For IndyCar fans, 21-year-old Colton Herta is already an unforgettable talent. In on-board videos, he appears as a driver just a little closer to the limit than everyone else. On the timelines, he’s the one who shows up probably half a second faster than anyone else. In the race he is the one who can overtake half the field in 30 laps on a street circuit. Young fellow driver Alex Palou and Patricio O’Ward beat him to a championship, but Herta’s position as the face of IndyCar’s immediate future is certain. Unless he makes an unexpected leap into Formula 1 as part of the rumored takeover of the Alfa Romeo-branded Sauber F1 team by Michael Andretti.
Over the past two weeks, this possibility has been discussed at length in the margins of coverage of Andretti’s plans to acquire a stake in Alfa. Regardless of whether Herta is part of the conversation or not, this transaction seems to be involved. As early as August, reports indicated that Andretti already had the support and interest in joining Formula 1 as a co-owner in the near future. The clean operation is the most logical entry point, a position that was strengthened when the existing team management took over the services of Valtteri Bottas and made it clear that their second car is open for the time being.
Whether the reports of Herta’s chance to join the Formula 1 team in the near future are true or not, the logical endpoint is that Michael Andretti is in control of an F1 seat. Although both Alexander Rossi and Romain Grosjean have F1 experience, Herta has been Andretti’s best driver in any series for two consecutive years, while promising Indy Lights contender Kyle Kirkwood (not a surefire thing to actually make it full-time in next year making the IndyCar starting grid)) is still years away from worrying about an exit from IndyCar. However, Herta is a six-time race winner who has finished seventh, third and fifth in its three IndyCar seasons. By comparison, Scott Dixon, six-time serial champion and widely recognized IndyCar Driver of the Decade, has won seven races at once.
There is a problem here. With 32 out of 40 points, Herta does not qualify for a Superlicense in the obscure F1 system, which was more or less designed to prevent Red Bull from promoting a driver to F1 after just a year in the car, as Max Verstappen did was the case. This is because the system is only designed for Formula 2, where any position among the top three automatically qualifies a driver for an F1 place in the next year. However, since Herta is above a 30-point threshold, it is in the area of the Force Majeure clause, which allows the series to issue a license to a driver who has not achieved the number of points for “external reasons” [the driver’s] Control. ”The rule was largely intended for drivers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, but if F1 wanted Herta on the grid, the FIA could just make an exception. He’d be the only American on a serious path up the series ladder since Scott Speed in 2007, it’s easy to imagine the FIA getting the FIA to adapt to their needs.
So Herta is qualified and there is a real chance he will get into Formula 1 soon, but if an offer is made should he take it? The question is not as simple as it may seem. In an open letter published to RACER earlier this week, Marshall Pruett argues convincingly against the change: In IndyCar, Herta is destined for big things. Alfa Romeo languishes in Formula 1. Two of Herta’s 2022 IndyCar teammates have already left sinking ships in Formula 1 for IndyCar, and they’re glad they did.
And Prütt is right. In contrast to the Andretti Autosport IndyCar program, Alfa Romeo was not a good F1 team for a long time. The team achieved last place among the top three in the constructors’ championship in 2008, two years before Mercedes AMG F1 even started. That was also the last year the team scored a win. The company’s last two podiums came in 2012, when the team was still employing current Red Bull driver Sergio Perez and current Toyota sports car ace Kamui Kobayashi. In contrast, Andretti Autosport is a long-runner with five championships and six Indianapolis 500 victories.
The question of leadership also arises. At Andretti, Herta is in a position to become number 1 in a four-car team at the age of just 22. In Formula 1, he would face Valtteri Bottas right at the beginning of his post-Mercedes era. It will make Bottas the de facto leader in terms of prestige and seniority, and put Herta in exactly the kind of situation Antonio Giovanazzi has worked to lose alongside Kimi Raikkonen for three seasons in a row. It’s not a winning position; Herta would have to steal the driver’s designation on the track, and even after that he can only prove that he is better than the guy who is not good enough to stay with Mercedes.
A rule change for 2022 will result in the entire paddock learning an entirely new type of car in the near future. It’s unlikely that this change will suddenly get Alfa Romeo into the battle for wins and championships, but it could give them the opportunity to move up further overnight. Will the ninth-best team in F1 languish in a four-car battle with Haas F1 next season? Whether or not it may be successful, the rare chance to join a program right at the beginning of a seasonal development cycle is a benefit to a driver.
But the key difference is timing. While Pruett aptly points out that the most successful drivers who left IndyCar for F1 did so later in their careers, modern F1 teams value youth to an absurd degree. It’s not a good system, but it’s the system that the F1 grid works on. By joining the series at 22 (or, if the licensing terms mean that he will have to wait until the 2023 season, 23), Herta will join the European open wheel ladder at age to prove his courage and Consider elite teams for open seats. In a world where Daniel Ricciardo is an elder statesman at 32, Herta only has time on his side if he steps in now.
The youth are also an advantage when the transition is bad. If Herta doesn’t live up to expectations, he can return to IndyCar as a bigger star than he left, even without the year-long Indy racing victories he’ll miss on his résumé. While a mediocre F1 driver like Max Chilton might not be exactly a respected driver in the IndyCar world, drivers with interesting résumés that have been eagerly followed by American fans like Grosjean and Rossi have arrived as the stars of day one on the series. Those returning from attempting a change of discipline, like Dario Franchitti and Juan Pablo Montoya, have largely picked up where they left off as respected drivers in the paddock.
There are some distinct complications with connecting the seat to Andretti that also change the equation. The common assumption is that a driver needs to seize an F1 opportunity immediately because it will never come back. If Andretti takes a controlling stake in the team that allows him to choose a driver with limited or no funding each season to fill his assigned seat, Herta could have the rare opportunity to wait longer than most to to make his move. If he takes the seat of Alfa Romeo, Andretti’s influence as a team owner could also give him the rare opportunity to continue his sports car duties (currently as a BMW GT driver, likely as a part-time factory driver with a DPi program through 2023). ) alongside his F1 schedule. McLaren, the only team currently in both IndyCar and F1, has even hinted that its drivers can contest the Indianapolis 500 during the season if they wish; Andretti might be able to offer Herta the same deal.
Even if Andretti buys his stake in Sauber and essentially Alfa Romeo F1, it doesn’t matter if Herta is not actually offered the seat for either 2022 or 2023. He can make his way to IndyCar greatness as one of the brightest stars in all auto racing. But if the opportunity is real, it’s something that no IndyCar driver has had since Sebastien Bourdais in 2008. If Colton wants to become a Herta F1 driver, he should take the call.
looking ahead
While the IndyCar season is already over, the F1 will run until December. The series ends this weekend ahead of the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas next weekend. If you want to experience high-profile auto racing this weekend, your best bet is the NASCAR Cup Series playoff race at Texas Motor Speedway. That will air on Sunday at 2 p.m. ET on NBC.
This content is created and maintained by a third party and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may find more information on this and similar content at piano.io
The post Colton Herta’s move from IndyCar to Formula 1 would make perfect sense first appeared on monter-une-startup.
