Mick Schumacher has a lot of options when it comes to advice in preparation for his first Indianapolis 500.
In the midst of a rookie campaign in the IndyCar Series with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL), the 27-year-old German has already been able to lean on the likes of veteran Graham Rahal, driver coach and 2012 Indy 500 pole-sitter Ryan Briscoe, along with team co-owner and 1986 Indy 500 champion Bobby Rahal.
Since the Indy 500 Open Test in April, though, Schumacher has another resource in two-time Indy 500 Takuma Sato, who is back for another one-off with RLL after leading the most laps in last year’s race.
With the plethora of information likely hitting Schumacher like he’s drinking through a firehose, it’s a curious topic in understanding how he absorbs and applies it all.
“I guess you can try and take whatever works best for you,” said Schumacher. “I've been talking a lot to Graham, Ryan especially. I feel like he's been obviously on my stand, so that's been very helpful. I don't have to go back to these guys [pointing to Sato, Graham Rahal and teammate Louis Foster] and talk to them whilst they're in the car. That definitely helps.
“I think overall, like the whole team has just been really good at not overloading me with information. I think that's also one thing that I've been told right at the start is, make sure you funnel it down to what really matters. A lot of people will come up to you and try and help you, which is really nice, great to be in a position like that. I think it's better that way than the other way around.
“Yeah, no, I learned a lot. It's also about making this experience. Everyone can tell you what it feels like, but actually you're only going to know once you've experienced it.
“The first day was really not great. I felt pretty uncomfortable in the car. Then the next day we felt a lot better. It's progress. Obviously wind and conditions have a lot of impact on how the car feels. I definitely felt that.”
Schumacher qualified 27th for Sunday’s 110th edition of “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing,” the highest among all rookies after AJ Foyt Racing’s first-year driver Caio Collet’s time was disallowed after officials found an issue with the car after qualifying.
“Unfortunately, it felt like we lost a little bit of speed during qualification,” said Schumacher, son of seven-time Formula 1 champion Michael Schumacher.
“We weren't quite on it. I think there were a couple things here and there, which we found out yesterday that were maybe not a hundred percent.
“Obviously taking that into account, we kind of look ahead to the race now. I think we have a good understanding of what we need to do to be better there and hopefully come back through the field and go forward.”
