Rumours of a Formula 2 switch for IndyCar driver Colton Herta will not let up.
The prospect of such a move - one that would be motivated by the desire to accrue more Formula 1 superlicence points - feels like fantasy, but is being taken seriously by key paddock insiders.
Yet the task he'd face in F2 would be harder still following last weekend's IndyCar season finale at Nashville, where Herta lost a place in the final championship standings.
Is this move likely to happen? Where is the sense in it? Are there alternatives to increase his F1 superlicence points that should be explored? What has Herta's reaction to this story been and what does it tell us about its validity? And why are rumours persisting despite Cadillac rejecting the possibility?
Those are all pertinent questions, so let's get into it.
What is the F2 rumour?
It emerged before the Milwaukee IndyCar round in late August that Herta could make a switch to F2. Many people, including this writer, laughed off those rumours.
However, the vibe seemed to shift at Milwaukee and in the aftermath of that weekend, with credible sources taking the move seriously.
This weekend, Racer reported that multiple F2 teams had been sounded out about a move, further adding to the intrigue around it. Other reputable publications have also cited sources indicating the move could happen.
What has Herta said about it?
While Herta hasn't categorically denied the rumours, whenever he's discussed them he's done so looking like a person who very much does not want them to come true!
Asked by YouTuber David Land prior to the Nashville race whether it would be his last in the series, Herta said: "No, it's not my last IndyCar race.
Full clip of Herta's comments on the rumors of a full time F2 move for next year. https://t.co/6UNc8SWQQm pic.twitter.com/9R2iVVmA9t
— David Land™❌ (@DLand91) August 30, 2025
"There's a lot of stuff that I just don't even have an interest in talking to people about it at the moment."
In a video posted after the race, Herta playfully addressed speculation over his future before it cut midway through to the music video for Rick Astley's Never Gonna Give You Up, in the style of the popular late-2000s 'Rickrolling' internet meme.
See ya in 2026. ✌️ pic.twitter.com/WfSrXshok8
— Colton Herta (@ColtonHerta) August 31, 2025
Some might read into that that Herta isn't giving up IndyCar. Some may suggest that just means he'll come back to it one day after leaving.
Either way, if Herta does dislike this speculation, as it appears, he has done a poor job of nipping it in the bud - even if he has also seemed annoyed and turned his nose up at it.
Perhaps the truth is either Herta, his team, or Cadillac reached out to get an idea of availability in F2 and nothing more. Perhaps he's definitely going. The next fortnight will be crucial in how this unfolds.
What we also don't know if this is a drive by Herta's camp, Cadillac, or if Cadillac is actually totally uninvolved in this. So that's a key element to this story.
What's his F1 superlicence situation?
Herta has four superlicence points from finishing seventh in IndyCar this year, 30 points from finishing second in 2024, and two points from finishing ninth in 2023.
He needs 40 points to get an F1 superlicence so, with 36 points, he is currently four points short.
Odd if Cadillac is involved
For one, if this is a Cadillac move, then Herta's going to try to get an F1 superlicence next year only to find that both of that team's drivers are contracted for 2027.
So short of Cadillac finding a way to move Valtteri Bottas or Sergio Perez aside - and there's been no indication the deals they have are for anything other than two years without break clauses or team options - Herta wouldn't have an opening until 2028 at the earliest.
Around the announcement of Bottas and Perez, the CEO of the company behind the Cadillac team, Dan Towriss of TWG Motorsports, which also owns and runs Andretti's IndyCar team, said: "It's important to us to make sure there's a pathway for an American driver into Formula 1, and we'll be working on that."
That tallies with his and the Andretti family's previous comments on American drivers, and Michael Andretti had even discussed the possibility of an F2 presence while in charge of the team.
But when asked if the plan was to put Herta in F2, Towriss said: "We'd like to confirm he's not going to F2 next year. That's not what we're reporting today, no."
Even despite Towriss saying this on August 25, the rumours have not gone away. Quite the opposite; they have ramped up.
If it's a move by Herta, he will have to seek permission from Andretti to leave his IndyCar deal, which is believed to run through 2027, and is also believed to make him the highest-paid driver in the field. The latter point has never been confirmed with IndyCar teams and drivers keeping details like that a guarded secret.
F2 is much harder than you'd think
As an IndyCar race winner, is Herta a better driver than most of the drivers on this year's F2 grid? You could make a fair case for that, while also noting his extra experience as important context.
However, the F2 paddock is very different to IndyCar.
In IndyCar, every team has a development direction and a way to get the best out of the car. But even though, like F2, it's a spec-chassis series, there's an absolute night-and-day difference in the number of things that can be changed on an IndyCar compared to an F2 car. Dampers and windtunnel testing are just two things that change this.
That means that while IndyCar teams are infinitely more flexible in adapting the car set-up to driver preference, F2 teams don't have that luxury and have fewer items they can change on the car.
The behaviour of each F2 car from each team is much more entrenched and even tougher to change.
Pick the wrong team/car and you'll have a year of hell if you can't adapt.
