Colton Herta feared that his Formula 1 dream was fading after a “very real” opening with Red Bull’s junior team, AlphaTauri, fell through.

Super Licence points was the stumbling block, but a fresh opportunity has emerged with Cadillac. Herta has been counting his lucky stars for this one, and is “fully focused” on making it to the Formula 1 grid with Cadillac.

Third time lucky for Colton Herta with Cadillac

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A multi-time IndyCar race winner, Herta twice saw the F1 door potentially opening. Firstly with Sauber during an unsuccessful Michael Andretti takeover attempt.

Red Bull later took an interest in signing Herta to its AlphaTauri F1 team, but due to insufficient Super Licence points, the move did not happen.

Appearing on the Beyond the Grid podcast, Herta, speaking from Cadillac’s Silverstone base, was asked whether those disappointments fuelled his Formula 1 desire.

“Yeah. Look, this is a sport, and first and foremost, it’s a business, right. It’s got to put out money, and got to collect money. So I understand that, and I understand that side of it.

“But it was disappointing to have those two instances where I thought… maybe not so much on the Sauber one. I thought there was a chance with that one, but the AlphaTauri deal seemed very real to me.

“And then when that didn’t happen, I was like, ‘Look, okay, kind of getting up there in age, probably won’t have another opportunity’.”

Herta was told that in the F1 paddock, there was a period of time where the deal seemed on. He was asked if he felt the same.

“Yes and no.”

Herta appreciated how the whole situation was handled as he discussed with Helmut Marko, Red Bull’s senior advisor and driver programme boss at the time.

There was a contract on the table, but unable to sign it due to his Super Licence points deficit, the time came where Herta had to call it, and secure his spot in IndyCar.

“I really like the straightforwardness of dealing with Dr. Marko,” said Herta.

Put to him that there are no grey areas with Marko, Herta agreed: “Exactly.

“And sometimes it hurts as a driver. You don’t want to hear some things. But sometimes you need to hear them.

“But the good part about all of that was, he was very straightforward on the possibility of it. One day it was, if I had to put a percentage, maybe it’s 80 per cent, and then the next day he’s like, ’40. Wait, we’ve clawed back, so maybe 60′. So there was a very real possibility.

“I had a contract from them. I was just unable to sign, because I didn’t have the Super License.

“They were feeling really good at a point that they thought it was going to happen, but they weren’t sure.

“And eventually, I couldn’t really wait too much more. I had to sign a new deal in IndyCar, and Michael [Andretti] and Dan [Towriss] were very gracious to have me back in IndyCar.

“So I signed with them, which ended up being the right thing. I would have had no Formula 1 seat and no IndyCar seat. Don’t know what I would have done then.

“It was a very strange time. It was always day to day. I was looking at the reports, and I was like, ‘Man, these people think it’s going to happen. Maybe it’ll happen’. And then he called, Dr. Marko, and he’s like, ‘Well, don’t be so sure, and maybe this stuff can happen’.

“It was very gracious at the time of, like, everybody, of being able to go into the Red Bull sim, being able to talk to Dr. Marko about the possibility of Formula 1, and a lot of people took a lot of time out of their days to kind of point me in the right direction and help me out.

“So very gracious for that.”

But, just as it seemed that maybe Formula 1 was not going to happen, step forward, Cadillac F1.

Herta signed with Formula 1’s newest team as a test driver, and left his IndyCar career behind to join Hitech in Formula 2, the top junior category on the road to F1.

Herta is due to appear in four FP1 sessions during the F1 2026 season, starting in Barcelona.

“And then this came around, and I was like, ‘Geez, count my lucky stars. This is a amazing opportunity’,” Herta continued.

“And to have the people that are involved in it be involved in it, is super cool for me, because I’ve known them for a while now from the IndyCar side.

“And even walking around here, like a lot of guys from when I was racing in Europe, and engineers, mechanics that I worked with or knew, it’s cool, I didn’t realise how many people I knew until I came back here.”

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Herta was asked whether this feels like a case of third time lucky for his F1 dream.

“Yeah, 100 per cent,” he confirmed, “and, for me, as far as I’m concerned, I’m fully focused on making this one the one that counts and works.

“Fully focused on trying to get here, and dealing with my F2 career at the moment, trying to go through that side of things and learning as much as I can.

“So that’s kind of where we’re at.”

Herta scored points in his first F2 feature race with a P7 Melbourne finish.

Next up, Herta will go racing on home soil, as Formula 2 heads to Miami for the first time.

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