Colton Herta will once again take part in a free practice session for Cadillac during the upcoming race weekend in Hungary. The 26-year-old driver joined the new F1 team after a successful career in IndyCar. He currently competes in Formula 2 for Hitech, with the aim of eventually securing a permanent seat at Cadillac. However, given his performance in the feeder series, an F1 contract seems out of reach for now.
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“It’s very exciting to get another chance in FP1,” Herta looked ahead to Hungary. The American already made his practice debut for Cadillac during the Catalan GP in Barcelona, when he took a seat in Sergio Pérez’s car in FP1. In Budapest, he will temporarily replace Valtteri Bottas. “It’s a good opportunity to gain experience, but the ultimate goal is, of course, to help the team with development,” he said about his duties as a test driver.
“I was last in the car six weeks ago and a lot of progress has been made since then,” he referred to Cadillac’s recent upgrades. The team has not yet definitively been able to mix with the midfield, but has clearly left the struggling Aston Martin behind. “My job is to help the drivers have the strongest possible Hungarian GP, but also to provide feedback that helps the team with long-term development goals,” Herta concluded. “And personally, I’m trying to lay a better foundation for future sessions.”
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Too few super license points
Herta is eyeing a permanent F1 seat at Cadillac, which has focused on a strong American presence from the start. The former IndyCar driver seemed assured of a future contract for a long time, but his performances in Formula 2 are still leaving much to be desired. Herta currently has 34 super license points: he earned thirty points in the 2024 IndyCar season, when he finished second behind Alex Palou, and collected another four points last year, when he finished the season in seventh place.
The American therefore still needs to score six points to meet the minimum requirements for an F1 contract. To do so, he must finish at least eighth in the Formula 2 championship. However, after eight race weekends, he is in sixteenth place. If the F2 calendar is not further adjusted, Herta still has six weekends ahead of him.
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