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IndyCar Mid-Ohio 2026: Poor Pit Stop — Mick Schumacher Finishes Second to Last

Jeffrey Gooding

Mick Schumacher is set back significantly by a poor first pit stop at Mid-Ohio — with no yellow flag periods, he has no chance to make up ground

On the “What’s Going Wrong This Time” wheel of fortune, Mick Schumacher (RLL-Honda; 24th) landed on the “pit stop” segment this time. Just like in Phoenix, his first pit stop at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course went awry, pinning Schumacher to the back of the field. Since there were no caution periods during the race (“caution-free”), the loss of time was doubly bitter.

At the start, the son of Formula 1 legend Michael Schumacher, who had started from 15th on the grid, initially lost two positions. On the second lap, he was also overtaken by his teammate Louis Foster (RLL-Honda; 18th).

After just eight laps, he made his first pit stop to get rid of the disadvantageous soft tires (Reds). After that, he used only the hard tires (Blacks). But this stop backfired. Schumacher lost all his positions except for the one held by Santino Ferrucci (Foyt-Chevrolet; 19th) and was thus second-to-last. From then on, he was stuck behind other cars for the rest of the race.

He spent the entire second stint behind Sting Ray Robb (Juncos-Chevrolet; 22nd). At the second pit stop, however, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing missed the chance to get him past Robb by bringing Schumacher into the pits at the same time as the Juncos driver. Once again, RLL worked a bit slower, and Schumacher remained behind Robb. On the contrary: Ferrucci also passed him during the pit stop.

At least Schumacher still managed to leave Dennis Hauger (Coyne-Honda; 25th) behind. Nothing went right for Hauger’s team, Dale Coyne Racing, this weekend. Robb, however, managed to pass Romain Grosjean (Coyne-Honda; 23rd) on the track, something Schumacher was unable to do. At the finish line, he still had 124 seconds of “Push-to-Pass” remaining.

So he finished second-to-last and missed yet another chance to finally secure a good result in the IndyCar Series. Time is now running out for Schumacher and RLL to claim the coveted 22nd place in the overall standings and make it into the Leaders Circle. Schumacher has now slipped back to last place in the overall standings.

O’Ward Leads McLaren One-Two Finish

The race was the least eventful of the season so far. As mentioned earlier, there were no caution periods. Patricio “Pato” O’Ward (McLaren-Chevrolet; 1st) secured his first victory in nearly a year (Toronto 2025).

The Mexican was locked in a duel with his teammate Christian Lundgaard (McLaren-Chevrolet; 2nd), who had started from pole position. McLaren employed a risky strategy with two long stints, saving the less-than-ideal red tires for a short third stint. This put McLaren at risk of losing everything during a yellow flag period—which, however, never materialized.

Lundgaard made a mistake on Lap 42 at the Keyhole turn, which O’Ward capitalized on in a spectacular duel that even included a brief contact. The Mexican didn’t let anything slip by after that.

David Malukas (Penske-Chevrolet; 8th) held third place for a long time. He was on the same strategy as the McLaren drivers but was set back by a weak second pit stop. He then lost more positions to drivers who had already completed their stint on soft tires ahead of him.

Kyle Kirkwood (Andretti-Honda; 3rd) took the final spot on the podium. He first pulled off a spectacular pass on Alex Palou (Ganassi-Honda; 5th) on a day when the Ganassi team apparently hadn’t found the right setup. During his final pit stop, he also passed Rinus “VeeKay” van Kalmthout (Juncos-Chevrolet; 4th) to claim third place.

All drivers made three pit stops; the hoped-for strategy split failed to materialize, as did any major excitement in this race. The IndyCar circuit is now heading back to an oval: On July 19, the series will visit the Nashville Superspeedway, the oval with the steepest banking of the season.

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