Colton Herta

Colton Thomas Herta (; born March 30, 2000) is an American racing driver who competes in the FIA Formula 2 Championship for Hitech with support from Cadillac. Herta competed in the IndyCar Series from 2018 to 2025.

Herta is the son of IndyCar and Champ Car driver Bryan Herta, and the youngest person ever to win an IndyCar Series race. He is test driver for the Cadillac Formula One Team whilst competing in FIA Formula 2 for 2026 with Hitech Grand Prix.

Junior racing career Karting (2010–2013)

Herta made his competitive karting debut in 2010 at the age of ten, racing karts in the SKUSA and IKF series, although he had been karting since the age of six. He made his single-seater racing debut at the age of thirteen, finishing second in the SBF2000 Winter Series.

USF2000 Championship (2014)

In 2014, Herta made his professional racing debut in the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda, finishing fifteenth in the championship despite missing the opening weekend due to age requirements. In the same year, Herta made his international formula racing debut at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia with the Meritus-run AsiaCup Series, taking part in one event where he won one race win and three podium finishes. Herta also made a one-off appearance in the Global RallyCross Championship Lites, being the youngest driver to compete in the series.

Racing in Europe (2015–2016)

In 2015, Herta made his debut in the UK-based MSA Formula series, as the youngest driver and the only American on a grid that consisted mostly of Britons, and got his first win in the second race at Snetterton Circuit in August, thus helping the United States win the Nations Cup. He went on to collect three more victories throughout the season, finishing third overall.

For 2016, Herta was planning to move to the newly renamed BRDC British F3 series, but was too young to compete at the opening round. Wanting to complete a full season, he made the switch to the Euroformula Open Championship, staying with Carlin and finished third in points, with four victories, six podium finishes, and five pole positions. Herta went on to compete in six British F3 events, earning three podium finishes including a victory at Brands Hatch.

Indy Lights (2017–2018) Herta driving at Portland during the 2018 Indy Lights season. In 2017, Herta joined forces with the newly formed Steinbrenner Racing to pilot the No. 98 car in the Indy Lights Series. He started the year strong with a second place finish in the first race at St. Petersburg street circuit and followed it up with a Sunday victory; Colton's first win in Indy Lights. He got his second victory at the next event at Barber Motorsports Park, the series' four-hundredth race. Herta won Rookie of the Year and finished third in the drivers championship.

In 2018, Herta remained in Indy Lights. He won four races, including all three held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (both races of the GP of Indianapolis and the Freedom 100 on the speedway). Herta finished second in points to his Andretti teammate Patricio O'Ward.

IndyCar career In September 2018, Herta made his IndyCar Series debut at the season finale in Sonoma, driving for Harding Racing.

Harding Steinbrenner Racing 2019: Rookie season

For the 2019 IndyCar season, Herta signed to drive the No. 88 Harding Steinbrenner Racing car. Herta was the first IndyCar Series driver born in the 2000s to start a race. On March 24, 2019, at the age of eighteen, Herta became the youngest-ever winner in IndyCar history by winning the IndyCar Classic at Circuit of the Americas. He qualified fifth for the Indianapolis 500, but retired after just four laps after a gearbox failure. On June 22, 2019, at the age of nineteen, Herta became the youngest-ever pole-sitter at Road America. He won again at Laguna Seca, and finished seventh in the overall standings, just five points behind Rookie of the Year Felix Rosenqvist.

2020: Backed by Andretti Herta again drove the No. 88 car for Harding Steinbrenner Racing in 2020, with additional backing from Andretti Autosport. Herta finished seventh in the opening round of the 2020 IndyCar season at Texas Motor Speedway. He finished eighth at the Indianapolis 500. On September 13, 2020, Herta won the second of two races held at Mid-Ohio. He scored a runner-up finish at the Indianapolis road course's Saturday race. With seven top-fives in fourteen races, he ranked third in points.

