{"id":136733,"date":"2025-09-12T03:22:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-12T03:22:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/136733\/"},"modified":"2025-09-12T03:22:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T03:22:09","slug":"no-risk-no-reward-cadillac-boss-dan-towriss-explains-colton-hertas-bold-f2-switch-as-american-racer-chases-f1-dream","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/136733\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018No risk, no reward\u2019 \u2013 Cadillac boss Dan Towriss explains Colton Herta\u2019s bold F2 switch as American racer chases F1 dream"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cadillac Formula 1 Team CEO Dan Towriss has admitted that the squad\u2019s new test driver, Colton Herta, will be taking a \u201chuge risk\u201d with his planned switch from IndyCar to Formula 2 next year, but feels the American has the ingredients to succeed.<\/p>\n

Herta, whose Cadillac testing role was announced earlier this month<\/a>, is an established racer in the United States-based IndyCar Series, having made 116 starts and scored nine victories, 19 podium finishes and 16 pole positions so far.<\/p>\n

While Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez<\/a> will drive for Cadillac in their debut 2026 season and beyond, Herta is aiming to make a case for a future seat \u2013 and score valuable points towards a Super Licence<\/a> \u2013 by swapping America for Europe and tackling the F2 feeder series directly below F1.<\/p>\n

At the Italian Grand Prix, where Cadillac\u2019s chiefs made another visit to the paddock, Towriss explained the reasons behind Herta\u2019s upcoming move and noted how racing on the same tracks as F1 \u2013 as well as using tyres supplied by Pirelli \u2013 are key factors.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor Colton, this has always been a dream of his, to drive in F1, but to do that, this is the path he had to take,\u201d Towriss told Sky Sports F1. \u201cHe has to take a huge risk, a huge amount of risk \u2013 no seat is guaranteed. This is F1, so he wants to learn tracks and tyres and show that respect to European open-wheel racing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe entitlement model from the US hasn\u2019t worked out that well in the past, so we really want to build that body of work, the knowledge that\u2019s necessary, to see if he has what it takes to drive in Formula 1.\u201d<\/p>\n

Herta has already tested F1 machinery with McLaren<\/a> and been in a simulator with several teams \u2013 Towriss keen to point out that, while results in IndyCar have been mixed, the 25-year-old \u201cexcelled\u201d at every opportunity.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe really is a special talent,\u201d added Towriss. \u201cI think a lot of people look at some of the results in IndyCar and say, \u2018Well, he hasn\u2019t won a championship, he\u2019s not with [multiple champion] Alex Palou\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think as a team owner I would take some responsibility for that; there have been times where there have been troubles on pit lane or strategy didn\u2019t work out, but Colton\u2019s an immense talent and he really can find speed where others can\u2019t.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think any time he\u2019s had a chance to do a test, whether it was with McLaren, or time that he\u2019s been in the sim with Alpine, Red Bull and Sauber, from that standpoint he really has excelled and shown really high potential and promise for an F1 seat.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow this is the chance to do it. He\u2019s had to choose this path of taking a big risk to not have that guarantee of the seat. He\u2019s leaving behind what at this point is very comfortable for him, to choose something that\u2019s uncomfortable for him \u2013 but no risk, no reward, as they say.\u201d<\/p>\n

When he heads to F2, it will not be the first time that Herta has raced in Europe \u2013 the California native previously competing on the continent from 2015-16 and spending time as Lando Norris\u2019 team mate in the MSA Formula Championship.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cadillac Formula 1 Team CEO Dan Towriss has admitted that the squad\u2019s new test driver, Colton Herta, will…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":136734,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,806,805,803,804,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-136733","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-motosport","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-motor","11":"tag-motor-sports","12":"tag-motosport","13":"tag-motosports","14":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136733"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136733\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/136734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}