Finishing in the top 10 of Formula 2’s driver championship would be an acceptable performance from Colton Herta in 2026, according to Cadillac Formula 1 team CEO Dan Towriss.
Herta has joined F1’s newest team as a test driver, with a potential race seat within reach in the future.
In the meantime, Cadillac has sent the IndyCar frontrunner to F2 with Hitech GP for 2026. The goal is for Herta to gain experience at European tracks and with Pirelli tyres, while proving he has potential to succeed in the world championship.
Asked by Motorsport.com what would be acceptable from Herta in his rookie F2 campaign, Towriss said: “Really, I'm looking for a top-10 finish from Colton in F2. Really, it's [learning] tracks and tyres, and just his development to be ready for Formula 1.
“He'll be spending time on the F1 sim. So it's not just what happens in F2. There'll be FP1s that he'll be involved with as well as sim work. And so we'll look at the total body of work to judge his readiness for Formula 1.”
Herta actually needs a top-eight finish in F2 to clinch an F1 superlicence outright, but if he were to finish 10th, three FP1 sessions in F1 would suffice for him to earn the missing three points.
Colton Herta, Hitech
Regardless, IndyCar’s 2024 runner-up has no intention of just making up the numbers, even though F2 is a notoriously tricky series to jump into – especially when bypassing F3.
Asked by Motorsport.com if he was confident of achieving that requested top-10 finish in the championship and whether he might be aiming for more, Herta replied: “Everything that I hop into, I want to be competitive and I want to be strong.
“If the goal isn't to win, then I don't really see why you'd do it – so that’s my mindset. Either how unrealistic it is or how realistic it is, I don't know. I guess time will have to tell.
“But everything that I do in motorsport, I try to do 100%. And if you go into the mindset of ‘Oh, well, let's try to work off and start inside the top 15 and then move forward from there’, I just don't think it's the right approach.
“For me, I want to be as quick as possible. I want to lead sessions, I want to win races. But I guess time will tell how difficult that is.”
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