Cadillac has started considering Ugo Ugochukwu as an option for its future in Formula 1, given the difficulties faced by Colton Herta. According to the SoyMotor portal, the American team reassessed its plans after the underwhelming performance of the former IndyCar driver in Formula 2.
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Herta was regarded as the main candidate of General Motors, owner of Cadillac, to occupy a seat in the team, but doubts about his adaptation and other factors led Cadillac to broaden its view towards young talents from the junior categories. In this scenario, Ugochukwu began to be seen as a long-term alternative.
At nineteen years old, the New York-born driver competes in Formula 3 for Campos Racing and leads the championship. According to SoyMotor, he has 25 points this season and is only seven points away from securing the FIA superlicense, a requirement to compete in Formula 1, a factor that reinforces his potential for a future promotion.
Meanwhile, Herta is having a rather discreet campaign in Formula 2. The American is only 16th in the championship, with 26 points earned thanks to three seventh places and two eighths, a performance well below the team’s expectations.
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In an interview with AutoHebdo, Cadillac’s racing director, Marc Hynes, acknowledged the difficult moment: “I am not satisfied with the current situation of the team,” he said, adding that a general improvement is needed in all areas. According to him, the current mid-season break will be important to reassess the work: “This mid-year break will do us good to process everything properly. We will regroup and determine what we need, what we should change, and what we should do for the second half of the season,” he said.
Hynes also commented on the difficulties faced by Herta in the transition from IndyCar to Formula 2. According to the director, the driving styles required by the two categories are quite different: “In IndyCar, you can do much more with your feet, especially in corners, while in F2, braking inside the corner, easing off the brake, cornering, stabilizing the trajectory, and accelerating again are not as valued. The hardest part is probably the extremely narrow operating window of the tires,” he added.
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