Short start to Long Beach weekend for Schumacher

Mick Schumacher’s introduction to the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach was a short-lived experience.

The Swiss-born German’s No. 47 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda encountered engine problems from the outset of Friday’s practice session and stopped on track, which generated a red flag. Once the car was returned to pit lane, Schumacher’s RLL crew pushed the No. 47 Honda back to the paddock and got started on an engine change while the rest of the session took place.

“On the first lap I told them team that something felt weird,” Schumacher said. “We ran another lap and then the car just stopped.”

On the plus side, Schumacher has nothing but new tires to use for the rest of the weekend. On the negative side, he didn’t get to learn the track, nor did he get a feel for Firestone’s primary or alternate tires; the alternates that will be used in qualifying are only made available for running during Friday practice sessions. Altogether, the IndyCar rookie is playing from behind by a wide margin.

“Overall, it is not ideal,” he said. “I am now for sure the only one that has not driven this track and that’s not a good starting point for the weekend. I have two more sets of tires than most people would and now we’ve just got to make sure we use those in a smart way to still try to get the most out of the weekend.”