Colton Herta says he was phlegmatic when his Alfa Romeo chances came to nothing – because he is completely satisfied with life in IndyCar.
The 21-year-old Californian is one of the front runners in IndyCar, he finished in the top five of the overall standings in the last two seasons and won a total of six races – including the last two in 2021.
When driving for Andretti Autosport and also spending 2016 with the Carlin team in Europe, Herta obviously seemed fit when it became likely that Andretti would take over Alfa Romeo ahead of the 2022 F1 campaign.
But talks broke off at a late point in time and so Herta will stay in the states and launch a fourth full IndyCar campaign in which two former F1 drivers, Romain Grosjean and Alexander Rossi will be his teammates.
Herta discussed the move that never came about at The Race and said: “I was never really stressed because I had a great situation at IndyCar.
“If it had happened it would have been great. But I’ve never been unhappy if it didn’t happen because I enjoy and really love driving IndyCar.
“So I had two very positive situations. I had a chance to go to Formula 1, but even if it didn’t work out, I would be with IndyCar, which is just as good as I think. “
Herta also said he doesn’t necessarily share Michael Andretti’s view that it would be difficult for an American driver to team up with a non-American F1 team.
“I’m not sure because America has a growing interest in Formula One,” he said.
“We saw that there are some Americans out there who are doing well, and a lot more American companies and American money have invested in Formula One.
“Sponsors with Williams and of course Haas, but even Mercedes… CrowdStrike is an American company. It is a main sponsor there. There is a lot of American money in this sport.
“I think that can somehow advance an American driver, and obviously the market in America for an American F1 driver is still growing.
“With more fans getting into it, probably mostly because of Drive to Survive… but yeah, it’s obviously a growing market for Formula 1 in the United States.
“So it will happen at some point. There are a lot of good American drivers out there right now who could make it if given a chance. “
