IndyCar News

Home

Quizzes

Newsletter

Butch Dill-Imagn Images

Herta’s Career: Between Two Dreams of IndyCar and F1

Originally posted on Last Word On Sports
By Isabelle Ferrante | Last updated Dec 18, 2024 9:58 AM ET

An overview of Colton Herta’s career progression, highlighting his transition from the Formula Series to his emergence as a notable young talent in IndyCar.

A Childhood Dream Still in the Picture

Last month Formula 1 announced that Cadillac and General Motors have partnered up to bring an 11th team to the grid in 2026.

Big names like Daniel Ricciardo, Valtteri Bottas, and Zhou Guanyu were mentioned as potential candidates. However, one driver who stood out, in particular, was IndyCar driver Colton Herta.

Some fans may be scratching their heads as to why he’s in the conversation but looking at his journey some of those questions might be answered.

Between Two Continents:

After starting karting at the age of 6, Herta progressed quickly making his way up to single-seater racing at just 13 years old.

A year later he made his professional racing debut finishing 15th in the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship despite missing the opening weekend due to age requirements, a trend that would follow him through the early part of his career.

At 15 Herta’s career went to Europe when he decided to race in the British Formula 4 Series with Carlin. Here he wanted to take the next step into hopefully making his dreams of being in F1 a reality.

In his first season overseas he earned four wins, three pole positions, and eight fastest laps to finish third in the championship, just behind teammate, and current F1 driver Lando Norris who ended up taking the title that year.

After a few more seasons in Europe, he went back to the States and joined Andretti-Steinbrenner Racing in the Indy Lights Series for the 2017 season. He started the year strong with a second-place finish in the first race at the St. Petersburg street circuit and followed it up with a Sunday victory; Colton’s first win in Indy Lights.

In the two seasons he spent in the series, he achieved 7 wins and 20 podiums, finishing second and third in the championship. His success led him to get a taste of IndyCar in 2018.

At Home with IndyCar:

Following in his dad’s footsteps Bryan, Colton signed a full-time IndyCar contract to pilot the No. 88 Harding Steinbrenner Racing car, an extension of the Andretti team, in 2019.

In just his third race and a couple of weeks before his 19th birthday, Herta became the youngest-ever winner in IndyCar history by winning the IndyCar Classic at Circuit of the Americas.

He didn’t stop there. Herta bagged another win at Laguna Seca. He finished 7th in the overall standings, just 5 points behind Rookie of the Year Felix Rosenqvist. Then he followed that by finishing third in the championship with one victory, and 11 top-ten finishes in a shortened 2020 season.

He switched to driving the No. 26 Andretti Autosport sponsored by Gainbrige Car in 2021, which ended up being his breakout season, with three victories and five podiums.

His six seasons in IndyCar haven’t always been smooth sailing though. But the next two seasons were difficult to get the same level of results due to some bad luck with crashes and mechanical failures late in races. In those two years, he only managed to pick up one win at the GMR Grand Prix in 2022. Despite that, he continued to show his speed and brilliance, it was only a matter of time before the results started showing again.

The 24-year-old kicked off the season strong, finishing in the top five in the first five races, with podium finishes in St. Petersburg and Long Beach. At the Honda Indy Toronto, he finally got the monkey off his back by winning from pole. In the season finale at Nashville Superspeedway, he got the victory and a second place finish in the championship.

Formula One Hopes:

There have been many attempts in Herta’s career to get to F1 but for one reason or another, it never happened.

It started when Andretti Autosport tried to buy Sauber, and Herta was seen as the top choice to get a seat with Alfa Romeo alongside Bottas for the 2022 season. By the end of 2021, the talks between Andretti and Sauber fell apart and Alfa Romeo signed Guanyu for 2022.

In March 2022, Herta was signed by McLaren as a development driver, the results have been said to have “seriously impressed” industry insiders.

That same year Red Bull was interested in Herta to drive for Alpha Tauri in 2023. However, Herta didn’t have enough points for a super license, which is needed for F1. The team asked the FIA for an exception and aimed to partner with Alpine to help Herta earn more points. In the end, the FIA turned down the request, and Red Bull stopped pursuing Herta.

Despite all this, the American is not letting his dream down.

“It’s definitely still in my mind,” Herta, who finished second in the 2024 IndyCar standings, told ESPN. “I think the window is for sure closing, age-wise.”

His successful 2024 season finally secured him a Super License and his name is back in the conversation with Cadillac.

Herta’s career of success in IndyCar and experience in Europe make him a great candidate. Combined with Mario Andretti being appointed director of the board. Herta’s chances look likely but there’s another year to go before any real decision has to be made.

This article first appeared on Last Word On Sports and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: