Colton Herta made his F1 practice debut with Cadillac, marking a significant step in his journey to a potential F1 seat. The 26-year-old American driver took part in a Friday practice session at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, finishing 22nd with a time of 1 minute, 24.097 seconds, just 1.7 seconds behind teammate Valtteri Bottas.
Herta's first outing in a 2026 F1 car was a challenging one, with the driver having to adjust to the complexities of the current power units and navigate a crowded track with 21 other cars. Despite the difficulties, Herta sounded philosophical about his experience, stating that the correlation between the simulator work and the real thing was "quite good" and that he was able to provide some useful data for the team.
View Price on AmazonAn F1 rookie program is not just about being on track – it's also about being embedded in the team, sitting in meetings, and getting a feel for everything. Herta emphasized the importance of understanding how things work, from pre-event meetings to post-session analysis. He also highlighted the vast amount of data and development that goes into F1, which is a significant departure from his previous experiences.
While F1 remains the ultimate goal, Herta's focus for now is on his day job in Formula 2. He has had a solid, if unspectacular, start to the season, picking up a couple of seventh places and an eighth in four race weekends. Herta currently lies 13th in the championship table, behind teammate Ritomo Miyata, who is in his third season and has more experience.
Source: roadandtrack.com
