Colton Herta says he is open to “as much testing as possible in a Formula 1 car” amid rumours McLaren could look to give him free practice running in 2022.
Herta’s chances of an F1 move looked to have run aground when his IndyCar team Andretti’s bid to buy Sauber’s Alfa Romeo F1 entry failed last year.
He then said his full focus had shifted back to winning an IndyCar championship in 2022.
But in February this year, Mario Andretti revealed on Twitter that his son and Andretti Autosport boss Michael was instead looking to start his own team for 2024, which reopened the rumour mill as to what could happen with Herta.
At the St Petersburg IndyCar opener late last month, Zak Brown told a small media roundtable including The Race that “there could be one [a driver] in this paddock” the team was considering for FP1 outings as part of a new rule where young drivers have to do two sessions over the course of the year.
Pushed on whether that would be Herta, Brown said: “Colton is very good. Very good. He’s been very impressive”.
Asked by The Race about Brown’s comments, whether his team was in contact with McLaren and whether he would be open to testing for that team, Herta said: “If the goal, which it seems to be, is really to have me in Formula 1 by 2024, if this F1 team actually happens, for sure I think they would be open to it, I would be open to as much testing as possible in a Formula 1 car.
“Although to the uneducated eye they look very similar, they are completely different machinery in the way that they drive is surely very, very different.
“Although I can’t really speak from experience, I haven’t driven one yet! For sure there is probably a big difference in driving and handling which you actually feel from the tyre and the car.”
Asked if the praise from Brown meant more to him, Herta added: “Yeah that is nice, it definitely carries more weight when somebody like Zak or Mario or Michael say these nice things.
“Because they actually know what they’re looking at and what they’re looking for. They understand the insides of what’s going on a lot more. So it is nice to hear that.”
At the same roundtable where Brown was speaking and mentioned Herta, Michael Andretti made an impromptu appearance in the McLaren Condor motorhome and when asked whether he’d loan Herta to McLaren, Andretti said “we’ll see”.
When the possibility of helping Andretti get Herta some seat time was put to him, Brown replied: “If he asked me nicely!”
It was no surprise to see Brown and Andretti joking together. They are partners via Brown’s United Autosport team which is joined with Andretti for Extreme E and Australian Supercars. Brown is also a board member of Andretti Acquisitions SPAC.
The present could have easily worked out differently as McLaren reportedly tried to sign Herta for IndyCar in 2020 before he chose Andretti, and McLaren signed another driver who has become linked with F1 in Pato O’Ward.
The biggest challenge both drivers face to a future move currently is a superlicence.
Herta needs to finish third this season in IndyCar to guarantee a licence, although the five discretionary points from the driver’s ASN could push him over the line if he’s fourth.
There were other avenues available for this year, like competing in the Formula Regional Asia championship in early 2022.
Herta doesn’t appear concerned with super licence points though and claimed there was a “truthful” plan in place to achieve one.
“I’m not stressed about that at all really,” he said, “the goal is to win the championship in IndyCar this year and if that happens then I shouldn’t be worried about super license points [because he’d have enough points then].
“When I was over at Sauber and stuff, there’s a lot of work going on that no one even knew about that was gonna happen, that even going into this year I was going to be able to drive in Formula 1, I was going to be able to have a super license, but, things didn’t kind of get rolling there.
“So it wasn’t really brought to fruition. There was a possibility of, obviously me going to Formula 1, there was a plan of getting the super license points, so it wasn’t going to be that big of an issue. So I was gonna be able to do it.”
Asked if that would be with FIA help, Herta added: “No, they won’t really budge on – as much as we kind of push! – they won’t really budge on giving people super licenses anymore at least.
“There was a plan that was actually natural, truthful, I was gonna have over 40 points.”
Earlier on in the St Petersburg weekend, Michael Andretti had spoken highly of how Herta has handled the on-off pressure of an F1 switch or IndyCar stay.
Herta is known for being a relaxed character, but you would expect the ‘off again-on again’ rumours to affect any young driver. That doesn’t seem to have been a problem for the Californian.
“I expected [it],” Andretti told The Race about Herta’s positive attitude.
“He’s just so laid back. He knows everything going on, I keep him abreast of everything. He’s in a good place, right? If it doesn’t happen he’s in a good spot here, he could win a bunch of championships or if we pull it off [F1] he can do that.
“I think it makes you feel good. When I was in my heyday, and there was all the talk about F1, that only gave you more confidence. I don’t think it’s a negative in any way.”
Responding to these comments and if he’d had to work on avoiding becoming distracted by the media speculation, Herta responded: “Yeah, that’s been something that’s kind of just been pretty easy for me.
“Not getting worked up in all the talk of the media and stuff and all the speculation. That’s something that I think I’m pretty good at naturally.
“But yeah, I can see how it can be tough for people when you have all these people talking about things – what you’re going to do – and then other people put their input on it, whether it’s positive or negative.
“So, there’s a lot of Twitter talk and impressions over the last 12 months about Formula 1 and that sort of stuff outside of IndyCar. But for me, it’s been easy.
“I’m fully focused on IndyCar, right? So it’s been a pretty easy day in and day out, just be working on that.”
