American
Colton Herta is an American racing driver and a second-generation talent — son of IndyCar and Champ Car racer Bryan Herta — who in 2026 made one of the most unusual career bets in modern motorsport: leaving an established IndyCar career behind to chase Formula 1 through FIA Formula 2.
The climb
After karting in the United States, Herta took the unusual step for an American teenager of moving to Europe to chase his racing education, racing in junior single-seaters including MSA Formula in 2015 (third overall with four wins) and BRDC British F3, where he won races. He then returned to North America for Indy Lights, finishing third in 2017 and runner-up in 2018 — a steady rise that set up his IndyCar break.
IndyCar career
Herta made his name in the NTT IndyCar Series, not the FIA ladder. On 24 March 2019, aged 18 years and 359 days, he became the youngest race winner in IndyCar history with victory at Circuit of the Americas — a record that defined his early reputation. He added Laguna Seca that year and built a tally of nine career wins across 116 starts, including a maiden oval victory at Nashville in 2024, the season he finished runner-up to Alex Palou and posted his best points haul.
2026 / current season — the F2 gamble
Despite his success, Herta never accumulated the FIA superlicence points needed for a full F1 seat; when Cadillac filled its inaugural 2026 grid with Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas, he fell short of the result that would have qualified him. So he left IndyCar and Andretti, became Cadillac's F1 test and development driver, and signed with Hitech for a full FIA Formula 2 season in 2026 — a deliberate, points-driven gambit, since a top-eight championship finish would clear the superlicence threshold. His F2 debut came across the Australian Grand Prix weekend, alongside Cadillac's own first race in F1. At 26, and as a proven IndyCar race winner switching to the spec F2 grid against drivers often a decade younger and steeped in the European ladder, his adaptation became one of the most closely watched storylines of the junior season. Cadillac has stressed the F2 programme is no guarantee of a grand-prix seat — but for Herta it is the clearest route left, and how he fares may shape how seriously American open-wheel talent is taken on the road to F1.