Herta savours COTA homecoming in Cadillac F1 car as 2027 seat hopes hang in the balance

Colton Herta described driving Cadillac’s Formula 1 car at the Circuit of the Americas as “super special” during Friday’s FP1 session at the United States Grand Prix, a circuit that holds deep personal significance as the site of his record-breaking IndyCar debut win six years ago. The session was also a practical necessity: with his Formula 2 campaign in disarray, Herta needs every available FP1 appearance to accumulate the superlicence points required for a potential 2027 F1 seat.

On 24 March 2019, a then 18-year-old Herta became the youngest winner in IndyCar history at COTA, driving for the small Harding Steinbrenner Racing outfit in just his third series start. “This is where it all started, basically,” he said. “It was my third start in IndyCar, and I started third, undercut people, got a little bit lucky with the yellows. And then I ended up first at the restart, like 10 laps to go, and led from there. It was a fun time — a little team that could, and we got two wins out of it.”

The nostalgia, however, sits alongside a difficult present. Herta is 19th in the 2025 F2 standings with just 26 points, his last scoring finish coming at the Belgian round before the summer break. The Californian was candid about his struggles. “I’m just disappointed with how the year’s gone. It’s not been good at all,” he said, adding that the campaign had left him with “a few more questions than answers.”

Herta left a settled IndyCar career with Andretti — where an Indianapolis 500 win and a championship title both eluded him — to pursue his F1 ambition with Cadillac, accepting the grind of F2 and practice outings as the price of entry into European motorsport. Friday’s COTA run was the latest instalment of that plan, even if the broader picture remains unresolved.

“It felt super special to be able to do it here at home, in front of the home crowd, with the Cadillac,” Herta said. “It’s been a while since I’ve been here — seven years since IndyCar was here last — but it hasn’t changed much, and it was nice to see progress.”

Asked how quickly he could adapt from IndyCar machinery to an F1 car around the same venue, Herta noted the differences were real but manageable. “In IndyCar we use feet for brake markers too, so it’s a little bit different in that aspect, and you’re arriving at quite different speeds. But generally, the lines are very similar — how you approach the track and attack it.”

With F2 rounds still scheduled in Qatar and Abu Dhabi — subject to events in the Middle East — Herta has limited remaining opportunities to improve his points tally before the season closes. Whether those results, combined with his FP1 appearances, will be enough to satisfy superlicence requirements and confirm his place on the 2027 Cadillac F1 roster remains an open question.