St. Petersburg, Fla. — Mick Schumacher’s INDYCAR debut was over after three turns.
The former Formula 1 driver saw Sting Ray Robb and Santino Ferrucci locked up ahead of him and he had nowhere to go as they slammed into a tire barrier in the opening lap Sunday of the season-opening St. Petersburg Grand Prix.
Schumacher’s car ended up on top of the rear of Ferrucci’s car, ending both of their days. Robb was able to continue but was issued a 30-second penalty for avoidable contact.
Mick Schumacher discusses his early exit Sunday after a crash in St. Pete.
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The 26-year-old former Formula 1 driver was disappointed but philosophical after his last-place finish.
“That’s racing,” Schumacher told me and other reporters outside the INDYCAR medical unit. “So it’s very unfortunate. As a team, we’re really needed that race to kind of get everything sorted and not have doubts going into the next event.
“But hey, we’ve got 16 or 17 more races to go. It’s just the first one. It’s just the start of it. And I’m very excited for the rest of the season.”
Schumacher said he saw Ferrucci lock up and just had no time to react.
“Sting Ray seemed like he went a little deeper than what’s supposed to be and that kind of chain-reactioned the whole scenario” Schumacher said. “Unfortunately, our real target was to finish the race, get all the laps in. We got even less than that. So very unfortunate.”
Although Schumacher had started 21st in the 25-car field, his Rahal Letterman Lanigan team seemed pleased with his weekend up to the start of the race. He didn’t get a clean lap in qualifying, something that can be difficult to manage.
The tough part for Schumacher — son of seven-time F1 champion Michael Schumacher — is now he heads to the March 7 race at Phoenix Raceway, a 1-mile oval. He has never competed on an oval in any form of motorsports. Schumacher has had tests at the 1.5-mile Homestead-Miami Speedway and Phoenix in the last month.
“I’m still happy all the knowledge that we gained throughout this weekend, and things we can definitely take forwards and take it to Phoenix,” Schumacher said. “I’m looking ahead, not looking back, going to try to understand what we could have done better on our end.
Alex Palou takes the checkered flag at Firestone Grand Prix.
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“Qualifying maybe being one of them — we were blocked, [in qualifying] so we kind of lost our bit of a momentum and kind of being in a better pack. When you’re starting in the back, things end up being quite difficult and tough anyways, but I think this just made it extra difficult for us.”
Robb told me he didn’t really know what happened but agreed with the penalty that he could have avoided the situation.
“I deserved it, I think,” Robb said. “I’m sorry to the 47 crew [of Schumacher], the 14 crew [of Ferrucci]. It’s just one of those days where it’s a shame to be a part of it. … Lap 1 – you’ve got to get through. We didn’t.”
Ferrucci was frustrated that his day ended and Robb was able to continue.
“We all sit around and talk about it at driver intros — it’s taking easy Lap 1,” Ferrucci told me and other reporters. “And for whatever reason, there’s a few of us that do that, and then there’s a couple of us that just forget where the brake zone is.
“It’s a bummer.”
Ferrucci and Schumacher know the one thing they potentially could have done came well before Sunday.
“For us, the key takeaway here is qualify higher up,” Schumacher said. “Simple as that.”
Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.
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