Herta 'clearly good enough' for F1® despite superlicence shortcomings
Tuesday, 13 September 2022
Formula 1® is booming in the United States.
Colton Herta's potential ascension to Formula 1® has to be with one of the sport's stronger teams for the American to help propel the sport to new levels in the United States; that's the view of respected F1® writer and broadcaster Chris Medland, the latest guest on the Australian Grand Prix Corporation's In the Fast Lane podcast.
Herta, the 22-year-old who finished 10th in this season's IndyCar championship, has been linked with a move to Scuderia AlphaTauri for next season despite not having the requisite superlicence points to qualify for an F1® race seat, Red Bull keen to place the Californian alongside incumbent driver Yuki Tsunoda to capitalise on his mix of potential, pace, nationality and marketability.
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With F1® booming in the US off the back of the Netflix 'Drive to Survive' series and Miami (2022) and Las Vegas (2023) joining Austin on the calendar, Medland feels Herta could help push the sport along in its biggest new market, should Red Bull be successful in lobbying the FIA to make an exception to its superlicence points system to permit Herta to compete.
"One thing that's become very clear about all of this is the fact that the IndyCar points system is weighted wrongly (for earning a superlicence)," Medland told the Australian Grand Prix Corporation's official podcast.
"If a driver can be consistently finishing in the top 10 of that championship and winning races every season, they know what they're doing. Colton's finished ahead of Romain Grosjean in the championship this year in the same team, and he's won races for a team not in the championship fight. He's clearly a good enough driver.
"It could make a huge difference to the popularity in the US as long as he's in a competitive enough car. If he's running around at the back, it's not going to capture the imagination. They still wouldn’t overly connect with Colton if he didn’t have a car that was capable of fighting for points, at least."
Red Bull has indicated it would allow Pierre Gasly to be released from his AlphaTauri contract to join Renault if its bid to bring Herta to F1® is successful, but Medland feels Australian Formula 2® racer Jack Doohan would be an ideal teammate to Esteban Ocon after the French team saw Fernando Alonso and Oscar Piastri depart to Aston Martin and McLaren respectively for next season.
"They're struggling to get an experienced option in there if it's not Gasly, but Doohan is someone I think they want in a year's time," Medland said.
"It might be too soon to do that for next year, but … if Gasly doesn't happen, Doohan could emerge as the lead contender on the fact he's come on strong late in this season, and the job he did in Formula 3 last year.
"If by waiting they lost Oscar, then they might as well try the other approach and go soon with Jack."
The podcast is available on Spotify, Google Podcasts and Apple Podcasts platforms.
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