Colton Herta’s hopes of competing in the Indianapolis 500 again while pursuing his goal of reaching F1 have just suffered a serious setback due to a scheduling conflict.
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The 25-year-old American, who in 2019 became the youngest winner in IndyCar history, joined Formula 2 this season to accumulate the points necessary to obtain a super license, with his sights set on a seat at Cadillac as the team’s first American driver.
However, F2 recently added two rounds to its calendar, alongside the Miami and Canadian Grands Prix.
A poorly timed clash
The problem: the Montreal race directly conflicts with the 500 Miles of Indianapolis, scheduled for May 24. Initially, no F2 event was scheduled for May. These adjustments follow the cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian rounds due to the conflict in Iran, which forced organizers to completely revise the calendar.
Herta was nevertheless expected to drive a fourth car entered by Andretti Global at Indianapolis, a structure linked to the Cadillac project via Dan Towriss and the TWG Motorsports group. But in his absence, the team finally decided against entering an additional car, preferring to focus on its three regular drivers: Will Power, Marcus Ericsson and Kyle Kirkwood.
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A voluntarily accepted sacrifice
Currently 10th in the championship after the opening round in Australia, where he scored his first points for his Hitech TGR team, Herta fully stands by his career choice: he clearly prioritizes his Formula 1 goal, even at the cost of a symbolic sacrifice like the Indy 500.
“I think it’s a good thing if it leads me to Formula 1… and I’ll be extremely grateful to have given it a shot”, he said, brushing off potential criticism of a possible failure.
A risky bet, but consistent with a clear strategy: putting everything on F1. Because alongside his F2 program, Herta spends a lot of time with the Cadillac F1 team at Grands Prix or at the factory, in order to acclimate to the discipline in the simulator. We could see him in action in private tests or free practice in Formula 1 in the second half of the season to test him in real conditions.
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