US star Colton Herta's big Cadillac F1 bet looks like a huge mistake already

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Cadillac

US star's big Cadillac F1 bet looks like a huge mistake already

There's nothing wrong with betting on yourself...but it doesn't always pay off

Chris Deeley Editor

Experienced sports writer covering F1 and other motorsports since 2023

Thursday 6 August 2026 22:30

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Colton Herta might have made an oopsie.

The youngest ever driver to win an IndyCar Series race when he won at COTA at the age of 18 back in 2019, the California native looked as though he had a long and fruitful career in the leading American open-wheel series ahead of him.

It was fruitful - nine wins and a championship runner-up spot - but not especially long, lasting just seven years before he made the choice to uproot his life and head to F2 this winter.

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This year, of course, is Cadillac's first in F1. That team is very closely linked to Andretti (their car this year is called the MAC-26, or Mario Andretti Cadillac 26), and they wanted an American driver. With none immediately available, who better than a brilliant but inconsistent young (relatively) driver who'd been with Andretti in IndyCar since 2020?

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Herta's 2026 nearly a full-blown disaster

Herta switching to F2 was supposed to be the last step in that process, needing to finish just eighth in the second-tier championship to earn enough super licence points to be eligible for a 2027 F1 seat (on 34 of a required 40 coming into the season), while gaining experience at a number of new tracks and stepping in for free practice sessions in Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez's cars. Foolproof, right?

Turns out, not so much. Herta is absolutely nowhere near where he needs to be with just five race weekends (out of 14) remaining, sitting 16th in the standings on 26 points, 39 points back from current eighth-placed driver Laurens van Hoepen.

Some of the blame for Herta's performance struggles have been placed on his Hitech team – not unreasonable, as they sit eighth in the constructors' championship. However, even his most fervent defenders wilt a little when it's pointed out that his team-mate Ritomo Miyata sits ahead of him in 13th. Miyata is hardly a fearsome opponent, with a best championship finish of 17th in his two previous F2 seasons.

The good news for the 26-year-old is that even if he finishes outside of the top eight in F2 – as looks likely – he could earn his super licence anyway. Drivers earn one super licence point per F1 free practice session they complete more than 100km in, and Herta is set to run a total of four this year.

Those four points, if combined with the two more if he finishes the F2 season without accruing any penalty points, should be enough for the American to get his super licence.

The sad part is...it doesn't seem like it's going to matter. Reigning F3 champion Rafael Camara appears to have leapt to the top of Cadillac's thoughts, and damn the fact that he's not American. He's fast, sitting third in the F2 standings after back-to-back titles in F3 and the Formula Regional European Championship.

Colton Herta bet big on himself when he left IndyCar to try and crack F1. Unfortunately, that gamble doesn't look like it'll be paying off.

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F1 Cadillac F2 Colton Herta