Schumacher already up for the next level after first runs on the Indy oval

Mick Schumacher hopes the arrival of high turbocharger boost leading into qualifying weekend for his first Indianapolis 500 will make for a more impressive experience at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

“You know, I said to my team, honestly, up to this point, I was more impressed with Phoenix and the short ovals than I was with this. Just because, yeah, you feel the speed but the speed, in that sense, is nothing too new for me,” Schumacher told RACER after turning his first laps around the big 2.5-mile IMS oval on Tuesday during the full-field Indy Open Test.

Among the 32 drivers who were active, the Swiss-born German rookie was 24th fastest with a best tour of 220.781mph in the No. 47 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda.

“When I got the first time into a Formula 1 car, that was impressive, like just seeing the things pass by so quickly,” he continued. “Whereas here, everything's very big and you have a lot of space, so visually, it's not as impressive. But you know, I think once we get into the qualy power, it will be quite different, so looking forward to experiencing that.”

Schumacher turned more than 100 laps on Tuesday and saw teammate and two-time Indy 500 winner Takuma Sato show what’s possible for the RLL squad after posting the third-fastest lap of the day.

“We just had to get through our ROP (rookie orientation program) and that was the main target for the beginning there,” he said. “And I felt pretty quickly comfortable and good in the car. So yeah, managed to finish that. Managed to finish the morning session and then we went back to the garage and changed a bunch of things. Went back out in the afternoon for a couple more laps. So we have a lot of tires left, and that's a good thing for us.”