IndyCar frontrunner Colton Herta will get a Formula 1 test programme in a year-old McLaren during 2022.
The 21-year-old American had been in line for an F1 move had his IndyCar team Andretti Autosport’s bid to take over the Sauber-run Alfa Romeo operation succeeded last year.
Andretti is now eyeing a renewed F1 bid for 2024 and has made clear it sees Herta as a likely driver for that proposed team.
F1’s rules have changed this year to allow teams to use cars as recent as 2021 design for private testing, due to the scale of the 2022 regulation changes.
McLaren’s announcement of its deal with Herta only mentions 2021 car testing rather than any appearances in free practice at grands prix.
“Colton is a proven talent in IndyCar and we will be interested to see how he adapts to a Formula 1 car,” said team principal Andreas Seidl.
“We believe this testing programme will provide him with valuable experience while demonstrating the benefit of expanding previous car testing to showcase promising drivers for the future.”
McLaren has long-standing Andretti links via its boss Zak Brown’s joint ventures with Andretti via his own United Autosports team – including programmes in Extreme E and Supercars.
Andretti was also McLaren’s IndyCar partner for its first Indianapolis 500 effort of the modern era with Fernando Alonso in 2017, though McLaren now has its own IndyCar team, having taken a majority stake in what is now Arrow McLaren SP.
But Racer – which first reported the new Herta/McLaren tie-up on Saturday ahead of the official announcement – has reported that McLaren’s interest in Herta is potentially independent of any relationship with Andretti’s own F1 aspirations. The Race reported last month that Herta was in line for a McLaren opportunity, with sources indicating this was on the cards following Brown’s praise for him.
Herta is the guest on next week’s episode of The Race IndyCar Podcast and in a separate recent interview said that having been linked to F1 so much recently he was now eager to finally have a chance to try a car.
“I hope that maybe, somebody is like, ‘oh, well, we’ll see if he’s actually fast and we’ll give him a test at least’,” Herta told The Race last week.
“Because I would love to, at the very least, be able to test one of these cars and be a part of seeing what the huge difference is.”
He will be the second IndyCar driver to test McLaren F1 machinery in recent months after Arrow McLaren SP driver Pato O’Ward’s appearance in last December’s Abu Dhabi test. O’Ward has also been linked to a Friday practice opportunity this year.
