Mick Schumacher explains reason he rejected F1 opportunity after announcing new job

Mick Schumacher has revealed that he faced an internal choice between hunting for an F1 return as Cadillac's reserve driver next season, or 'enjoying racing'. The 26-year-old was confirmed earlier this week as one of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing's drivers for the 2026 IndyCar season.

Schumacher becomes the third former F1 driver on the 2026 IndyCar grid alongside Alexander Rossi and Marcus Ericsson, making the transition over to North America's premier open-wheel series after two years with Alpine in the World Endurance Championship.

The 26-year-old replaces Devlin DeFrancesco as team-mate to Graham Rahal and young Brit Louis Foster, and will pilot the No.47 RLL Honda next year. While some drivers choose to run a road course only programme in their rookie seasons, Schumacher will be jumping in at the deep end as he gets accustomed to oval racing.

The German had other avenues available to him as well. Schumacher was in talks with Cadillac before they signed Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez for their debut F1 season, and was also offered the opportunity to become a test and reserve driver, but opted against the move.

"I think that the whole situation has been a tough one in some ways, but also, I think understandably, they went into a different direction," he revealed after his RLL drive was confirmed. "The information that I had, up to pretty much the end, we've been in contention for that seat, and then they went a different direction, which is fair enough.

"And it just led to me having to understand, 'Okay, what do I want? Do I want to try and keep getting back onto the F1 grid? Or, do I want to do racing that I enjoy, and that's obviously single-seaters?'"

Despite making the switch to IndyCar, Schumacher doesn't believe that his chances of returning to the F1 grid are over. "No," he stated, "I think that in any case, obviously, the world of F1 is a very specific one and a special one.

"But obviously it's still single seater, and I think that there's been plenty of great drivers, and numerously, also set into affiliation with some other teams in F1 for good reason. So I don't see why the move to IndyCar would close that door."

While Schumacher heads in the direction of IndyCar, Colton Herta is heading the other way. The Florida-born racer will be Cadillac's test driver next year as he navigates a rookie Formula Two campaign with the aim of gaining the FIA Super License points required to drive in F1 in 2027.