Mario Andretti, former driver and Formula 1 champion in 1978, who is part of the Cadillac F1 board, stated that he has ‘enormous respect’ for Colton Herta, following the driver’s decision to leave IndyCar and invest in Formula 2 to pursue his dream of reaching Formula 1.
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Herta described his first weekend in F2, in Melbourne, as ‘unsatisfactory’ and gave himself a grade of ‘C minus’. In a conversation with Andretti after the race, the driver received full support from Cadillac F1.
“He has a pure, pure desire to be in Formula 1, and that’s what is necessary”, said Andretti on the ‘Drive to Wynn’ podcast. “You can see that he has an unfinished goal. He wants to have his time in F1, and this is the opportunity. He is willing to sacrifice himself, take a step back, to take many steps forward”, said the former driver.
Despite an accident during the only free practice session that put Herta at a disadvantage, he managed to recover and score points in the Feature Race, finishing in seventh place. Cadillac F1 CEO Dan Towriss set a goal for the driver to be in the top ten in the championship.
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Mario Andretti believes Herta will do well: “I talked a lot with him after the race in Melbourne. He is aware of what he needs to do and has the full support of the team to get where he wants. There is something really promising to expect. I tremendously respect what he is doing, driven by pure love and desire”, added the veteran.
Herta will have his next participation in Formula 2 at the Monaco GP, the second stage of the season, and is in this fight to try to get the necessary points to obtain the FIA superlicense, mandatory for drivers to participate in Formula 1.
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