Helmut Marko shares bittersweet feelings about Mick Schumacher's potential IndyCar move

Former F1 driver Mick Schumacher tested the IndyCar with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing earlier this month at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course. With a potential move to the American open wheel racing series being reported, Helmut Marko came out and shared a bittersweet feeling about the German's possible future in IndyCar.

With 2025 coming to an end, Mick Schumacher looked at the possibilities for a 2026 racing season. IndyCar came up as one of the options, and the German decided to test with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing at IMS. The 26-year-old shared a positive outtake after the test, with the rumor mill suggesting a possible move to the series in the future.

Amid this, Red Bull Racing advisor Helmut Marko came out and reacted to Mick Schumacher's potential IndyCar move. While Marko suggested it was a good step for the German's future, he did warn Schumacher about the danger of IndyCar oval racing.

“The series is a good series, it's very competitive. A good step for the German; he had a very encouraging test there. If he feels comfortable in America, learns the oval tricks – and he'll need a few races for that – then it will certainly go well,” said Helmut Marko (via sport.de) “That would be too dangerous for me," the 82-year-old said. "At an average speed of up to 340 km/h, there's a risk of serious accidents. In such a case, it's usually a major crash,” added the Red Bull advisor

F1 Grand Prix of Mexico - Practice - Source: Getty

Mick Schumacher won the F2 championship before signing with the Haas F1 team and racing in the pinnacle of motorsports. However, it wasn't easy for the German driver, given the pressure that came with his last name. Just after a couple of years, Schumacher was sacked by the team.

Mercedes CEO Toto Wolff then took Michael Schumacher’s son under his wing as the reserve driver for the team. Last year, Mick decided to move away from F1 and signed with Alpine's World Endurance Championship program.

The presence of Mick Schumacher's mother at the IndyCar test points to a “potential career path change”

Mick Schumacher didn't fly to the IndyCar test at IMS by himself and was accompanied by his mother Corinna, as well as a close family friend. Marshall Pruett, on his podcast, detailed that the IndyCar test with RLL didn't seem like a PR stunt, but had the feeling of a potential future move for Schumacher.

“You know, he's still a young person, but his mom flew out. Another family friend was there. This had the look and feel of we're taking a family-wide look at this potential career path change for young Mick,” said Marshall Pruett (32:20 onwards) “This had a real, we're going to look at a potential major shift for you and want mom to be there to look and give her real honest assessments as to whether this looks right, sounds right, etc,” he added

Pruett went on to detail how Schumacher and his mother had dinner with RLL boss Jay Frye & his wife Danielle, with Frye ensuring Corinna that he'd take care of her son in case he moves to US to race in IndyCar.

Edited by Pranay Bhagi