Mick Schumacher's top 12 run ends with a penalty after spinning Santino Ferrucci

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Mick Schumacher started Sunday's Grand Prix of Indianapolis from 18th on the grid, aiming to improve on his previous best result of 17th at Long Beach

Partially due to a couple of multi-car incidents, but also Schumacher's ability to move forward through the field, he found himself running a strong 12th with just three laps to go.

He then set his sights on Santino Ferrucci for 11th, following closely through the Turn 8-9 section. Ultimately, he got into the back of Ferrucci, spinning him out. It was clearly an accident, but a costly one at that.

Schumacher was able to continue on in 11th, but as expected, he was handed a drive-through penalty for avoidable contact by IndyCar race control. After the spin, Ferucci was able to recover to 14th place.

The rookie served the penalty on the final lap, dropping Schumacher all the way back to 20th. The mistake cost him his best IndyCar finish to date and he lost 11 points serving the penalty -- the difference between being 23rd and 25th in the standings.

Schumacher owned the error, telling Frontstretch.com that he was trying to set up an overtake for Turn 10, and "I didn't expect him to check up that much and just got into him."

The RLL Racing driver must now look ahead to his first appearance in the Indianapolis 500, with two weeks of practice and qualifying before the 110th running of the historic event. He will be one of four drivers carrying rookie status, alongside Dennis Hauger, Caio Collet, and Jacob Abel.

Schumacher will also have an additional teammate to lean on beyond Graham Rahal and , as two-time Indy 500 winner and fellow ex-F1 driver makes his return.