Herta seeing IndyCar similarities after latest F1 outing

Colton Herta says there are areas he is finding similarities with IndyCar when he drives a Formula 1 car, after another FP1 outing for Cadillac at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Cadillac ran Herta for a second time during Friday’s opening practice session, following on from his first appearance in Barcelona in June. The American was a second off teammate Sergio Perez but ran 28 trouble-free laps, and despite current drivers complaining of this year’s F1 car being counterintuitive to drive, Herta sees areas he can relate to IndyCar.

“I would say, if anything, it's the opposite [of being tougher to do FP1 sessions as a rookie this year],” Herta said. “As far as the ability to be on the brake and combine into the corner, the F1 car is probably closer to an IndyCar, if anything. I mean, I know the talk of all the saving and the super-clipping and whatnot, but as far as when you're actually in the corner, I feel like it's not that far off of an IndyCar.

“I think the power is a lot more than an IndyCar, especially the initial torque and the lower gears. So you have to be quite a bit straighter in an IndyCar when getting on power. You can't have as much combined. But I would say the entry to middle phase of the corner is actually quite similar."

Where Herta does admit there is a challenge, is in returning to Formula 2 machinery for qualifying that then does not have the same performance capability as the F1 car.

“It's probably one of the more difficult things I've done in my career," said Herta, who qualified 18th in F2 at the Hungaroring. "I think just the overall speed difference is massive. You're entering the corner so much faster in the F1, but you're also braking and doing everything later. The hardest thing is not going from F2 to F1, it's more going from F1 back to F2 and trying to slow everything down, all the inputs and whatnot.

“You're arriving at such a lower speed, but you might be braking in some of these corners 30-40 meters earlier, so it's hard to kind of wrap your brain around it. You're like, 'I feel like I'm going so much slower,' but then you have to pull yourself back and brake early. So, I think it is quite difficult to jump.”

Reflecting on his second hour of running in a current F1 car during a race weekend, Herta felt the Hungaroring provided him with a better chance to progress on each run.

“Ups and downs, but I think it was overall enjoyable," he said. "Very busy, jumping between [F1 and F2], but I think on the F1 side very enjoyable to be able to drive the car again and see everybody and work with everyone.

“100%, this time it was much easier than Barcelona. Just understanding a little bit more of the characteristics of the car and how to find pace out of it. Obviously it's a long road of making it perfect, but definitely instantly felt more comfortable in the first lap.

“I don't think I was nervous for Barcelona, it was just like not knowing. Especially, I think this track is a lot nicer to do an FP1 on because of tire deg. You have more chances and more tries at putting a lap together, whereas Barcelona, if you don't do it on your first lap, your next lap is going to be a second slower, just with the deg of it.

“So this one could improve on the first few runs when I was on the harder tire, and once I kind of got on to the softer tire it was one lap, but luckily I had a few more chances of getting up to speed.”