Colton Herta is a nine-time winner in the NTT IndyCar Series, including the youngest ever at the Circuit of the Americas track in Austin, Texas. He has also dominated events like the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. It was recently announced that he would be leaving his Andretti Global Indy car team and moving on to become the test and reserve driver for the new Cadillac Formula One team. In preparation for that role, Herta will contest the entire F2 championship season with the Hitech racing team. Herta spent 2015 and 2016 racing and winning in Europe in the junior formulae there, so that should also help ease his transition a bit. We caught up with him at the AGPLB media day where he filled us in on the intricacies of getting the most out of the Firestone primary (black) and alternate (red/green) tires for qualifying and racing. This knowledge will be beneficial to him in F1 as Pirelli also uses different tire compounds during race weekends. Enjoy!
NOTE: For more information on Herta’s F1 exploits, please visit: Cadillac F1 Team. To hear an earlier raceschool.com podcast interview with Herta where he talks about testing a McLaren F1 car, please visit: RaceSchool.com Podcast Colton Herta Interview – Part Two
By Larry Mason
Copyright © 2025 Larry Mason
Colton Herta has a confident smile lets anyone know that he’s ready to race and put fast laps on the clock!
His wrist band says “VIP” and for good reason. Not only was Colton raised in Santa Clarita (just up the road from Long Beach) but he’s also a Honda driver in the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach! He stands here in front of the iconic LB skyline.
Cutting the apex at the world-famous Turn 1 at Long Beach, Herta now prepares to rocket through the curved concrete barriers on the way to the fountain. Notice he’s on the harder Firestone primary (black sidewall) tires at this point in the race.
With his right front tire just barely off the ground, Herta puts a lot of steering angle into his Gainbridge-Honda to scrub a bit of speed and prepare for the exit where the wall juts out into his path of progress.
In the interview, Herta talks about the Firestone alternate tires (in this case the green guayule compound), and how to maximize his speed. Turn 10 is quite long, so the extra grip can make a bigger difference here in regards to lap time. In the interview, Mason mis-spoke and said the word “lap” instead of “corner” in regards to the amount of time that these tires can make up.
Coming at you (in Turn 11) with a bunch of paw prints on top of his sidepods, Herta did a promotional visit to the Pasadena Humane Society prior to the grand prix to promote pet adoption due to the California Wildfires.
Interview and photos Copyright © by Larry Mason (unless otherwise noted)