Formula 1 pundit James Hinchcliffe believes Colton Herta's switch to F2 is the exact thing needed for an American driver to break down barriers that have prevented others reaching grand prix racing.
While Herta has enjoyed race-winning success in IndyCar, he is seeking a future in F1 – and has already been signed up as a test driver for Cadillac as part of that process.
To boost his chances of getting considered for a full-time race seat, which includes getting more superlicence points, he has just committed to an F2 move next season with the Hitech team.
While the challenge of going up against younger talent who have better knowledge of the cars, tyres and tracks will be huge, the switch from IndyCar is not just about achieving results.
Instead, it is about being able to embed himself within the European racing scene, work closely with the Cadillac squad all year and get himself firmly on the radar.
As a long-time IndyCar racer (winning six races there) turned F1 TV expert, as well as driving alongside Herta at Andretti in 2020 and '21, Canadian Hinchcliffe is well-placed to assess the situation his former team-mate is putting himself into.
He sees the failure of the United States to produce successful F1 drivers over recent years as a consequence of them not being a part of the European junior categories.
Speaking on stage in Austin last weekend at the 'The Road to Tomorrow: Drive for Innovation' event presented by Axios and The Race, Hinchcliffe offered a clear opinion on why the USA had not produced regular F1 talent.
"Money," he began. "And let me explain what I mean by that.
"Let's just go back 10 years...to race in F1, you had to be seen by F1 teams. And to be seen by F1 teams, you had to race in F2 or the previous iterations, GP2, and F3000.
"To be competitive, you probably had to grow up racing F3 around the tracks in Europe. But in order to race in F3 in Europe, you kind of had to live in Europe. And to live in Europe, if you're from America, is an expensive proposition.
"Not only that, if you are a 16-year-old-kid trying to move to Europe, your schooling has to be considered, so you're either dropping out or you need tutors.
"So the only drivers from North America that really had the opportunity to even be noticed on the ladder system to F1 needed more money than the average."
Hinchcliffe says that just making it up the racing ladder by itself is expensive enough, let alone if you are an American kid needing to relocate to Europe.
He suggests that is why those from North America that have made it through to F1 have come from wealthy backgrounds.
"Respectfully, you look at some of the ones from North America that have done it, Lance Stroll, Nicholas Latifi, Logan Sargeant, a lot of these drivers came from a significant amount of wealth and were able to move over to Europe at a young age," he said.
"So drivers that were born and bred in North America and cut their racing teeth [there], were never really on F1's radar. And I think that's what made getting an American driver on the grid so difficult."
Herta managed two seasons of lower-tier European single-seater racing as a 15/16-year-old before committing to the IndyCar route and joining the Indy Lights grid for 2017.
Hinchliffe says this element of young Americans not being able to go for the leap into Europe is why he welcomes what Herta has done with his F2 switch.
"He is giving up a great career in IndyCar racing, where he is with one of the best teams, winning races, fighting for championships and Indy 500 [wins], to go race F2," he said.
"[He is doing it] to learn the tracks, to learn the tyres, to learn the culture, and prove that he has what it takes to make it to F1. So it's a very unique approach."
He added: "I'm glad that he decided to take that chance. He was given that opportunity. He wasn't told by his boss, because his boss at Andretti and IndyCar is one of the same gentlemen that owns the Cadillac Formula 1 team: Dan Towriss.
"So he was sort of presented with this option. He went home, and thought about it long and hard. It's going to be very exciting to see how he gets on."
