Colton Herta feared that his Formula 1 dream was fading after a \u201cvery real\u201d opening with Red Bull\u2019s junior team, AlphaTauri, fell through.<\/p>\n
Super Licence points was the stumbling block, but a fresh opportunity has emerged with Cadillac<\/a>. Herta has been counting his lucky stars for this one, and is \u201cfully focused\u201d on making it to the Formula 1 grid with Cadillac.<\/p>\n Third time lucky for Colton Herta with Cadillac<\/p>\n Want more PlanetF1.com coverage? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for news you can trust.<\/p>\n A multi-time IndyCar race winner, Herta twice saw the F1 door potentially opening. Firstly with Sauber during an unsuccessful Michael Andretti takeover attempt.<\/p>\n Red Bull later took an interest in signing Herta to its AlphaTauri F1 team, but due to insufficient Super Licence points, the move did not happen.<\/p>\n Appearing on the Beyond the Grid podcast, Herta, speaking from Cadillac\u2019s Silverstone base, was asked whether those disappointments fuelled his Formula 1 desire.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah. Look, this is a sport, and first and foremost, it\u2019s a business, right. It\u2019s got to put out money, and got to collect money. So I understand that, and I understand that side of it.<\/p>\n \u201cBut it was disappointing to have those two instances where I thought\u2026 maybe not so much on the Sauber one. I thought there was a chance with that one, but the AlphaTauri deal seemed very real to me.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd then when that didn\u2019t happen, I was like, \u2018Look, okay, kind of getting up there in age, probably won\u2019t have another opportunity\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n Herta was told that in the F1 paddock, there was a period of time where the deal seemed on. He was asked if he felt the same.<\/p>\n \u201cYes and no.\u201d<\/p>\n Herta appreciated how the whole situation was handled as he discussed with Helmut Marko, Red Bull\u2019s senior advisor and driver programme boss at the time.<\/p>\n There was a contract on the table, but unable to sign it due to his Super Licence points deficit, the time came where Herta had to call it, and secure his spot in IndyCar.<\/p>\n \u201cI really like the straightforwardness of dealing with Dr. Marko,\u201d said Herta.<\/p>\n Put to him that there are no grey areas with Marko, Herta agreed: \u201cExactly. <\/p>\n \u201cAnd sometimes it hurts as a driver. You don\u2019t want to hear some things. But sometimes you need to hear them. <\/p>\n \u201cBut the good part about all of that was, he was very straightforward on the possibility of it. One day it was, if I had to put a percentage, maybe it\u2019s 80 per cent, and then the next day he\u2019s like, \u201940. Wait, we\u2019ve clawed back, so maybe 60\u2032. So there was a very real possibility. <\/p>\n \u201cI had a contract from them. I was just unable to sign, because I didn\u2019t have the Super License. <\/p>\n \u201cThey were feeling really good at a point that they thought it was going to happen, but they weren\u2019t sure. <\/p>\n \u201cAnd eventually, I couldn\u2019t really wait too much more. I had to sign a new deal in IndyCar, and Michael [Andretti] and Dan [Towriss] were very gracious to have me back in IndyCar. <\/p>\n \u201cSo I signed with them, which ended up being the right thing. I would have had no Formula 1 seat and no IndyCar seat. Don\u2019t know what I would have done then. <\/p>\n \u201cIt was a very strange time. It was always day to day. I was looking at the reports, and I was like, \u2018Man, these people think it\u2019s going to happen. Maybe it\u2019ll happen\u2019. And then he called, Dr. Marko, and he\u2019s like, \u2018Well, don\u2019t be so sure, and maybe this stuff can happen\u2019. <\/p>\n \u201cIt was very gracious at the time of, like, everybody, of being able to go into the Red Bull sim, being able to talk to Dr. Marko about the possibility of Formula 1, and a lot of people took a lot of time out of their days to kind of point me in the right direction and help me out. <\/p>\n \u201cSo very gracious for that.\u201d<\/p>\n But, just as it seemed that maybe Formula 1 was not going to happen, step forward, Cadillac F1.<\/p>\n Herta signed with Formula 1\u2019s newest team as a test driver, and left his IndyCar career behind to join Hitech in Formula 2, the top junior category on the road to F1.<\/p>\n Herta is due to appear in four FP1 sessions during the F1 2026 season, starting in Barcelona.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd then this came around, and I was like, \u2018Geez, count my lucky stars. This is a amazing opportunity\u2019,\u201d Herta continued.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd to have the people that are involved in it be involved in it, is super cool for me, because I\u2019ve known them for a while now from the IndyCar side.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd even walking around here, like a lot of guys from when I was racing in Europe, and engineers, mechanics that I worked with or knew, it\u2019s cool, I didn\u2019t realise how many people I knew until I came back here.\u201d<\/p>\n More on Colton Herta from PlanetF1.com<\/p>\n Mario Andretti backs Colton Herta after \u2018unsatisfactory\u2019 Formula 2 debut<\/a><\/p>\n Colton Herta rejects Cadillac\u2019s top 10 F2 target: \u2018I want to win\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n Herta was asked whether this feels like a case of third time lucky for his F1 dream.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, 100 per cent,\u201d he confirmed, \u201cand, for me, as far as I\u2019m concerned, I\u2019m fully focused on making this one the one that counts and works.<\/p>\n \u201cFully focused on trying to get here, and dealing with my F2 career at the moment, trying to go through that side of things and learning as much as I can.<\/p>\n \u201cSo that\u2019s kind of where we\u2019re at.\u201d<\/p>\n Herta scored points in his first F2 feature race with a P7 Melbourne finish.<\/p>\n Next up, Herta will go racing on home soil, as Formula 2 heads to Miami for the first time.<\/p>\n Want to be the first to know exclusive information from the F1 paddock? 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