Chris Jones/IndyCar
Herta remains Andretti’s F1 hope despite Alfa miss
Colton Herta will still be the first candidate for Andretti Autosport to put into a Formula 1 seat if it enters the sport in future, admits Michael Andretti.
Attempts to purchase a controlling stake in the Alfa Romeo team fell through recently, with Andretti confirming earlier today it was due to “control issues,” claiming he was being expected to buy Sauber but not control the team. As part of those attempts, Herta (pictured at right, above, with Andretti) was being lined up to make the switch to F1 if an FIA Super License could be secured, and Andretti says that remains an ambition.
“Well, obviously if we do ever get a team, he would lead the way for us in terms of wanting to bring an American driver,” Andretti said. “He’d be the perfect guy to do it. Yeah, I mean, we definitely were going to try to get him into the seat because I believe he could be a competitive driver in Europe. I really do. There's no reason why he wouldn’t.”
While Andretti also confirmed Kyle Kirkwood would have taken Herta’s seat should the F1 switch have happened, he doesn’t believe the near-miss has impacted Herta’s ambition within IndyCar, as he seeks his first title in 2022.
“(Herta has) very high expectations. He’s champing at the bit to get out there. The way he finished the season, he could have very well won the last four or five races, and he won two of them. He can't wait to get out there, and he's very excited about it. Obviously he was excited about the other opportunity, but he's also very excited about hopefully going out and winning a championship for us.”
Chris Medland
While studying Sports Journalism at the University of Central Lancashire, Chris managed to talk his way into working at the British Grand Prix in 2008 and was retained for three years before joining ESPN F1 as Assistant Editor. After three further years at ESPN, a spell as F1 Editor at Crash Media Group was followed by the major task of launching F1i.com’s English-language website and running it as Editor. Present at every race since the start of 2014, he has continued building his freelance portfolio, working with international titles. As well as writing for RACER, his broadcast work includes television appearances on F1 TV and as a presenter and reporter on North America's live radio coverage on SiriusXM.
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