03/09/2025 23:24
Colton Herta is to take "a big risk" with his motorsport career by
quitting IndyCar to race in F2 next season in his bid to compete in
F1. Earlier on Wednesday, Cadillac, F1's newest team, which
recently signed Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas as its driver
line-up for its debut campaign in 2026, announced Herta would be
its test and development driver . Now, Dan Towriss, the CEO of TWG
Motorsports, which is running the Cadillac F1 team, has revealed
Herta will leave IndyCar and make the bold move to F2 next year. At
this stage, it is not known with which team. The switch is designed
to aid Herta's bid to acquire enough points for a Super Licence,
which is required to race in F1. It will also allow Herta to get up
to speed with a significant number of circuits on the F1 calendar,
and also to understand the finer workings of Pirelli's tyres.
"We've been fortunate to keep Colton at Andretti in the IndyCar
team," said Towriss, speaking on the F2 Off-Track podcast on
nine-time IndyCar race winner Herta. "Now, he's going to pursue his
dream in Formula 1, and to do that, he's going to take a pretty big
risk. He's leaving IndyCar. "He's not going directly to Formula 1.
There is a test and development driver role, and he's going to F2.
"He's going to learn tracks, he's going to learn tyres. Tyres are a
big part of that. Very different from IndyCar, from that
standpoint. "So I couldn't be more proud of Colton, to be willing
to take that risk, to pursue his dream." Kimi Raikkonen put in the
shade Towriss has revealed there have been various steps along the
way with Herta that have led to this point, and that it is not a
decision made on a whim. Four years ago, when Towriss was
supporting Michael Andretti's bid to purchase the Sauber F1 team,
Herta was seen then as a driver who could make the leap across from
IndyCar to F1. Unfortunately for Towriss, Andretti and Herta, the
deal "fell through at the last minute", but it was not before the
25-year-old American had delivered an eye-catching performance in
comparison to the drivers then with Sauber, in its Alfa Romeo
guise, 2007 champion Kimi Raikkonen, and Antonio Giovinazzi.
Referencing Andretti's bid to buy Sauber, it "really started Colton
on this journey, where he really started to show a lot of promise
in Formula 1," said Towriss. He added: "He went over to
Switzerland, got on the simulator, and within an hour, was faster
than the two Formula 1 drivers with the team at that time. "That
led to some other things to show some real excitement along the
way, and so he's built up an actual body of work that not everybody
knows about in Formula 1, in terms of some of the tests that he's
done, even to drawing interest from Red Bull later on from there."
