LONDON (AP) — Colton Herta's hopes of returning to the Indianapolis 500 in the middle of his bid to reach Formula 1 took a hit with a calendar clash Thursday after Formula 2 races were rescheduled.
The 25-year-old IndyCar star — who became the series' youngest race winner at the age of 18 in 2019 — made the move to F2 this season with an eye on the super license points needed to race in F1 with Cadillac as its first American driver.
F2 has scheduled
two extra rounds of its championship alongside F1's Miami Grand Prix and the Canadian Grand Prix, both next month. The race in Montreal clashes with the Indianapolis 500 on May 24. The original schedule didn't have any F2 races in May at all.
They replace rounds in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia which were called off along with the F1 races there because of the war in Iran.
Herta had been in contention for a fourth car at the Indianapolis 500 from Andretti Global, which shares an ownership group with the Cadillac F1 team in Dan Towriss and the TWG Motorsports conglomeration.
“We’re planning on a fourth car. But there are no shortage of people, and not just from IndyCar,” Towriss said in February at the IndyCar season opener in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Herta is 10th in the F2 standings following the opening round in Australia last month.
“I think it’s great if it gets me to Formula 1 and I would be incredibly grateful I took the leap," Herta told The Associated Press in January of his F2 move. "I think a lot of people feel it would be embarrassing if I fail, but I don’t care what everybody thinks or if its going to tarnish my career.”
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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
