Herta still plays down AlphaTauri F1 seat speculation
Sep.4 - Colton Herta has fended off speculation that he is on the cusp of a Formula 1 adventure.
The Indycar star and 22-year-old American is being strongly linked with the AlphaTauri race seat for 2023 - if Pierre Gasly moves on to Alpine.
A related rumour is that Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz is having health problems and therefore looking to sell AlphaTauri to Herta's Indycar boss Michael Andretti.
Franz Tost, Team Principal Scuderia AlphaTauri (Photo by Peter Fox/Getty Images)
AlphaTauri boss Franz Tost doesn't dismiss the speculation, insisting he doesn't "care which driver Red Bull gives me, it's my job to educate them". "First of all, Red Bull has to confirm that he is driving for us."
When asked about the speculation, Herta told the Wichita Eagle: "There's nothing I want to talk about right now.
"My father does my management and I told him I don't want to talk about it."
That would seem to be a wise situation at present, as Herta's achievements in Indycar do not qualify him for a mandatory F1 super license.
And rival Formula 1 teams do not appear to be in the mood to lobby the FIA to make a super license exception for Herta.
"From my point of view, it has nothing to do with force majeure," said Alfa Romeo boss Frederic Vasseur.
"You have championships everywhere in the world where you are able to score points. If the FIA want to stop the process of the points (system) and the super licence, it's another story.
"But for me it is nothing to do with force majeure."
Haas boss Gunther Steiner agrees, but like his McLaren counterpart Andreas Seidl he said he is open to a discussion about tweaking the rules for the future.
Herta continued: "There is so much speculation - I get notifications on my phone all day long. I mark them all as read and I don't read it.
"I don't even read the articles anymore," he insisted.
"At the moment, everyone seems to know more than I do. I have a contract with Andretti for next year and I have nothing else now."
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& rightly so.
If he was Indycar Champion he would have enough points for a Super license. Sadly he has had a lousy year. Pay your dues as there are many other qualified drivers coming up the F3, F2 and Indycar ladder. Don’t use COVID as an excuse you still raced then. Lots of whining typical of an Andretti guy. Yawn. Bring back Giovannazzi
Indycar probably should represent more super license points than it does for finishing top 5. Herta coming up on 65 Indycar starts and has finished as high as 3rd and in top 5 twice. That's gotta be worth something.
That said, if I was picking an American Indycar driver to make the jump to F1 it would be Josef Newgarden, who is by far the best and most accomplished living American open wheel driver at the moment. Unfortunately, his age (30+) precludes making the jump as RB wants youth.
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