Ferrari link key to Colton Herta Haas F1 promotion

Colton Herta after his IndyCar win in St Petersburg — Photo: © LAT Images

Ferrari

Ferrari link key to Herta Haas F1 promotion

Herta won the opening IndyCar race at the weekend

GPFans Staff

Tuesday 27 April 2021 12:15

Colton Herta has declared that any future promotion to F1 would have to be Ferrari-backed should a team like Haas come calling.

Herta delivered a sensational performance in the second IndyCar race of the season on Sunday in St Petersburg, Florida, by leading 97 of the 100 laps to win by 2.493secs from two-time champion Josef Newgarden.

The 21-year-old Californian, who spent the 2016 season with Carlin driving in the British F3 championship and Euroformula Open championship, has revealed that F1 "people are definitely watching".

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Speaking to Racer, Herta added: "I would love, if nothing else comes out of it, just to test a Formula 1 car. Because I’m sure even the bad cars feel pretty amazing to drive.”

If that team is American outfit Haas - as could be expected - a confident Herta has made clear that should he land a drive it would need to be with the support of Ferrari.

“Honestly, if I would get the call to go to Haas or something, it would be something I’d be interested in, but only if it was from a Ferrari-backed program, and then I had the opportunity to move up,” added Herta.

“I’m not going to go over there and sign a three-year deal just with Gene Haas, but I’d sign a deal with Ferrari, and if they put me in a car like that, I would drive it and try to get up to a top team.”

Herta's team boss Michael Andretti has made clear he will not hold his driver back should a top F1 team come calling.

“From a selfish standpoint, I’m hoping he drives for me for many, many, many years,” said Andretti. "But then again, I don’t want to stand in his way.

“If a team like Ferrari calls him, I’m not going to stand in his way on it. But if one of the teams in last or second-to-last position in the championship calls, then I might say, ‘Yeah, I’d want to keep you here'.

"I’d be doing him a favour by keeping him out of those teams. I know a lot of those guys over there now and I would encourage it if it’s a good situation.”