Colton Herta spoke about the F1 conversion rumors that were going on behind the scenes of Andretti Autosport’s acquisition of Sauber / Alfa Romeo F1.
Negotiations between Michael Andretti and Isleo Investments, the controlling company of Sauber, were in the final stages, but the negotiations broke down as Andretti could not take control of the team presented by Sauber at the last minute.
Colton Herta admitted that he was a candidate for F1 driver if the deal was successful, but said he was able to manage his disappointment because he wasn’t so keen on leaving IndyCar and entering F1. ..
“It was my decision whether I wanted to go or stay,” Colton Herta told RACER.
“You had to be in the right situation, you had the right money to be competitive, or you had to reach that point to be competitive, but you would pull me away from IndyCar. It takes a lot of time, because I grew up with him. I didn’t grow up watching F1. In fact, I didn’t follow F1 until I was 12-13 years old. I’ve been watching IndyCar since I remembered it. It will take a lot of time for me to be dragged into Europe. “
Andretti’s first attempt to acquire F1 team failed, but Colton Herta says he still has the enthusiasm to reach F1.
“That’s what I want to do,” continued Colton Herta.
“But I have a lot of things I want to do in my career, and not all of them are centered around IndyCar. Daytona 500, 24 Hours of Le Mans, IMSA and other races I’ve tried. There are a lot of things. In some respects, the type of race I want to do is whether I can do it later in my career, or if I have no choice but to do it when given the opportunity. I think it’s time sensitive. “
“But IndyCar gave me a love for the race, so in the situation I’m in, I can aim for the championship and win the race, so at this point I can pull me away from it. It will take a lot of time, but in retrospect I hope people will respect that there are many things I want to race in my career. “
Colton Herta finished fifth in the ranking with three wins in 2021, and rumors of Andretti Autosport’s acquisition of Sauber / Alfa Romeo F1 won more IndyCar wins and championships in 2022. He said he did not derail the plan to do so.
“They were spending so much time and effort getting the deal done that I’m not saying they didn’t care too much, it was intriguing,” Colton Herta added.
“But for me, it wasn’t that important until I signed the deal. I read the article. It was like,’Oh, did the deal complete?'” No, 90 percent? “And honestly. I didn’t know much about F1 trading. “
“I left it to my dad and I didn’t want to know too much. To be honest, I didn’t prevent myself from focusing on IndyCar. I had a contract with IndyCar, so I said,’Next year I never thought, “I’m going to F1” and that was my focus, and I and (Hata’s race engineer) Nathan (O’Rourke) will work together next year no matter what. I work on the premise of
“Honestly, I didn’t think I would go because I didn’t have a contract, and for me it didn’t matter how many people said’go to F1′. Michael and my dad were Indy. I told me I wanted to take it away from my car job, so I didn’t think about it. My full focus is on my contract. If I get a contract offer, It would have obviously switched. ”
Category: F1 / Indycar / Sauber / Alfa Romeo Racing
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