been a shock yes but having had the f3 experience was was pretty fine

um and you know I guess seabring the main thing to me which was very clear is how

different the groups are from you know track surfaces because we have so many

different track surfaces that you have to sometimes just trust that the car will

grip up once you get into the corner but it's a fight before that um and and yeah I

guess we we found that the seabring tested in itself you know it took me quite a while to get

to get comfortable because my driving style is a bit different to to both louis and grames

so my set about like my set of preferences go in a in a very different direction

and um and like so basically that took me a while to get you know the car into into a good

place once I did I felt a lot more comfortable and a lot more confident now I heard and you know

some of the corners and in seabring a very clear kind of comparisons to how seabring is going to be

as a saint pete is going to be um and so going to saint pete I think we know what we have to do to

to hopefully have a good starting base because I think that's the most important part is

to start the weekend on the right foot so that you don't you know chase after it the

whole time for sure so give us quickly expectations like what what um I mean obviously yes you want to

win you want to be on pole for sure like we're all going to say that what is what is a good weekend

for for mick and rll in in race debut you know what I probably wouldn't say that because I think

that would be a bit you know uh cocky and and probably blown up to to do that and say that

to go in into my first race we'll keep it amongst friends nobody listens to this show yeah um no I know

that like you know everybody out there's got so much talent and and you know I'm very acquainted

with with the car it's a very specific car to drive I guess for myself and and the team

you know looking at it for our first race weekend we're probably gonna say more like

if we're able to get through all the procedures from fp1 like even from setup day to to the end

of the race and we do everything the right way and the way we envisioned it to ourselves I think

that would be a good weekend um obviously results would be great to to have some you know come in

into the top 10 whatever like you know it's hard to put a number to it but overall I think if

we're confident that we've done everything right that we've uh approached a weekend right and that

we did the the right changes at the right moment I think that would be very positive obviously

strategy is a big part of it so like from my side to to really work on the on the fuel targets

and all that stuff is very important so you know that would be something that I would definitely

set as a as a high target for me to to be able to be good on that to hit my marks to to do everything

I have to do to give the team the best option to also perform yeah those are all things that I'm

thinking about and which are going to make a weekend a good weekend listen I don't I don't

think there's a better answer than that quite frankly so um we'll end on that note thank you

for the time and I'm really happy to hear that that's so far this has been such a positive

experience I think that will only continue to grow as you get into you know the various tracks

we go to get into the racing the racing in my mind is some of the best in the world and

I think you're really going to enjoy it so appreciate it and we'll see you out there in a

couple days this has been off track with Hinch and Rossi off track is part of the Sirius XM

sports podcast network if you enjoyed this episode and want to hear more please give a

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unlimited two percent cash rewards on purchases just use the active cash visa credit card from

well's fargo and tap to pay with that natural born talent and unwavering focus or an unlimited

two percent cash rewards on purchases with the active cash visa credit card from wells fargo

terms apply visit wells fargo dot com slash active cash visa proud sponsor of the olympics and

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batteries for a dead remote or a last minute gift it is handled try walmart express delivery

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Mick Schumacher

About this episode

IndyCar

World Endurance Championship

Formula One

karting

Formula Two

Formula Three

Formula Four

DTM

road course

Sebring

oval racing

horsepower

chassis

short oval

washout

marbles

Plymouth P15

Indy 500

simulator

street course

F3 (Formula 3)

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