On lap 14 of the IndyCar race on the street circuit in Markham, Canada, Mick Schumacher (27) saw his race come to a premature end after a heavy crash into the barrier. The German, driving the Honda for Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL), went off on his own and was forced to retire early.
Prior to the incident, Schumacher, who had started the race from tenth on the grid, had been climbing up the field: with a bold overtake on his teammate Graham Rahal, he had moved up to ninth place. But the progress came to a sudden halt. “We weren’t even really pushing,” Schumacher said after the crash. “I was waiting for my chance and just got a little too close to the wall.” The mistake not only cost him his position but also his race.
The son of Formula 1 legend Michael Schumacher was critical of the track design: “Unfortunately, we don’t have rounded walls here. Normally, you can brush against them a little, but here, the steering wheel gets knocked away immediately – and you go straight into the wall.”
The race in Markham was won by Swede Marcus Ericsson (Andretti Global). For Schumacher and the rest of the field, the action resumes as early as next Sunday (August 24) in Washington D.C. The 15th of 18 rounds in the IndyCar Series serves as the penultimate stop before the finale on September 6 in Monterey, California.
