Finlay McSporran
Published: 19:06, 3rd September 2025
The American will not take part in IndyCar next year, as he sets his sights firmly on F1
A Huge Loss for IndyCar
This is big news on both sides of the Adlantic.
Herta was tipped to be the next ‘big thing’ in IndyCar when he burst onto the scene in 2018, taking a win in just his third race when he was only 18 years old. Usurpingly, Comparisons were made with F1’s Max Verstappen, who was also winning as a teenager and setting himself up as a star of the future.
Unlike Max however, Herta never reached the top of IndyCar, with a best championship finish of second last year. There were discussions about him joining F1 with McLaren in 2022 to replace Daniel Riccardo, and again in 2023 with Alpha Tauri, but those eventually fell through.
This new deal with Cadillac will be by far the closest that he has got to competing in F1, but does mean that he’ll have to put a pause on his IndyCar career, for now at least.
This leaves a vacant seat at Andretti’s IndyCar team, and as I write this article it has just been announced that two-time series champion Will Power will drive for them next year, after his contract with team Penske came to an end at the season finale in Nashville last week.
A New Role for Herta
Cadillacs new F1 team is owned by TWG Global, an American investment firm that also owns the Andretti IndyCar team which Herta previously raced for.
In a press release today, they said that Herta is “Transitioning into a new role within TWG Motorsports”, and that “announcements on Herta’s 2026 racing program will be made in due course”.
Colton Herta himself said: “I’m incredibly excited to be joining the Cadillac Formula 1 Team as a Test Driver. This is a dream opportunity, and one I’ve been working towards for a long time.”
“My dream has always been to race in Formula 1, and I see this move as a huge step towards that goal.”
What’s Next for Him?
Herta still has his sights set firmly on a full time seat f1 seat sometime in the near future. Unfortunately for him he still doesn’t have the necessary amount of points to make him eligible for an F1 super licence.
Any driver who want’s to compete in F1 needs at least 40 super licence points, which can be earned based on a drivers finishing position in the lower formula such as F2 and F3. This system favours the FIA’s own championships and so other series, such as IndyCar, offer less points which is why Herta only has 35, despite him clearly having the talent to drive in F1.
This leaves him with two main options. The most obvious one would be to drive in multiple FP1 sessions next year during his role as test and reserve driver, as you earn one super licence point for each session which you participate in.
His other option is to compete in an FIA sanctioned series which offers more super licence points, likely Formula 2.
There were rumours last week that Herta would make the switch from IndyCar to F2 with Prema for 2026, and with the announcement that he won’t be competing in IndyCar next year, this rumour suddenly seems a lot more likely.
This decision comes with a big risk however. If Herta doesn’t immediately start winning races and challenging for the title it would raise questions about him being ready for F1, and potentially damage his chances of getting a full time drive.
Even more concerning is the potential impact that this could have on the IndyCar series as a whole. Herta would be coming into F2 as a 26 year-old rookie and would probably be the oldest driver on the grid, competing against drivers in their late teens and early twenties.
If Herta starts getting outperformed by these younger, less experienced racers it would raise some serious question about the credibility of IndyCar, and could really damage it’s reputation as one of the worlds most prestigious racing series.
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