The newly formed Cadillac F1 team have their sights set on a talented American Indycar driver to fill one of their seats when they join the grid in 2026.
Even though the driver has never competed in a Formula 1 car before, he has completed a full day of testing in one. And Mario Andretti had something to say about his performance behind the wheel.
Cadillac's all-American entry
An all-American Formula 1 team, led by Mario Andretti’s son Michael, has been campaigning for some time now to get a spot on the Formula 1 grid. They had partnered with Cadillac and General Motors to try and bring their bid of having two extra cars on the F1 start line to fruition.
They had received the go-ahead from the sport’s governing body the FIA, but Formula 1 bosses themselves had rejected the proposal on the grounds that they didn’t believe the new team would ‘add enough value’ to the sport.
F1’s claim that Andretti’s team wouldn’t ‘add enough value’ to the sport was based on the understanding of how long it would likely take for the team to become competitive (many years).
It was also understood that most of the existing F1 teams didn’t like the idea of having to share the prize fund between an extra team.
In light of F1 denying Micheal Andretti’s organisation a spot on the grid, Andretti involved the US Department of Justice (DOJ). In August this year F1’s owners Libery Media confirmed that they were complying with the DOJ in an antitrust case that 12 members of US Congress had signed a letter to have pushed through against F1.
It all went quiet for a few months, until Monday 25th November when Formula 1 announced they had reached a deal in principle with General Motors and Cadillac to enter the series in 2026.
One thing notable by its absence from this announcement was the Andretti name. Weeks before, Michael Andretti had stepped down from his position. His robust campaigning and involvement of the DOJ is believed to have rubbed F1 management up the wrong way.
His lack of involvement, combined with the inclusion of General Motors as the OEM, is said to have helped paved the way for a deal to be reached.
But the Andretti name isn’t gone from the organisation completely. Later on the same day it was announced that Mario Andretti would sit as a director on the board of the General Motors F1 team.
One of Mario’s most important jobs in his new role will be to confirm the team’s driver lineup. And he’s already got his sights on one specific driver.
An American team needs an American driver
With three races currently held in the US and now an American team joining the grid, it will be crucial for GM and Cadillac to secure an American F1 driver to give their home fans someone to cheer for.
Speaking to Motorsport.com, Mario said “From the beginning of this project, the team always looked at the prospect of Colton Herta to be one of the drivers.”
Colton Herta is a 24 year old American Indycar driver who competes for Andretti Global. He entered the sport in 2019 and quickly turned heads by coming the youngest ever race winner at the age of just 18. His debut season was incredibly impressiving, taking two victories and finishing 7th overall in the standings.
His sophomore year in 2020 was even better with a 3rd place finish in the standings. Ever since he has continue to impress and in 2024 he finished runner with 2 wins and 6 podiums an in intensely competitive field.
No-one denies that he has the talent to compete in Formula 1. But compared to Indycars, F1 cars have huge downforce and don’t move around anywhere near as much. So will Herta be able to adapt?
Colton Herta's F1 test
Herta has tested a Formula 1 car. In July 2022 he had the opportunity to jump in a McLaren MCL35M (the 2021 car) for a weekend of testing at the Portugese circuit Portimão. At the time he was being touted as a potential future McLaren driver, before Oscar Paistri came on to the scene.
With two days of seat-time, Colton completed a total of 162 laps and almost 750km. Herta immediately found that the high downforce and cornering speeds of the F1 cars took some adjustment, saying “Indycar is more about upper body strength and not so much about the neck, whereas the F1 car is the opposite, with power steering and high g-forces.”
Herta had a successful two days of testing in the F1 car. He said “It’s not easy to drive [a F1 car], but I feel like I made really big steps in these last two days. It was different from anything I have ever driven before, but it felt pretty seamless. It was amazing, I had a bunch of fun, and everybody was really cool and helpful.”
There was no lap-time data revealed from the test. But asked whether he thought he’d be competitive in F1 off the back of his test, Herta said “Yes. You can’t say no to that question or else you wouldn’t be a professional driver. I do think I’m fast enough.”
What an amazing 2 days! First taste of a Formula One car was sweet. Thank you @McLarenF1 for the opportunity👊🏻👊🏻 pic.twitter.com/2eYO8dbOja
— Colton Herta (@ColtonHerta) July 12, 2022
Shorly after the test, Mario Andretti spoke to MotorLAT to give his thoughts on how Herta’s testing went. He said “Just recently the test that he had in Portugal with McLaren, I know a little bit more about it than what has been revealed – and it’s pretty darn good.
“As far as his Formula 1 ambitions, he will do well there. His future is bright, no question.”
Evidently, Mario was seriously impressed with Colton’s first F1 test back in 2022. No doubt that will be one of the reasons the 1978 F1 World Champion is so keen to pursue the Indycar driver for a spot in the GM and Cadillac F1 team in 2026.
