In last place for a long time, then a glimmer of hope—but things aren’t looking good for Mick Schumacher and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing at the Milwaukee Mile
In the only practice session for the doubleheader at the historic Milwaukee Mile, Mick Schumacher (RLL-Honda; 21st) got off to a difficult start. The same goes for his teammates Graham Rahal (RLL-Honda; 17th) and Louis Foster (RLL-Honda; 23rd).
Schumacher went into the weekend with already subdued expectations. “We tested in Milwaukee; it didn’t go as well as we’d hoped, but we gained a better understanding of what we need to do,” he said ahead of the weekend. Translated from the PR text, that means the test must have gone anything but well.
That seemed to be confirmed at first. Schumacher couldn’t move up from last place in the first half of the session and remained below the 150-mph mark. Strictly speaking, he was second-to-last, as Nolan Siegel (McLaren-Chevrolet; 25th) crashed his car into the wall before he could even set a competitive lap.
It snapped around on him. Trouble in Milwaukee Mile practice for Nolan Siegel! pic.twitter.com/Dr8zH6nrS9
— INDYCAR on FOX (@IndyCarOnFOX) August 28, 2026 blockquote>
“That completely caught me by surprise. I was just doing a relaxed lap, and suddenly I had a big moment right in the middle of the turn. That’s why I’m pretty perplexed right now,” says a visibly flustered Siegel, who doesn’t yet have a seat for 2027.
In the second half, Schumacher then clocked 154.400 mph, temporarily moving him up to 16th. However, that lap still dropped him out of the top 20. Rahal was slightly faster at 155.672 mph, but even with that average, he still slipped further down the order.
The session had to be interrupted a second time following Siegel’s crash, when Kyle Kirkwood (Andretti-Honda; 8th) and Christian Rasmussen (ECR-Chevrolet; 13th) both ended up in the wall. The crash is likely to rank very high on the list of the season’s most unnecessary crashes, as both drivers were taken out of the race.
A huge hit for Christian Rasmussen and Kyle Kirkwood in Milwaukee Mile practice. pic.twitter.com/k2kTeLnMCb
— INDYCAR on FOX (@IndyCarOnFOX) August 28, 2026 blockquote>
Naturally, opinions differ. “He gave way pretty early and probably expected me to run all the way down low and not take the normal line,” says Kirkwood. The “normal line” in this case is the center line, which has emerged as the preferred line.
Rasmussen sees it differently: “To me, it seemed like he never intended to turn in. I was on the outside and didn’t feel like I’d turned in early. Then his rear tire apparently touched mine.”
Championship leader Alex Palou (Ganassi-Honda; 3rd) held the fastest lap for a long time with an average speed of 158.890 mph, but toward the end he was overtaken by Josef Newgarden, who set the fastest lap at 159.430 mph (256.58 km/h). Dennis Hauger (Coyne-Honda) surprisingly took second place. In both cases, however, a late qualifying simulation was completed, as there are no further practice sessions.
In addition to the strong performance by Rinus “VeeKay” van Kalmthout (Juncos-Chevrolet; 5th) is the tenth-place finish by his teammate Sting Ray Robb (Juncos-Chevrolet). A strong performance by Robb this weekend would be bad news for Schumacher’s championship position.
Qualifying is scheduled for Saturday at 5:00 p.m., followed by the start of the first of this weekend’s two races at 8:50 p.m.