IndyCar race-winner Colton Herta is making an unusual career change for 2026 by leaving America’s top single-seater series to race in Formula 2.
With seven seasons of IndyCar racing under his belt, he has significantly more experience at this level than those he will go up against. Herta will turn 26 years old in the same month as next year’s Formula 2 season-opener, meaning he is also quite a bit older than a typical F2 driver.
But his team mate is not one of them. Ritomo Miyata is already 26, which means their Hitech team has an unusually mature driver line-up among its Formula 2 rivals.
It’s not uncommon for F1 teams to promote some drivers who are younger than those racing in F2. But Hitech’s 2026 line-up is a particularly unusual case.
Miyata is older than 10 drivers who will contest the 2026 F1 season, including the world champion Lando Norris. Herta is older than eight of those already in F1.
Five F1 teams will have driver line-ups which are older, on average, than Hitech’s F2 duo. These include reigning champions McLaren plus 2025 race-winners Red Bull and Mercedes.
Both Racing Bulls drivers are younger than each of the Hitech racers, despite both of them having raced in Formula 2 before. Haas also has a younger driver line-up, on average, than the Hitech pair:
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Herta became the youngest driver to win an IndyCar race with his victory at the Circuit of the Americas in 2019, when he was 18 years old. Despite winning nine times in the series and placing second in the championship last year he was unable to collect enough FIA superlicence points to qualify to race in F1.
After Herta confirmed his move into F2, the FIA announced it will increase the number of superlicence points it awards to IndyCar drivers from 2026. Herta will also serve as a test driver for new team Cadillac next year as he hopes to race for the team in 2027. The newcomers will have the oldest line-up on the F1 grid next year.
F1 drivers’ ages at the first race of 2026
Rank
Driver
Team
Age at first race
1
Arvid Lindblad
Racing Bulls
18 years, 217 days
2
Andrea Kimi Antonelli
Mercedes
19 years, 200 days
3
Oliver Bearman
Haas
20 years, 309 days
4
Gabriel Bortoleto
Audi
21 years, 150 days
5
Isack Hadjar
Red Bull
21 years, 166 days
6
Franco Colapinto
Alpine
22 years, 291 days
7
Liam Lawson
Racing Bulls
24 years, 31 days
8
Oscar Piastri
McLaren
24 years, 342 days
10
Lando Norris
McLaren
26 years, 122 days
12
Lance Stroll
Aston Martin
27 years, 137 days
13
George Russell
Mercedes
28 years, 28 days
14
Charles Leclerc
Ferrari
28 years, 150 days
15
Max Verstappen
Red Bull
28 years, 166 days
16
Esteban Ocon
Haas
29 years, 179 days
17
Alexander Albon
Williams
29 years, 357 days
18
Pierre Gasly
Alpine
30 years, 37 days
19
Carlos Sainz Jnr
Williams
31 years, 196 days
20
Sergio Perez
Cadillac
36 years, 50 days
21
Valtteri Bottas
Cadillac
36 years, 201 days
22
Nico Hulkenberg
Audi
38 years, 211 days
23
Lewis Hamilton
Ferrari
41 years, 70 days
24
Fernando Alonso
Aston Martin
44 years, 233 days
Colton Herta will be 25 years, 349 days; Ritomo Miyata 26 years, 217 days
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