Marko still hopeful of Herta Super License

Red Bull's Motorsport advisor Helmut Marko says he still believes Colton Herta can gain a Super License and that the FIA has not rejected the request.

Herta doesn’t have the required 40 points to receive a Super License in Formula 1 but Marko wants to put the 22-year-old in the AlphaTauri next year in place of Pierre Gasly, allowing the Frenchman to move to Alpine. While Marko had hoped for a decision from the FIA by Monza, on the grid at the Italian Grand Prix he confirmed Red Bull is still waiting.

“No, we don’t have an answer yet,” Marko said told SpeedCity Broadcasting. “It will be around… latest the end of the month. We are still hopeful.”

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Part of the agreements that would lead to Herta joining AlphaTauri includes McLaren releasing him from an F1 option, and Zak Brown says he believes the FIA is looking into whether the Super License rules around IndyCar drivers are fair.

“So Mohamed [ben Sulayem], the new president, he's doing a lot of reviewing of things that he's inherited and I think the whole licensing system needs to be reviewed,” Brown said at the IndyCar finale in Laguna Seca. “I get that the rules are what the rules are, and the rules shouldn't be broken. But I question whether just because they're rules that are in place now, that those are the correct rules.

“Someone of Colton's caliber or Pato’s (O’Ward) caliber or half the field here [in IndyCar] are Formula 1 capable. So no one's sure yet where the ruling's going to come down. But I think if someone like Colton, who has won a lot of IndyCar races, isn't eligible for a Super License then I think we need to review the Super License system.”

And Brown says the fact that the Super License system would have blocked a number of F1 world champions from entering the sport in the past shows something needs changing.

“I think you take a look at the whole thing. But certainly where IndyCar sits. If you can win, what is it, seven races... The rules were written before my time, so I wouldn't want to speculate how they came up with those rules.

“I don't think Max Verstappen would've been eligible for a Super License. Kimi Raikkonen wouldn't have been eligible for a Super License. So you can go back and, look you've got a couple guys that are world champions that wouldn't have got their license in today's environment.

"We've had Colton in our car and he did a great job in two days of testing. So the guy can drive a Formula 1 car, no mistake about it.”