Andretti Autosport 2021: Three more wins

Going into 2021, Herta was seen as the strongest challenger in the Andretti stable to Scott Dixon for the IndyCar title. Herta would also move from the No. 88 Andretti Harding Steinbrenner Racing car to the No. 26 Andretti Autosport with Curb Agajanian car with backing from Indianapolis 500 title sponsor Gainbridge. Herta started his season caught up in an accident caused by Josef Newgarden in Alabama but earned his first win of the season at St. Petersburg, his first win on a street circuit. He would secure two podium finishes before his second win of the season; a second-place at Road America and third place at the second round on the IMS Road Course. He was frequently beset by poor strategy, mechanical issues, and driving errors. Most notable of these was at the inaugural round in Nashville; Herta would qualify on pole position for the race, lead most of the race, lost the lead under caution to Marcus Ericsson, and crashed out of the race attempting to take the lead back from Ericsson in the closing laps. Herta was running in the lead at Gateway before a half-shaft failure during a pit stop forced his retirement. Herta would pick up his second win of the season at Laguna Seca, where he led all but one lap of the race to win from pole. He finished the season off with a come from behind victory on The Streets of Long Beach when he started fourteenth and worked his way rapidly through the field to take the lead from Josef Newgarden and Scott Dixon to win his third race of the season. He ultimately finished the season fifth in the championship standings.

2022: A difficult season

After intense speculation that he would be making a move to Formula One, Andretti Autosport and Herta announced that he would be racing in IndyCar in 2022, partnering Alexander Rossi, Romain Grosjean, and Devlin DeFrancesco. Herta struggled in the initial rounds of the season, including crashing after losing the lead at Long Beach, but picked up his first win of the season at the GMR Grand Prix. Herta was in place to win the second race at the IMS road course before a mechanical failure would cause him to have to retire the car for the day and his teammate Alexander Rossi would win.

2023: Winless campaign

Herta initially signed a multi-year contract to remain with Andretti Autosport, though this would be later to be extended to 2027. Herta's 2023 would end with three top-five finishes, including a podium at Toronto. He also took back-to-back poles at Mid-Ohio and Road America, where he would also lead the most laps. Road America proved to be the closest Herta would come to a win in 2023, dominating the race before dropping to fifth due to a poor strategy call forcing him to save fuel to reach the finish. The season concluded with Herta tenth in the standings again after a tough second half including two DNFs at Nashville Street Circuit and the finale at Laguna Seca.

2024: Championship runner-up Herta started the season with five top five finishes in the first five races, including podiums at St. Petersburg and Long Beach. He struggled with bad luck and performance issues after the Indianapolis 500, though did manage to pick up another podium finish at Laguna Seca and his first pole position on an oval at Iowa. Herta finally broke through at Toronto, qualifying on pole and winning his first race in two years. At the final race of the season at the Nashville Superspeedway, Herta broke through and took his first win on an oval, securing second place to Alex Palou in the 2024 IndyCar Series championship standings, his highest points total yet. Herta also became the highest scoring Andretti Autosport driver in the modern IndyCar era since Ryan Hunter-Reay in 2012.

2025: Final year with Andretti

Following the season's end, Herta would leave Andretti and the IndyCar series altogether, transferring to Formula 2 while becoming Cadillac's test driver in Formula One, with Will Power replacing him after getting released from Team Penske.

2026: Aborted Indy 500 entry Herta was planning on entering the 2026 Indianapolis 500 in May, as there was originally a break in the F2 Championship, after the third round in Saudi Arabia. The proposed plan was to drive the No. 98 for Andretti. However, due to the Iran war, the FIA had to cancel the races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia and replace them with rounds in Miami and Canada, the latter race clashing with the Indy 500. Ultimately, Herta had to scrap his plans after the reschedule was announced.

Sportscar racing 2019

Herta participated in the 2019 24 Hours of Daytona in a BMW M8 GTE for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. He, along with co-drivers Connor De Phillippi, Augusto Farfus and Philipp Eng, won the race in the GTLM class.

2022 Herta (No. 25) drove both BMW M Hybrid V8's at the 2023 24 Hours of Daytona. Herta returned to Daytona participate in the 2022 edition, partnering fellow IndyCar drivers Pato O'Ward and Devlin DeFrancesco along with Eric Lux in an LMP2 entry for DragonSpeed. The quartet won after Herta took the lead in the final eleven minutes of the race.

2023

In late 2022, Herta was confirmed as one of the drivers for the new BMW M Hybrid V8 prototype to be fielded by Rahal Letterman Lannigan racing during the 2023 IMSA SportsCar Championship.

2024

In the 2024 IMSA SportsCar Championship, Herta drove the No. 40 Acura for Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport and earned his first overall win in the series at the 12 Hours of Sebring.

