Is Colton Herta America's champion-in-waiting?

Colton Herta is a pleasure to interview, primarily because he can’t help telling the truth. OK, so he’s not going to lay his soul bare, won’t reveal everything he’s thinking, but if he provides an answer, he means it.

For instance, last month during the IndyCar media days, he inevitably had to field questions about Formula 1, having been part of Michael Andretti’s ultimately foiled plan to take control of the Alfa Romeo Sauber team.

“I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to do Formula 1,” Herta declared. “I want to do a lot of stuff in my career, but it needs certain timing. Formula 1 is one of those things.

“If you're 28, you're not going to Formula 1, unfortunately. That's just how it works. The time is right for me if I got the opportunity. I'd have to have a good think about it, but I most likely would do it because I want to run in Formula 1 at some point.”

He added, “I'm 21 years old and I can come back in five years and still run 15 years in IndyCar and be 40.

“Yeah, I definitely want to give it a crack if I get the opportunity. But definitely not disappointed at all in IndyCar. I like this series more than any series in the world, and I enjoy racing in it a lot. But yeah, there's just a lot of stuff that I'd like to try in my racing career outside of IndyCar, also.”

That covered it nicely and we understood exactly how he was thinking. So when I broached the subject again this week, and asked if he was bored with questions about F1, a simple, chuckling “Yes!” was all that was required, and we moved on.

As for the ‘trying other stuff’ part of his response, he’s been true to his word, and many of us, fans and media alike, appreciate such career diversity. A few days after the IndyCar media session, Herta, along with IndyCar rival Pato O’Ward, new IndyCar teammate Devlin DeFrancesco and Eric Lux were racing for DragonSpeed and winning the LMP2 class of the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona. That was Herta’s second victory in the prestigious IMSA season-opener, having been part of the winning GTLM-class line-up at Rahal Letterman Lanigan BMW in 2019.

Then, the weekend after his latest Daytona triumph, Herta was subbing for the injured Travis Pastrana in the Race of Champions in Sweden, going toe-to-toe with the likes of four-time F1 champion Sebastian Vettel in a variety of cars on snow and ice, and joining forces with NASCAR legend Jimmie Johnson to take second in the RoC Nations Cup.

Colton Herta, RX Supercar Lites

Photo by: Jerry Andre / Motorsport Images

But Herta won’t let these sidelines or his future career prospects turn into distractions. Right now, he’s all about the 2022 NTT IndyCar Series, and he was delighted to top the test around Sebring’s short course last week.

“Yeah, that was good because it’s a track I really struggle on in an IndyCar,” he admits candidly. “I’m glad it’s not on the [race] schedule. It’s a place I’m not usually that fast. I don’t know what it is but it’s difficult for me to get to the limit of corner entry speed, difficult for me to judge somehow. So that was a nice surprise.

“But I never look at Sebring tests as that useful for setting us up for the year. The street courses are quite different to what we get at Sebring, because even the slow corners there are faster. What I get out of tests is, because of our lack of track time in the off-season, it’s an opportunity to get in the car and spin! Find the limit, risk throwing it off, so I don’t have to do that at St. Pete where there’s walls and you can’t get away with it.

“And it also gives us a chance to go through setup changes to see what we like. Nathan and I have become really good at compartmentalizing everything, understanding what we need on a race weekend and if what we’re doing is actually relevant or not.”

If Andretti Autosport has for several years been the top team in the series on street courses, so too Herta, working closely with his similarly sharp race engineer Nathan O’Rourke, has become the squad’s cutting edge on IndyCar’s temporary tracks. Last year he dominated St. Petersburg, carved through from mid-pack to win at Long Beach and, without inopportune caution periods, would have conquered Nashville. No one would be surprised to see the #26 Gainbridge-backed car in Victory Lane after Sunday’s 100-lap Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, because few of Herta’s experienced rivals have had any more test time than he, and the cars haven’t changed much.

“What we’re running is almost bone-stock, very similar to how we finished last year,” he says. “As far as advancements in the dampers, the main focus has not been on street courses – and rightly so. I’d say we have the best street course cars 95 percent of the time already. Last year I could have won at Detroit, could have won Nashville, and did win St. Pete and Long Beach.

“So the focus has been on natural terrain road courses, and on Iowa Speedway. We should have a test later on at Iowa and that will be interesting, because getting it right there is important with it being a double-header event this year.”

While ‘real’ test days are severely limited, there is plenty of simulator work that can be carried out in the off-season – although that has its limitations according to Herta.

Herta was on top of the test times at Sebring, which surprised and pleased him.

Photo by: IndyCar Series

“I’m still not a 100 percent believer in the sim,” he says. “I think there are still key differences between the sim and the real car. But as far as ovals go, I think that’s the area where the HPD sim is best. I think you can get comfortable, get the feelings you need, similar to what you’d notice in real life. You can make changes and experience the difference they made, which then helps us home in on what we actually want to do. I don’t get that same feel on the sim for road courses and street courses.

“Last week I did a split day between Barber [Motorsports Park road course] and Texas [Motor Speedway] because we’re going to ‘real’ tests at those two tracks before the races there. Texas was important because although we haven’t really struggled there, we also haven’t really been great there. We need to step it up.

“So as a team I think we’re definitely concentrating on the right areas, the places where we’ve felt we’ve lacked some speed.”

