Who is Colton Herta? The American chasing Cadillac's F1 seat

Colton Herta has the credentials of an established race winner, but his route to a Formula 1 seat remains anything but straightforward. The American is a leading candidate for Cadillac in 2027, with the superlicence points he needs now in place. The harder question is how to weigh his IndyCar record against a difficult first season in Formula 2.

Herta’s career offers evidence on both sides. He became IndyCar’s youngest race winner before his 19th birthday and went on to collect nine victories. Yet after 10 F2 rounds with Hitech Grand Prix, he is 19th in the drivers’ championship with 26 points. Cadillac’s decision will depend on which picture it considers more useful when assessing his readiness for F1.

The superlicence barrier has changed, but the seat is not his

Herta’s F1 prospects have been discussed for several years. He first tested an F1 car privately with Alfa Romeo in 2021, when he was 21 and already a multiple race winner in IndyCar. That early opportunity did not lead directly to a full-time drive.

The FIA’s superlicence requirements prevented Herta from taking a Cadillac race seat for the team’s debut campaign in 2026. Instead, the team selected Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas, while Herta’s route continued through a test role and a move into F2.

His earlier superlicence position has since changed. Following his most recent Cadillac FP1 appearance at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, Herta has all the points he needs for an F1 seat next year. That removes an important obstacle, but it does not itself deliver a contract.

The distinction matters. Eligibility makes Herta available for selection; it does not settle Cadillac’s assessment of his performance or guarantee that a place will open for him.

Cadillac has given Herta direct experience in its F1 car

Cadillac’s approach has not relied solely on Herta’s junior-series results. As a test driver, he has taken part in several first practice sessions in the MAC-26 during the 2026 campaign. Those outings have given the team direct opportunities to assess him in its F1 machinery.

His Barcelona practice debut was one step in that programme, with another FP1 opportunity in Hungary also part of his development. The latest appearance in Sao Paulo brought the superlicence points issue into sharper focus.

For Cadillac, that experience gives the team another reference alongside F2. The sessions do not amount to a full race campaign, but they put Herta in the car he hopes to drive and give his F1 prospects a basis beyond his performances elsewhere.

Cadillac remains hopeful that he will be more comfortable in faster machinery. That belief is central to his case: the team must judge whether his F2 position tells the full story of what he could offer in F1.

His F2 standing is the strongest reason for caution

The numbers from Herta’s first F2 campaign are difficult to overlook. After 10 rounds, he has 26 points and sits 19th in the championship. For a driver already linked with a full-time F1 promotion, that is a modest return.

The wider picture of Herta’s F2 campaign is therefore an important part of the 2027 discussion. So is the question of what comes next for him in the category. Cadillac wanted him to gain experience within the F1 environment, but his championship position has raised concerns rather than providing an uncomplicated argument for promotion.

It would be just as simplistic, however, to erase his IndyCar achievements because of those F2 results. Herta entered the junior series with a substantial record in another championship. The task for Cadillac is to balance that established record against what he has shown in his current one.

Herta’s IndyCar breakthrough came before his 19th birthday

Born in Santa Clarita, California, on 30 March 2000, Herta is 26 and races under an American licence. He began karting at six, started racing competitively at 10 and made his single-seater debut at 13.

His rise to prominence in IndyCar was rapid. At the Circuit of the Americas in 2019, six days before turning 19, Herta won for Harding Steinbrenner Racing. He finished ahead of Josef Newgarden and Ryan Hunter-Reay to become the youngest race winner in the championship’s history.

That was not his only early record. Three months later, Herta also became IndyCar’s youngest pole-sitter. Together, those achievements established why his name carried weight long before the current Cadillac discussion.

His first IndyCar appearance had come at the final round of 2018, after he narrowly missed out on that year’s Indy Lights title to Pato O’Ward. The debut made him the first driver born in the 2000s to start an IndyCar race.

The career totals show more than early promise

Across 116 IndyCar race entries, Herta recorded nine wins, 16 pole positions and 20 podiums. Those totals give Cadillac a much larger body of work to consider than a single breakthrough season.

His best championship result came in 2024, when he finished second with Andretti Global. He also placed third in 2020 and fifth in 2021. His most productive season for wins was 2021, when he took three victories; he won twice in both 2019 and 2024.

The record also includes less productive periods. Herta finished 10th in the standings in both 2022 and 2023, and did not win a race in 2023 or 2025. Even so, he took two pole positions in each of those winless seasons. The distinction between qualifying speed, victories and championship position is part of the wider assessment of his IndyCar career.

Racing runs through Herta’s family and early career

Herta is the son of former IndyCar driver Bryan Herta, who runs Bryan Herta Autosport. His father also serves as strategist for Andretti Autosport’s number 27 entry and previously worked as Colton’s strategist during his time in the category.

Before his IndyCar debut, Herta had also raced in the 2016 British Formula 3 championship. He stood in for Lando Norris at Carlin Racing on two occasions while Norris pursued other opportunities.

That background adds context to a career that has crossed championships and returned him to the F1 environment. His experience is varied, but the current decision still comes back to performance: past success gives Cadillac a reason to keep considering him, while the F2 standings give it a reason to scrutinise the move carefully.

Cadillac’s 2027 decision remains a question of interpretation

Herta’s possible Cadillac move for 2027 sits at the intersection of those competing signals. He has won repeatedly in IndyCar, has driven Cadillac’s F1 car in practice and now has the required superlicence points. He also has an F2 championship position that falls short of what would make his promotion an obvious call.

The case for Herta is that a proven race winner may be better suited to faster machinery than his F2 results suggest. The case for caution is that Cadillac must make a significant decision while those results remain a concern. Clearing the licensing hurdle has made the choice possible; it has not made the answer simple.