“So far, so good,” Mick Schumacher said Monday.

That’s how the son of legendary Formula One champion Michael Schumacher described his first NTT INDYCAR SERIES experience driving on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course in a car fielded by Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.

The 26-year-old former F1 driver arrived in Indianapolis late Friday and spent the weekend immersed with the team owned by Bobby Rahal, David Letterman and Mike Lanigan. Monday, Schumacher (photo, top) tested RLL’s No. 75 Honda in what was described as a potential trial run for his future.

The first love of the Swiss-born German is racing single-seat cars, and there haven’t been many opportunities in Europe since Schumacher’s final F1 race at the end of the 2022 season. Yes, he has been an F1 reserve driver the past couple of years, but his race-day sessions have only come in sports cars through the FIA’s World Endurance Championship.

Schumacher said conversations with other NTT INDYCAR SERIES drivers over the years have led him to the conclusion that racing in the U.S. might be appealing.

Mick Schumacher

“INDYCAR comes the closest to what I can still race,” Schumacher said during a midday break in Monday’s test. “I can’t go back to (Formula 2, which he won in 2020) because I won a championship. INDYCAR might be a good option.

“Obviously, my target the past couple of years has been to go back to Formula One, but that option hasn’t quite opened up this year or the years previous to that. So, at some point I want to race again in single-seaters, and therefore (this) option is a good one.”

Sebastien Bourdais and Mike Conway are among the NTT INDYCAR SERIES veterans whom Schumacher has raced against this year in WEC, and there have been plenty of other series veterans, like James Hinchcliffe, who pass through through the F1 paddock during the season.

Schumacher, who has made 43 F1 starts between 2021 and 2022, said the INDYCAR SERIES receives high praise from the drivers who have raced in it, and the love of the sport was something he felt in attending this year’s Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge.

“Frankly, it’s a great championship (with) 17 races,” Schumacher said. “I’m still young, so I do want to race as much as I can, and I think the people here really live motorsports. I also like the mentality of the driver being the main part of the team and (him) driving the team forward.”

RLL fielded cars this year for Graham Rahal, Devlin DeFrancesco and Rookie of the Year Louis Foster, but it could have a place for Schumacher if he wants it. Schumacher acknowledged that before any decision is made, he must decide where he wants to be in 2026.

“It’s a decision that lies with both sides, and I think obviously in this moment, I guess it’s mostly on my end because I have to figure out if I want to do (INDYCAR) or not,” he said. “We all have a couple of days and weeks to think about it and see what opportunities there are for the future.

“But so far, so good.”

Schumacher has no plans to test on an oval track, but he said he would be open to it, a noteworthy statement given that his father was not interested in doing so due to the high speeds and the walls.

“For sure, I’m interested to try it and see what it’s all about,” the younger Schumacher said. “I might as well (as) it’s what the (series) is about, and I think it would be wrong to just do one part of (the races). If I were to commit (to INDYCAR), I’d like to commit to it fully.”

Mick Schumacher

Schumacher’s day on the 14-turn, 2.439-mile IMS road course was shared with NTT INDYCAR SERIES veterans Alexander Rossi and Christian Rasmussen of Ed Carpenter Racing along with INDY NXT by Firestone products Caio Collet (AJ Foyt Racing), Dennis Hauger (Dale Coyne Racing), Lochie Hughes (Andretti Global) and James Roe (Juncos Hollinger Racing). However, it is not the same layout used by F1 when father won five races and four poles from 2000 through 2006.

Schumacher said he didn’t remember having attended any of his father’s IMS races – “You’d have to ask my mom,” he said, smiling – but he sounded like someone intrigued by the chance to start a new Schumacher era at the iconic facility.

“I’m happy to be here and happy to drive the car,” he said. “It’s fun (driving single seaters), that’s about it.

“I want to enjoy racing, and to do that I want to find where I feel most at home. I’m not saying Europe or WEC or any of those other championships aren’t that, but I feel maybe racing (single seaters) is always what I wanted to do.”