With Ryan Hunter-Reay and James Hinchcliffe gone from Andretti Autosport for 2022 to be replaced by series sophomore Romain Grosjean and rookie Devlin DeFrancesco, Herta heads into the season well aware there’s a different challenge from within the AA ranks. Incumbent Alexander Rossi is a known quantity – a hell of a racer, albeit someone over whom Herta has an edge in qualifying at most tracks. Grosjean, by contrast, is something of a mystery, although he was very quick in a grand prix car (even if his machinery didn’t let him show it in his final five years of F1) and he showed mercurial form in his rookie IndyCar season, accruing a pole position and three top-three finishes.

Last week at Sebring the 35-year-old Frenchman was the driver closest to Herta’s pace-setting time, finishing the day just 0.17sec off the 21-year-old Californian’s best effort, despite relative lack of familiarity with the Andretti Autosport setup, and without refining and tailoring his car to the nth degree. Heck, Grosjean and race engineer Olivier Boisson didn’t even adjust the front wing all day.

It’s clear, therefore, that Herta could face new and very strong local opposition as he challenges for the 2022 IndyCar championship. That should be a strength for the team as a whole, not because either driver needs to be pushed to produce his best, but because if both drivers actively seek the same handling traits from their cars, it can save time in practice sessions by preventing them heading down setup cul-de-sacs. That said, Herta cannot yet be completely sure how similar or disparate are his and Grosjean’s preferences.

“I think we’re pretty similar, driving style-wise,” he muses, “but it’s actually quite hard to judge that at the moment. There’s not a lot of different driving styles that you can use at Sebring, for some reason, except at Turn 8. He seemed good on the brakes, good at squaring off the corners, but I’d say it’s too early to say what similarities or differences there may be.

“Whatever, I’m really happy Romain is with us. He’ll have some really good input and insight, and a new perspective. And for sure he’ll be fast. And we know Alex will be fast, too… In fact, I think if Andretti Autosport has maintained an advantage on street courses, they’ll be my main people to beat.”

Herta expects Rossi to be on it, as well as his new teammate Grosjean.

Photo by: IndyCar Series

But there and elsewhere, he can also expect strong opposition from the ranks of AA’s technical partners Meyer Shank Racing, from Team Penske, from Arrow McLaren SP and perhaps most of all, from Chip Ganassi Racing, home of the current champion Alex Palou.

Between them, Palou and Herta scored six wins last year, and for many they are the title favorites in 2022. Because although Herta’s Nashville shunt was caused by a momentary lapse of judgment in frustrated pursuit of the leader, his other win or podium losses in 2021 were down to bad luck, be that mechanical issues or wrong place/wrong time moments. This young American is clearly mature enough to nail the title. Mature enough, also, to shrug off the burden of “title favorite” by simply dismissing it.

“If people say that, or if it’s said in media or social media, it’s all kind of irrelevant to me,” he says, a note of boredom creeping in. “If it comes from Michael or Mario, someone with a lot of history in racing, it has a little bit more weight because they know what to look for in a driver and his circumstances when they’re assessing the situation. But otherwise…” He shrugs. “I don’t mind it, I guess it’s nice to hear. But it doesn’t change anything for me, doesn’t alter my aims or add pressure or whatever.”

Herta, in true racer form, thinks far more about the practicalities. As has been documented here, this year Chevrolet is open to tailoring engine mapping to drivers’ needs, so that could help bring the Bowtie brigade more prominently into the title fight. Asked whether he feels confident that Honda is going to maintain its slight edge, Herta replies, “I think we’ll see what we’ve seen in recent years, in terms of better driveability from the Hondas, and I think we’ll be strong at Indy, too. But Chevrolet isn’t far off at the Speedway – the Ed Carpenter cars almost took pole there last year. And I also think Chevy’s mid-range is better than ours, so at a place like the Indy road course they seem to be a little better.

“So yeah, I think you’ll see the same characteristics between the two engine manufacturers, but overall it’ll be very close as usual.”

Speaking of the Speedway, Herta and O’Rourke have learned from 2021. In the first half of last year’s Indy 500, the #26 AA-Honda appeared to be very strong, running in the top three with the Carpenter cars, but in the second half Herta faded and eventually came home 13th.

“It was a simple thing that caused that,” he nods, “and we understood it almost as soon as it happened. We know what we did wrong. Obviously I can’t tell you what we did, but it was something that was… not the correct thing to do. But hey, it’s good to find out early in my career! And it’s good to know for this year because obviously Indy is double-points and we’re going to need a strong finish in the top five – hopefully the win – if we’re going to make a run at the championship.”

Is anything less than the title going to be a disappointment then?

“It depends why we miss out,” Herta replies. “If we have parts failures or engines let go and we’re able to finish third or second in the championship, I don’t think I’d look on it as a complete disaster. But if we miss out because we don’t have enough pace, then yes, I’d regard that as disappointing.

“Because obviously the goal – always – is to win the championship. Anything less than that sucks.”

Herta may be disinterested in the ‘title favorite’ tag… and in truth, it may be inaccurate. It’s not as if the Palou/Ganassi combo has deteriorated in the off-season. But let’s put it this way: it will be a real shock if Herta isn’t in title contention come September’s finale at Laguna Seca – the track where he’s won on IndyCar’s last two visits.