Colton Herta dodges questions on rumored move to F1 feeder system

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Colton Herta three times Tuesday declined to address rumors he's leaving IndyCar for Formula 1's feeder system to pursue the points he needs to earn the super license required to compete in the global series.

IndyCar heads into its finale this weekend at Nashville Superspeedway with a handful of driver contracts unsettled. One of those drivers is two-time IndyCar champion Will Power of Team Penske, and speculation has swirled he could replace Herta at Andretti Global if team owner Dan Towriss decides to send Herta to F2 in pursuit of his super license.

Towriss' group owns the new Cadillac F1 team that on Tuesday announced Vallteri Bottas and Sergio Perez for its 2026 driver lineup. The F1 project began in 2021 under then-team owner Michael Andretti, who had earmarked a seat for Herta so that the Californian could make it a true American team.

But, four seasons on, Herta has yet to earn a super license and was not eligible for one of the Cadillac seats.

“Oh boy, I don't really have any comments for any of that stuff, to be honest,” Herta told The Associated Press.

Told that by not denying it he was allowing the speculation to continue, Herta again deflected.

“It does, but it also makes people talk about me more,” Herta said. “Maybe even raises my stock a little.”

He also deflected a third time by changing the topic. When Towriss was asked about Herta while announcing the F1 lineup, he noted that Herta wasn't an option because of the super license.

But when asked specifically if he was trying to move Herta to an F2 team, Towriss said: “That's not what we're reporting today.”

It was a dramatically different response from the one Towriss gave about reports he was interested in hiring former Red Bull team principal Christian Horner at Cadillac.

“There have been no talks with Christian Horner. No plans to do that,” Towriss said. “I’d like to officially shut down that rumor.”

Herta, who is 25, is in his seventh season of IndyCar and has nine career victories. He finished a career-best second in the standings last year but is winless headed into the finale and ranked sixth in points behind Andretti Global teammate Kyle Kirkwood. Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing wrapped up the title two races ago.

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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing