‘Proud’ Herta reflects on first F1 practice session with Cadillac

Cadillac development driver Colton Herta said he is proud to have participated in his first official grand prix session at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix as he continues building momentum for his European single-seater career.

The former IndyCar star took the wheel of Sergio Perez’s Cadillac for FP1 in Barcelona, completing a 27-lap program that left him 21st in the field, three places behind teammate Valtteri Bottas. The outing was one of four FP1 sessions scheduled for the nine-time IndyCar winner this season alongside his full-time Formula 2 drive as part of a program to prepare him for a shot at racing in Formula 1.

Speaking after his hour in the car, Herta said he was pleased to have achieved the milestone of taking part in a world championship weekend.

“From a more personal side, it was very enjoyable to be a part of something like that, an official session,” he said. “It means a lot to me, especially having the Cadillac badge as an American.

“I definitely felt very proud for today. It was very enjoyable.”

The lessons for Herta came on and off the track. Despite Formula 2 being on the F1 undercard and despite his development role with Cadillac, the 26-year-old often doesn’t have the time to embed himself in the grand prix paddock due to his racing commitments. It meant his FP1 session was a precious chance to experience life as a grand prix driver.

“Just to have an understanding of how things work is the most important thing,” he explained. “Going through what they go through in the pre-event meetings, the pre-event prep, and then most importantly seeing how the session plays out, what they're looking at, what they're trying to achieve during the session.

“It's all new and it's quite different to what I've done in the past, just from the perspective of there's so much more to look at – so many more sensors, so much more development, and quick development, race to race.

“There's a lot of things happening. That's all very new to me and something that I'm trying to pick up on as fast as possible.”

There's simulation, and then there's the real thing. Herta says of the Cadillac MAC-26, “Every part of it is just faster than anything I've done. It's very impressive.”

Though he has undertaken private testing in F1 cars from previous years, Herta also found the performance of the 2026 car presented a steep learning curve.

“I think whenever anybody talks about the Formula 1 car on a push lap, it's just the outright speed of it,” he said. “It's the most impressive part – the braking, the acceleration, the cornering. Every part of it is just faster than anything I've done. It's very impressive.

“It's all very different to my past experience. The car, the tire, the torque of the engine, the downshifts – everything is very foreign at the beginning. It does take quite a bit of adjustment in the driving style and the mental side to tell yourself to do it and then to actually do it is quite difficult, obviously, or else everybody would be a racing driver, I guess.

“But I’ve found it enjoyable. Learning new things, driving new cars, it's always been a good thing.”

The extra workload proved no issue for Herta, who secured his best F2 qualifying result to date shortly after stepping out of the Cadillac. James Sutton/Formula 1 via Getty Images

Herta had less than 90 minutes between the end of his F1 practice session and pit lane opening for F2 qualifying, putting him in the unusual situation of having to deal with two very different cars on the same circuit.

“It was very difficult, but I think we did well,” he said of the transition between cars. “You go from entering corners 50, 60kph (31, 37mph) quicker. It's a huge adjustment, and when it's qualifying here, like Barcelona, where it's one push lap on each tire, you need to make that adjustment quick.

“From the F2 side of things with Hitech and my engineers, we had a clear plan or idea. They did a good job preparing me for that, for sure.”

The American rose to the challenge, returning a season-best qualifying result of eighth in the fifth event of the 14-round season.

“I just take it race by race, to be honest,” he said. “I want progress and I want to be better every weekend. I think we've shown that so far, so if we can continue that trend, that's going to be the most positive in my eyes.

“Anything that I do, I want to compete in. I want to do better than I'm doing at the moment. We need to just put our heads down and continue to improve, but I think it's been very clear every weekend that it's getting better.

“If we can continue that – continue to improve on the pace there but also do my job when I get the chance in the FP1s here (with Cadillac) – that's all I can ask for.”