2026 Alongside his Formula 2 campaign and Formula 1 duties, Herta will compete part-time in the IMSA SportsCar Championship with Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing.

Formula racing career outside of Indycar With the attempted purchase of Sauber by Andretti Autosport in 2021, Herta was the favorite candidate to join Formula One with Alfa Romeo for the 2022 season. This led to both a seat mold made for him and a test with the simulator at the team's base in Hinwil, Switzerland—where Mario Andretti and various other reports claimed he set faster times than Kimi Räikkönen and Antonio Giovinazzi, Alfa Romeo's 2021 lineup. A preliminary agreement was reached with Ferrari to hold a test with Herta to allow him to participate in free practices at the United States, Mexico City and São Paulo Grands Prix. However, negotiations between Andretti and Sauber broke down at the end of 2021, resulting in Herta never participating in the test sessions.

Herta was later signed by McLaren in 2022 as a development driver to test the MCL35M–McLaren's car. He took part in his first test drive from July 11–13 around the Algarve International Circuit in Portimão. Later that year, Red Bull began to show interest in having Herta as an AlphaTauri driver in . Herta however, lacked enough points to obtain an FIA Super Licence—necessary to be able to contest in Formula One. Red Bull began efforts to obtain one for Herta, asking the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) to consider an exception for Herta. Red Bull then reached an agreement with Alpine for Herta to test their Formula One cars in September at the Hungaroring—an event the French team organised to aid effort to choose their 2023 driver—in an effort to earn Herta more super licence points. Alpine would accept on the condition that then AlphaTauri driver, Pierre Gasly, was free to join the French team. Ultimately, the FIA refused to make an exception for Herta, forcing Red Bull to abandon its efforts to bring the American driver to Formula One, with Herta not participating in the tests with Alpine.

In late 2024, Herta became heavily linked to a drive at the newly-forming Cadillac Formula One Team after their bid to join Formula One in was accepted. Mario Andretti—a member of the board of directors—stated that one of their two seats would "most likely" go to him, but added that "you have to keep your options open." Cadillac later announced that their two seats would be filled by Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas in August 2025 as Herta fell short of the fourth place finish needed to secure a Super License for 2026. The next month, Herta was later announced as Cadillac's test driver for 2026, leaving Andretti's IndyCar outfit to fulfill this role. Cadillac CEO Dan Towriss also announced that Herta would aim for a seat in Formula 2, in an attempt to obtain enough super license points to be eligible for a spot in Formula One. Herta would need an outright top-eight finish in Formula 2 to reach the 40 points required for an FIA Super License for 2027, or a top ten finish with free practice sessions (one point each, up to four per season). Cadillac and Hitech Grand Prix confirmed Herta would join their Formula 2 outfit for the 2026 season. He completed his maiden session in 21st place.

Personal life Outside of racing, Herta is a member of the indie punk rock band The Zibs, where he plays the drums. He formed the band in 2018 with his high school friends Jon Graber and Chris Broadbent.

Karting record

Karting career summary

Racing record

Career summary Season still in progress.

Complete MSA Formula Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate points for the fastest lap of top ten finishers) Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 DC Points 2015 Carlin BHI1 BHI2 BHI3 DON1 DON2 DON3 THR1 THR2 THR3 OUL1 OUL2 OUL3 CRO1 CRO2 CRO3 SNE1 SNE2 SNE3 KNO1 KNO2 KNO3 ROC1 ROC2 ROC3 SIL1 SIL2 SIL3 BHGP1 BHGP2 BHGP3 3rd 355

Complete Euroformula Open Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate points for the fastest lap of top ten finishers) Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 DC Points 2016 Carlin EST1 EST2 SPA1 SPA2 LEC1 LEC2 SIL1 SIL2 RBR1 RBR2 MNZ1 MNZ2 JER1 JER2 CAT1 CAT2 3rd 199

American open-wheel racing results U.S. F2000 National Championship Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Rank Points 2014 JAY Motorsports STP STP BAR BAR IMS IMS LOR TOR TOR MOH MOH MOH SNM SNM 15th 115

Indy Lights Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Rank Points 2017 Andretti Steinbrenner Racing STP STP ALA ALA IMS IMS INDY RDA ROA IOW TOR TOR MOH MOH GMP WGL 3rd 300 2018 Andretti Steinbrenner Racing STP STP ALA ALA IMS IMS INDY RDA RDA IOW TOR TOR MOH MOH GTW POR POR 2nd 447

