Colton Herta has demonstrated his speed by beating his competitors in the NTT IndyCar Series and track records alike in the last five years. Thanks to showing his capabilities in harnessing a high-horsepower car on the track, he was rewarded in the 2022-2023 off-season to a Formula One test with the McLaren F1 team. At the 2023 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach media luncheon, we sat down with Herta and he told us what that experience was like. He’s an accomplished young man with a very bright future. Enjoy!

NOTE: Herta races for the Andretti Global team. That team has been working to field their own F1 team with Cadillac and went through the lengthy process to be approved. That approval was denied in January 2024, however the team remains vigilant to become an F1 entrant as soon as possible (which F1 deems the first opportunity to be in 2028).

Colton Herta waves to the fans just prior to the 2023 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.

Colton Herta (l) tells Larry Mason (r) and raceschool.com podcast listeners what it’s like to drive a current F1 car.–Photo by John Grafman

Herta is leading the McLaren of Felix Rosenqvist through the tricky Turn 10 at Long Beach. A few months earlier, Herta was finding the limits of the McLaren F1 car at the Portimao track in Portugal.

Herta ‘rounds the hairpin at Long Beach prior to the launch down the long Shoreline front “straight.” Was he thinking about how an F1 car would accelerate and gain top speed instead?

Interview and photos Copyright © by Larry Mason (unless otherwise noted)