“No doubt” Herta is quick enough for Formula 1

Colton Herta’s IndyCar team mate Marcus Ericsson says the 24-year-old is undoubtedly quick enough to compete in Formula 1.

Ericsson, who spent five years in F1 alongside team mates such as Charles Leclerc, joined Herta at Andretti’s IndyCar team last year. He described Herta as a “raw talent” and “one of the best I’ve been up against.”

“I think he even sometimes doesn’t know himself how he can be so fast in certain corner combinations,” Ericsson told Speed Street. “He’s just got that feel for things.

“Also something I feel like with Colton, he’s very good at adapting to different situations. Like, the track changes, it’s different conditions, track grip goes up or down, he’s very good at adapting to different situations and I think that makes him really, really good.

“When he gets into his zone, he can just do things with a race car that very few people can do. So he’s definitely up there as one of the best team mates I’ve raced against.”

Herta has been named as a potential target by for promotion to F1 by Cadillac, which is poised to gain a place on the grid next year.

“For sure he’s got the talent for it,” said Ericsson. “I think there’s no doubt about that, he’s got the talent for it.

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“We all know F1 and IndyCar have two very different type of cars to drive with tyres and tracks and everything, but I have no doubt that he could do a really good job there.”

Herta finished second in the IndyCar series last year and now has sufficient FIA superlicence points to qualify to race in F1. However he indicated last month his desire to make the change has faded.

“I don’t really have a concern with it at all,” said Herta. “I’ve kind of been dragged around in this talk for, it feels like, half a decade now. I’ve had the carrot in front of me for a while.

“I’m kind of tired of that being the case, and I just want to drive at this point and focus on IndyCar this year and focus on winning a championship, and if something arises out of that, I’d have to think about it.

“It’s still not a for sure thing. All my friends and family are here in the US and I don’t know anybody where I’m going, so it’s a big decision to make if I have to make that decision.”

Ericsson said he found it difficult to adjust to F1 as he raced for a series of uncompetitive teams and never felt he had a realistic chance of competing for victories.

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“I was there five years, and not once in those five years… I knew I was not going to win,” he said. “I knew I needed, like, 10 cars to crash if I was going to win.”

“All your junior career all you’re thinking was to win,” he added. “That was your mindset every weekend: I need to win, I need to win. And then you get to your ultimate goal and suddenly it’s like, alright, got to get P14 today.”

He moved into IndyCar the year after losing his F1 seat and has won four races since then.

“The first few years you’re so excited to be in F1 so I didn’t really care so much, it was just super-cool,” he said. “But then, after a few years, it’s really tough.

“I want[ed] to win again, I want[ed] to at least feel like I had the chance to do it. It’s one thing to maybe not do it, but at least know in yourself that I can win if I do everything right. That was really hard to not even have that feeling.

“I remember coming to IndyCar, that was one of the coolest things coming to IndyCar to actually know that we can win again, there is a chance to win races again. It’s not going to be easy, but there is a chance.”

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Ericsson said one of his fondest memories from F1 was scoring points in the second round of 2018 having gone two years without finishing in the top 10.

“In my last year, 2018, when I scored points, we had a really bad year the year before, we didn’t score any points – I didn’t score any points for like two years or something. We were really struggling financially in the team and we were really in a bad spot.

“Then in Bahrain there in 2018 I finished ninth, I think it was, and it was a first point for the team in a long time and beat Leclerc, who was my team mate then and scored the first points for Alfa [Sauber’s title sponsor] and that was a big moment for me and felt very much like a win. That was pretty sick.”

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