IndyCar Series (key) Year Team No. Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Rank Points Ref 2018 Harding Racing 88 Dallara DW12 Chevrolet STP PHX LBH ALA IMS INDY DET DET TXS ROA IOW TOR MOH POC GTW POR SNM 37th 20 2019 Harding Steinbrenner Racing Honda STP COA ALA LBH IMS INDY DET DET TXS RDA TOR IOW MOH POC GTW POR LAG 7th 420 2020 Andretti Harding Steinbrenner Autosport TXS IMS ROA ROA IOW IOW INDY GTW GTW MOH MOH IMS IMS STP 3rd 421 2021 Andretti Autosport 26 ALA STP TXS TXS 5th 455 Andretti Autosport w/ Curb-Agajanian IMS INDY DET DET ROA MOH NSH IMS GTW POR LAG LBH 2022 STP TXS LBH ALA IMS INDY DET ROA MOH TOR IOW IOW IMS NSH GTW POR LAG 10th 381 2023 STP TXS LBH ALA IMS INDY DET ROA MOH TOR IOW IOW NSH IMS GTW POR LAG 10th 356 2024 Andretti Global w/ Curb-Agajanian STP THE LBH ALA IMS INDY DET ROA LAG MOH IOW IOW TOR GTW POR MIL MIL NSH 2nd 513 2025 STP THE LBH ALA IMS INDY DET GTW ROA MOH IOW IOW TOR LAG POR MIL NSH 7th 372

Indianapolis 500 Year Chassis Engine Start Finish Team 2019 Dallara Honda533 Harding Steinbrenner Racing 2020108 Andretti Harding Steinbrenner Autosport 2021 216 Andretti Autosport 2022 25 30 2023 21 9 2024 13 23 Andretti Global 2025 27 14

Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant Class Make Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Rank Points 2019 BMW Team RLL GTLM BMW M8 GTE BMW S63 4.0 L Twin-turbo V8 DAY SEB LBH MOH WGL MOS LIM ELK VIR LGA PET 14th 89 2020 BMW Team RLL GTLM BMW M8 GTE BMW S63 4.0 L Turbo V8 DAY DAY SEB ELK VIR ATL MOH CLT PET LGA SEB 9th 79 2021 Turner Motorsport GTD BMW M6 GT3 BMW 4.4 L Turbo V8 DAY SEB MOH DET WGL WGL LIM ELK LGA LBH VIR PET 50th 285 2022 DragonSpeed USA LMP2 Oreca 07 Gibson GK428 V8 DAY SEB LGA MOH WGL ELK PET NC† 0† 2023 BMW M Team RLL GTP BMW M Hybrid V8 BMW P66/3 4.0 L Turbo V8 DAY SEB LBH LGA WGL MOS ELK IMS PET 24th 274 2024 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport GTP Acura ARX-06 Acura AR24e 2.4 L Turbo V6 DAY SEB LBH LGA DET WGL ELK IMS PET 18th 970 2025 CrowdStrike Racing by APR LMP2 Oreca 07 Gibson GK428 V8 DAY SEB WGL MOS ELK IMS PET 47th 272 2026 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing GTP Cadillac V-Series.R Cadillac LMC55R 5.5 L V8 DAY SEB LBH LGA DET WGL ELK IMS PET 19th* 548*Source: † Points only counted towards the Michelin Endurance Cup, and not the overall LMP2 Championship. Season still in progress.

Complete FIA Formula 2 Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 DC Points Hitech MELSPR MELFEA MIASPR MIAFEA MTLSPR MTLFEA MONSPR MONFEA CATSPR CATFEA RBRSPR RBRFEA SILSPR SILFEA SPASPR SPAFEA HUNSPR HUNFEA MNZSPR MNZFEA MADSPR MADFEA BAKSPR BAKFEA LSLSPR LSLFEA YMCSPR YMCFEA 16th* 26*

Complete Formula One participations (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) YearEntrantChassisEngine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23Points 2026 Cadillac Formula One Team Cadillac MAC-26 Ferrari 067/6 1.6 V6 tAUSCHNJPNMIACANMONBCN AUTGBRBELHUNNEDITAESPAZEBHRSINUSAMXCSAPLVGQATABU – – Season still in progress.