Red Bull found themselves in a difficult situation in 2022 as they had decided not to renew Pierre Gasly’s contract with AlphaTauri (now Racing Bulls). With the Frenchman free to join another team at the end of the 2022 season, Alpine sensed an opportunity.
Although the French outfit were keen to sign Gasly for 2023 and beyond, Red Bull had some conditions. They wanted an adequate replacement to let him leave the Red Bull stable.
Former Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer has now revealed the discussions he held with Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko to negotiate a deal for Gasly. “Helmut told me, you have got to find somebody who is equally good (as Gasly) and I will consider letting him go,” Szafnauer said on The Race’s Team Principal podcast.
It was then that Szafnauer thought of either signing IndyCar star Colton Herta themselves or making a deal with Red Bull by offering them the American driver. So, if Gasly ended up signing with Alpine for 2023, why did Herta not sign with one of the Red Bull teams, despite the Austrian outfit being interested in him?
It is because of the strict super license rules. Per the FIA’s regulations, any driver wanting to compete in F1 must have a minimum of 40 points on their super license over a three-year period.
The Ferrari F1 dream that almost happened for Colton Herta.#IndyCar #F1 #ColtonHerta pic.twitter.com/ZyW9e9f1YN
— IndyCar Fanzone (@IndyCar_Fanzone) March 8, 2025
Szafnauer revealed that the FIA were unwilling to change their rules for Herta. With the FIA being so stringent, Marko even expressed his frustrations with the same.
“It’s a shame that you don’t realize the value an American driver, especially a guy like Colton Herta, would have for booming America with three races,” the Austrian said in an interview back in 2022. Now, three years later, the problem still remains the same for Herta, even though another team is keen on signing him.
Cadillac keen on signing Herta
With Cadillac already having confirmed that they would join the 2026 grid as F1’s eleventh team, they would need two drivers. And being an American team, they are keen on promoting American talent.
Several talented drivers in the IndyCar series could make the jump to F1. Among the Americans, Josef Newgarden and Herta catch the most attention, having constantly fought at the sharp end of the grid in Indy. Newgarden, however, may hesitate to switch disciplines—especially to F1—at the age of 34.
So, their obvious choice is to sign the 25-year-old Herta, as he has also been McLaren’s test driver in the past. But with Herta having only 32 points on his super license in the past three years, he still is not eligible to compete in F1, as things stand.
With 31 of his 32 super-license points coming in the past two seasons, Herta needs to score nine more points this year to be eligible to compete in F1 in 2026. That means he will need to finish fourth or higher in IndyCar this season to be eligible for a super license and bag that Cadillac seat, if he can.