Herta's had seven years of tweaking and adapting his set-ups at Andretti. A move to F2 - which also has little testing like IndyCar - means a whole other world of adaptation.
Can he switch to F2 and be successful? Of course! But if he ends up in a car he can't get the most out of he could be absolutely nowhere, even if he is a great driver. Struggling round after round in F2 can make a very good driver look completely average on what is quite a public platform, right under F1's nose.
The likes of Honda regularly place their top drivers from other series in F2 and more have failed than have succeeded in making it to F1 from F2. Last year, Toyota placed 2023 Super Formula champion Ritomo Miyata in F2 and despite being a champion in one of the world's most competitive single-seater series, Miyata could only finish 19th in F2. Even in his second year, at a different team, he is only 14th with four rounds to go.
That's not a slight on Miyata or any of the other converts, the opposite actually, it's just to highlight this series is absolute cut-throat. As much as F1 is even, in some ways.
At least in F1, you have hundreds of employees around you working to help you. F2 doesn't have the sprawling teams and budgets of F1, obviously.
Herta would need to finish ninth in F2 to get his superlicence points, which doesn't sound like a lot, but there's plenty that can happen which can trip you up on that journey.
Yes, he’d learn the tracks - he has just two years of racing in Europe and one of these was spent entirely in the UK, racing the likes of Lando Norris in MSA Formula (British F4) in 2015 - but good drivers overcome this obstacle in a few hours on a sim these days. It's the tyres that are a much bigger learning curve, and even they are still very different from F1 to F2.
And Herta would be competing against a host of drivers who are either returning from the previous F2 season or have graduated from Formula 3, which is far more of a natural feeder series for F2 than IndyCar, with Pirelli tyres and similar set-up limitations.
A better understanding of the Pirelli tyres would be the main benefit of doing F2 as well as the F1 superlicence points if Herta fares better than the likes of Miyata have.
He has other, more sensible options
Making just four FP1 appearances in F1 next year would secure Herta the superlicence points he needs, with one point per FP1 appearance. That's one of the main reasons why this move makes no sense - because Cadillac can install him for as many FP1s as it likes next season, around his IndyCar commitments, so he could easily do well more than four.
Scratch that, the IndyCar season has finished now! There are nine races of the F1 season left in which he could be placed with a team looking to satisfy the requirement of having two FP1s run by rookie drivers across the season in each car. Sure, Herta/Cadillac would likely have to pay a team for the privilege, but none of getting Herta to F1 is likely to be cheap.
In addition, there are other options to explore. Herta has been linked with pre-season winter championships that F1 awards superlicence points to, before.
Assuming it continues to satisfy the criteria, the Formula Regional Middle East Championship, which takes place in-between IndyCar seasons, could be one option. A sixth place in that would give him the four points he needs before the IndyCar season has started. Or there's the Formula Regional Oceania Trophy (previously Toyota Racing Series), which Red Bull used to boost Arvid Lindblad's superlicence total last winter, and has the same points structure where sixth would be enough.
All of the above points add up to an F2 switch being a bizarre move for Herta, and for Cadillac if it is indeed behind this switch.
The only obvious upside is that he'd learn a Pirelli tyre - albeit a different one used than in F1 - and the downsides are plenty.
Perhaps a more positive outlook is that Herta's ability appears to be recognised as this move would be seismic and a big downside for his IndyCar team, which doesn’t have an obvious replacement lined up, and it's late in the silly season already.
But as most fans of IndyCar have maintained, it would be ace to see him drive an F1 car.
What would The Race do?
Speaking on behalf of The Race in this scenario, I'd accept that Herta's chance of becoming an F1 champion has gone and that building and establishing a proper challenge to Ganassi and Alex Palou in IndyCar is the only sensible target.
An F2 switch doesn't guarantee the F1 superlicence points he needs. Even if he gets them, Cadillac has a driver log jam. If he was set on going to F1, I'd have paid whatever it took to get him the FP1s he needs this year (don't forget he tested for McLaren in 2022) and then placed him alongside Bottas or Perez when everyone expects Cadillac to be at the back anyway, so he can learn without pressure.
Go in for year two or three of the programme, and the expectations are higher.
And will being at that end of the grid ever allow him to show enough speed to convince one of the top teams to take a punt on him and offer him the chance at proper success? I really doubt it.
He's fast enough to be an F1 driver and better than some of his season-end IndyCar finishes look. But for Herta, I just don't see the point in making the switch unless the appeal of being in F1, even without race-winning machinery, trumps whatever success he could achieve in IndyCar.
He'd be 27 in March of 2027, just as the F1 season starts, so let's say it takes a year or two to really impress, he's going to be 28 or 29, and then he's punting on either Cadillac having a rapid rate of progress or impressing a top team enough to scoop him up. But realistically, he'll be too old and unproven for a top modern F1 team to take a chance on. That's not my choice, just a fact of the industry.
I'd much rather see Herta work towards improving Andretti and winning an IndyCar title and the Indianapolis 500. That's just as impressive as driving around in F1's midfield for a few years would be.
