(Motorsport-Total.com) – Soon, Colton Herta’s Formula 1 debut is on the agenda. The former IndyCar driver, who wants to recommend himself for a Formula 1 cockpit at Cadillac in 2026 through Formula 2, will participate in an official session for the first time in June in Barcelona – as a Friday driver in free practice (for the overview of Friday drivers 2026).
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Herta will get the four appearances that every team must assign to a rookie – also as preparation for a possible entry. But first, he must prove himself in Formula 2 if he wants to earn his place. Although Cadillac could also provide him with the missing super license points through training sessions, Herta wants to earn the license himself.
Convincing the team to give him a chance will still be a difficult task, as the current driver pairing consists of the experienced Grand Prix winners Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas. But Herta believes he possesses a decisive quality.
In an exclusive interview with Autosport (the full interview will be available there from May 7), when asked what he would cite as the main reasons for a Formula 1 cockpit, he says: “It probably just comes down to pure speed, right? That’s the most important thing, that’s why you’re hired, and the rest follows.”
“If you look at what I was able to achieve in the IndyCar series – in terms of speed, poles, and so on – I think that pace over a single lap is probably one of my specialties. But overall, of course, you have to bring everything, right?”
Herta secured no less than 16 pole positions in the IndyCar series – more than anyone else except the veterans Will Power, Scott Dixon, and Josef Newgarden in the current field. Interestingly, 15 of these were on permanent circuits, which are more relevant to European motorsport than ovals.
Tough debut in Melbourne
However, the Hitech driver still experienced a difficult Formula 2 debut in Melbourne when he crashed eight laps after the start of the only free practice and qualified only 14th. In the main race, he fought his way up to seventh place, opening his points account for the season.
“There were some good aspects to hold on to, but there were also many bad ones,” Herta admits looking back at his first Formula 2 weekend. “I had the crash in practice, which set our whole weekend back compared to everyone else.”
“Not only because I had never been on the track before and was driving the car for the first time at a race weekend, but because there was just so much I had to keep up with. When you then have a few laps less and the practice itself is halved, it makes it impossible,” says the American.
“I was glad that we worked our way forward in every race. I think the race pace was actually very solid. But qualifying is so important, and you have to qualify in the top 10 to get into the reverse grid, where you can score points in both races. It’s very important to achieve that.”
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“And I hurt myself too much, to the point where we went into qualifying and were just too far behind,” says Herta, describing it as “disappointing.” “But I think there was a lot to learn. We didn’t expect to just go out and win at our first weekend anyway. But I was definitely dissatisfied.”
Given the learning curve ahead of him – especially with the unfamiliar Pirelli tires – Herta will be eager to improve in the remaining 13 races of the championship. The next two will unexpectedly take place in North America after the cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabia Grands Prix, together with Formula 1 in Miami and Montreal.
By the way: These tracks are also new to Herta, as the IndyCar series has not yet visited them. However, the new schedule poses a small problem for him: The Canada weekend overlaps with the Indy 500, which he originally wanted to participate in but now will no longer be possible.
Looking forward to Barcelona
But even after that, the exciting weekends for Herta will not stop: In June, the Formula 2 weekend in Monaco is on the agenda, which will also be new territory for him, before heading to Barcelona, where Herta will make his Formula 1 debut alongside the Formula 2 weekend.
And he is already very excited about it: “It has always been my goal to get here, and the move to Formula 2 is to prepare me as best as possible to be a Formula 1 driver – with Cadillac in mind,” says the 26-year-old in the podcast Beyond the Grid.
“So it’s cool to see how it all comes together. My first taste of the car in Barcelona will be something very special. That’s a place many of us drivers know very well,” he says.
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He himself has actually already raced there: in 2016 in the Euroformula Open, where he finished second in race one and even won the second race. “So it’s a place that is somewhat familiar to me. Still, I haven’t been there since 2016, so ten years ago, but the track hasn’t changed much,” he says.
Therefore, compared to other races, this is a smaller problem for him, as basically only turn 10 and the last section, which no longer goes through the chicane, have changed. “I gladly take that. There are many places where I’ve never been and where I have to learn 20 corners. So if I only have to learn two new corners, that’s totally fine. That works.”
“Some of the curb profiles change and some rough spots or bumps on the track might be different here or there, but for the most part, it’s a place where I think I’ll feel pretty comfortable. I’m looking forward to it. I’m super excited. It’s going to be damn cool.”
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