Tauriss: Colton Herta is not guaranteed a seat with Cadillac

      Colton Herta once became the youngest race winner in IndyCar and still holds that distinction, but lately he hasn’t been able to get to the top step of the podium. In the recently concluded 2025 season he didn’t win a single race and only finished in the top three a couple of times, ending the championship seventh in the drivers’ standings.

      Although to obtain the FIA Super Licence that grants the right to compete in Formula 1 he would have needed to move up at least three places. But Global Andretti believe in their driver, so Colton Herta’s name has constantly been mentioned in the context of General Motors’ factory programme in F1, since both this IndyCar team and Cadillac F1 are business projects of Dan Tauriss and his company TWG Motorsport.

      The new Formula 1 team is being created partly with his money, and he was the one who managed to negotiate with GM’s management and involve the American auto giant in such a large-scale, very costly but interesting undertaking that promises considerable prospects.

      As for Colton Herta’s prospects, who recently joined Cadillac F1 as a test driver, he still has to gain experience in Formula 2.

      “We have two experienced drivers,” Tauriss reasoned, taking part in a recent episode of the American podcast Off Track with Hinch and Rossi. “I’m sure Colton will get his chance, but he still has to earn it, agree? So he’s taking a risk.

      In that respect his seat in the team is not guaranteed. He still has to prove that he can compete in Formula 1. I guess we can all say that people who can’t handle it are quickly weeded out.

      We were lucky, we managed to keep Colton at Andretti, in our IndyCar team, and now he is going to pursue his dream in Formula 1. For that he is ready to take a very serious risk. He is leaving IndyCar, but he won’t get straight into Formula 1. He will serve as a test driver, and he will have to compete in Formula 2. That will allow him to learn the tracks, to learn to work with Pirelli tyres.

      Working with the tyres plays an important role in all of this. They are very different from those used in IndyCar. In general, I am very proud of Colton because he is ready to take this risk for his dream.

      A few years ago, together with Michael Andretti we wanted to buy the Sauber team, but that deal did not go through. You could say everything fell apart at the last moment, but it was from that moment that Colton’s path began; it was then he showed that he has prospects in Formula 1. He went to Switzerland and after just an hour working on the simulator he was faster than the two Sauber drivers who were driving for that team at the time…

      In short, in terms of testing he did a certain amount of work that not everyone in Formula 1 knows about, but that is exactly why even Red Bull showed interest in him.”