“It’s a serious ambition of mine,” Colton Herta hopeful ahead of his McLaren F1 test
Colton Herta
The rumours of Colton Herta being the primary replacement for Daniel Ricciardo are getting stronger every day as the criticism for the Australian driver is piling up. After a sub-par debut season with McLaren in 2021, the 32-year old Ricciardo is under constant pressure after a poor start, largely for which the team is expected to be blamed.
However, with F1’s exponentially growing popularity in the United States, McLaren wants to be the next in line to capitalize upon the opportunity. With the American Colton Herta, the IndyCar superstar driver, McLaren sees a potential Daniel Ricciardo replacement. The 22-yea old finished 3rd and 5th in the 2020 and 2021 seasons of the American competition.
And if rumours are to be believed, the blame for Riccardo’s poor performances will be shifted from the team to the driver himself to have an excuse in case they decide to terminate his contract before it runs its course at the end of the 2023 season.
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Colton Herta wants to be in F1
Speaking in the F1 Nation Podcast, the American talked about his F1 “ambition.” While he is to test with McLaren’s MCL35M, a level lower than the current MCL36, no test has been made public.
Colton believes the test with the Woking-based outfit will open doors for his goals. He said, “It’s a serious ambition of mine. I wanted to go to IndyCar, and of course I still want to win the Indy 500. There’s a long list of different races, events and series that I want to be a part of, and Formula One is definitely higher on the list than a lot of other things.”
F1 is believed to be the ultimate dream of every driver. While transfers from F1 to IndyCar have been seen in the past, the reverse is generally harder, but certainly not impossible. The American driver certainly has all the support that he needs and a chance to prove himself.
Manan Goel
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