MIAMI GARDENS — American driver Colton Herta may spend as much time doing interviews this weekend as he will turning laps in his stateside Formula 2 debut at the Miami International Autodrome.
And that’s not a bad thing for the 26-year old who is widely considered to be the USA’s next best hope to land a seat in the Formula One Series, which headlines the weekend’s Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix (Sunday, 4 p.m. ET).
Herta, a nine-time winner and perpetual title contender in the NTT IndyCar Series, is a longtime open-wheel prodigy now tabbed by the new Cadillac Formula One team as their developmental driver – handling testing duties and sim work for the Cadillac team – in addition to getting his feet wet competing internationally for the Hitech Grand Prix team in racing’s version of a triple-A F2 series.
The goal for both Cadillac and Herta is putting him on the 22-car F1 grid as soon as he’s ready.
And the Californian is clearly making a good case – fastest in Friday’s opening F2 practice session in his first ever laps around the 3.363-mile, 19-turn course at Hard Rock Stadium. He finished seventh in the only F2 race of the season so far in Australia. His expectations, however, are to win – soon and often.
“I think that’s the name of the game,’’ Herta said Thursday in the Cadillac paddock suite, where he did a long series of interviews for the primarily international press contingent. “I wouldn’t be much of a race car driver if I was like, ‘well, you know I hope we can finish seventh this weekend.’ Especially in a stock series like F2.
“My expectation, simply, is to win. Every time I get in the car I want my name to be on top of the charts at the end of it [session or race.]. That’s just the competitive nature and how I see myself going about my business. Of course, there are a lot of other minor things I’m looking at, [techniques] wanting myself to be able to progress – marks I want to hit during the weekends.
“But I want to win. It’s as simple as that.’’
The road to Formula One
Winning is certainly the quick way to earn respect in his first true international job after previously establishing himself in the formula ranks when he was only 15-16 years old and living in England. He’s back now, primarily living in a hotel during the months-long break on the race schedule but planning to find an apartment near the Cadillac team’s British headquarters. It’s the kind of “all in” he must show and live as he seizes upon this important career opportunity.
“F2 is a little bit strange in that you don’t get a lot of track time so you need to be up to speed very quick,’’ Herta said. “That’s like the most important thing. You do 40 mins of practice and probably four laps in that time, so you don’t do a lot of driving during race weekend that’s why everything beforehand is so important.
“I take that very seriously because you have to in this series. You have to learn on the fly, get up to speed very quick and that’s the most important thing I’m trying to transfer over to a car that I’m not 100 percent comfortable in yet.’’
Fortunately, Herta said he feels fully supported – both personally and professionally. Progress on track is what he expects. And the unexpected chance to race “at home” this weekend is something he clearly seizes. The series added the events here in Miami and then another at Montreal in May after the season schedule was initially released.
That Montreal race weekend, unfortunately conflicts with the Indianapolis 500 – the one IndyCar start Herta had hoped to make. He concedes it stings to miss Indy, but is also eager about the Montreal opportunity.
“It’s a little bit of a stab in the heart (to miss Indy),’’ Herta said putting his hand over his heart. “But I’m excited for Montreal. [The circuit] looks absolutely amazing and is one of those places that everyone always talks good about So I’m excited that if it’s not Indy it’s being replaced with another amazing circuit.”
It’s the kind of glass half-full attitude that has propelled Herta to this chance of a lifetime. He and Miami-native Sebastian Montoya – son of former F1 champion Juan Pablo Montoya – will make their American F2 debuts Saturday (10 a.m. ET) in the 23-lap Sprint Race and then will compete Sunday in a 32-lap Feature Race (12:30 p.m. ET).
“Everybody in the paddock has been super kind to me,’’ Herta said. “Everybody at Cadillac has been super kind. I really didn’t know what to expect but it’s been a lot of fun and been over my expectations.
“I think that’s what you need when you’re in a high stress environment in professional racing. Having the confidence in the people around you is just as important as having confidence in yourself. You can only be as good as the people around you and luckily, we have some pretty good people here.’’
Having this weekend’s race in the United States has been a welcome dose of support and allowed his whole family – his father, Bryan once a highly successful IndyCar veteran driver himself, mom, younger brother and longtime girlfriend – to see him race in F2 for the first time.
“It’s been an interesting shift in my career, some good and some bad but the support system that I’ve had around me has been very positive and everyone has put a lot of things on pause to see that I can succeed, so I feel very fortunate to have those types of people in my life,’’ Herta said.
“I want to get to Formula One as soon as possible. That’s my goal. But you know, while I’m here and in this role, helping and understanding as much as I can before I get to Formula One is really the most important thing for me.”
“I want to be successful so it doesn’t really matter what other people think or say about me. My ambitions are that whatever I get in, I want to be the quickest and I want to win.’’
Formula One Grand Prix of Miami
Sunday, May 3, 4 p.m.
Miami International Autodrome, Miami Gardens
TV: Apple TV
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Exclusive: Colton Herta makes American F2 debut in Miami
Reporting by Holly Cain, Special to The Post / Palm Beach Post
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
