Mick Schumacher 'still burns' for single-seaters despite WEC switch

Mick Schumacher insisted that racing single-seaters is “still something I burn for” as he gears up for a maiden IndyCar test next month.  

The veteran of 43 Formula 1 starts, who has raced sportscars for Alpine in the World Endurance Championship for the past two seasons, suggested that competing in the IndyCar Series is an option to revive his single-seater career.

Asked if racing single-seaters remains an itch that he wants scratch, Schumacher replied: “One hundred per cent – I have always wanted to do single-seaters.  

“Sportscars has been fun, [but] single-seaters is something I burn for and I love, and I am excited to get back into it.” 

The German has picked up three podiums so far in his two-year stint with Alpine, but when questioned on whether his try-out with the Rahal team on the Indianapolis road course next month could be a prelude to a switch of racing codes for 2026, he described IndyCar as “a great option”.  

“IndyCar has some great talent, and you can see that the races are pretty fun and there are a lot of battles going on,” he said at last weekend’s Fuji WEC round.  

“Also, lots of guys out there I have raced against in the junior formulae, and it will be interesting to see them. 

“I do want to try out some different classes. 

“I think it will be very different to this [racing in Hypercar in the WEC], but also, I guess, different to F1.”  

Mick Schumacher has made the podium three times since starting his WEC career

Photo by: Andreas Beil

The 26-year-old also intimated that he has time to return to sportscar racing later in his career, saying, “I am still pretty young”. 

Schumacher will get his IndyCar try-out aboard a Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Dallara-Honda DW12 on the 2.44-mile roval at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway during a private test on 13 October.   

It will mark his return to the cockpit of a single-seater for the first time since the final year of his two-season stint in a Mercedes F1 test and reserve role last year. 

The announcement of the test by the Rahal last week came against a backdrop of rumours that Schumacher is looking beyond Alpine for 2026.

He is known to have been in discussion with the Jota Cadillac WEC squad about a drive in one of its Hypercar entries in a deal that could have been linked to a F1 reserve role with the US manufacturer as it enters F1 next year.