IndyCar star Colton Herta has failed to rule out a potential move to Formula 2 in order to secure a Formula 1 drive in the future.

The American, who drives for the Andretti Global squad, has been the subject of longstanding rumours about a possible switch to F1, which began in 2021.

Amid Andretti’s interest in purchasing Sauber, Herta’s name was banded around, and was said to have had a seat fitting, but the sale fell through.

The 25-year-old was then handed a TPC test car Portimao with McLaren, which encompassed speculation about a move to Racing Bulls, then AlphaTauri.

But the FIA was said not to be prepared to make an exception of Herta, as he did not possess the sufficient Super Licence points to gain entry.

Herta would have been able to have achieved that this year should he have been able to have completed a top four finish in the IndyCar standings.

But with one round to go and in sixth place, he is now mathematically unable to reach the required 40 licence points needed to be deemed qualified for F1.

This has now led to speculation that he may be willing to take a seat in F2, which would potentially create an easier passage to F1 should he desire it.

Ahead of the Snap-On 250 at the Milwaukee Mile, Herta said that it was purely speculation, intimating he knew nothing more than anyone else at this moment.

“I’ve heard those rumours, too,” Herta told the IndyStar. “That’s all it is right now, is rumours.”

Herta admits an IndyCar to F1 switch would be something ‘to think about’

Such is the length of time he has been linked with a move to F1, Herta acknowledged that he is not trying to force one, but said earlier in the year that he would “think about it” if an opportunity arose.

“I’ve been dragged around in these talks for, like, half a decade now,” he said.

“I’ve had the carrot in front of me for a while, and I’m kind of tired of that being the case, and I just want to drive at this point and focus on IndyCar this year and focus on winning the championship, and if something arises out of that, I’d still have to think about it.”

Herta recognised the personal commitments it would require for him to make such a jump, including an upheaval of his life from the States to Europe.

“All my friends and family are here in the US, and I don’t know anybody where I would be going, so it’s a big decision to make if I have to make that decision.”

READ MORE – The rising star who could be ‘deal of the century’ for F1 teams

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IndyCar took to the Portland International Raceway on Saturday morning, getting in some qualifying simulations before the heat of the afternoon settled in.

All 27 drivers searched for a clean piece of race track on the short course, hoping to get a feel for how their cars handled in undisturbed air.

Colton Herta was the quickest of the bunch, completing his lap in 58.4238 seconds on the harder compound tires.

Herta was 13th quickest on Friday, showing that his Andretti Global team has found extra pace as the weekend progresses.

Alex Palou was second quick for the second session running, completing his lap just 0.0293 seconds slower than the top time.

A couple veterans were next on the time sheets, with Scott Dixon and last year’s Portland winner Will Power setting the third and fourth quickest times.

A couple drivers took quick trips through the grass, including Power early in the run.

Nobody collided with the barriers, however, and the 45-minute session was completed without any interruptions.

Because space was tight, tempers flared from time to time. Scott McLaughlin was seen gesturing out of the top of his Aeroscreen at Devlin DeFrancesco after the two disagreed on who had the right of way through the first turn.

Rookie Louis Foster also ran into the back of Pato O’Ward when the two raced near each in Turn 7.

No damage was done to their cars, but another note in the memories of both drivers could lead to further battles later on in the weekend.

Drivers and teams only have a short 90 minute window to make adjustments before qualifying, which takes place at 11:30 AM PT.

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A knockout qualifying session for the NTT IndyCar Series took place on Saturday afternoon, setting the grid for Sunday’s main event on the streets of Toronto.

Colton Herta followed up his pole-to-victory performance from last year to earn another pole this weekend. His lap of 59.8320 was better than anyone else, and gave him the best starting position on the tricky streets.

Alex Palou was just over a quarter of a second slower and earned the outside front row, followed by Marcus Armstrong and Will Power making up the second row.

READ MORE: IndyCar Toronto – Full Qualifying Report

Callum Ilott complained about traffic, which caused him to have a hard time turning a clean lap. He earned the 12th starting position.

Two of the three Team Penske drivers failed to live up of the team’s standards, with Scott McLaughlin and Josef Newgarden earning the 15th and 18th starting positions respectively.

A 90-lap event awaits drivers on Sunday, with the green flag waving at noon eastern time.

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IndyCar completed a busy qualifying session on the streets of Toronto Saturday afternoon, with slick city roads providing a challenge up and down the field.

Just as he did during last year’s visit to Canada, Colton Herta was able to put in the quickest lap of the session to lock in pole position.

Herta lapped the 1.79-mile course in 59.8320 seconds, a full quarter of a second faster than anyone else in the field.

READ MORE: IndyCar Toronto – Full Qualifying Results

Times had been very close all throughout the order all afternoon, so having a 0.276 second advantage in the final run showed just how strong the California-native was.

Alex Palou was the second quickest, earning himself a spot alongside Herta as he continues to march towards his fourth championship.

Marcus Armstrong set the third best time, followed closely by Will Power, who was the only Chevy-powered representative in the Fast Six.

Graham Rahal earned the fifth starting position, with Kyle Kirkwood coming in sixth.

Kirkwood was very disappointed after his run, saying that his car bottomed out where it never had before, causing him to throw away what he felt was surely going to be pole run.

Louis Foster just missed the final round, qualifying in sixth in his #45 RLL Honda.

The Andretti crew was seen furiously diagnosing a brake issue on Marcus Ericsson’s #28 just before qualifying.

They got the issue sorted and he was able to advance into the second round, locking in the eighth starting position.

Scott Dixon locked up his new set of soft tires, which caused a large flat spot on his right front and hindered his run. He qualified 11th, but will start from 17th after an engine change penalty is applied.

Lining up from the back

With the overall times so close up and down the order, there were a few disappointed drivers who will be forced to start from the back half of the grid.

Nolan Siegel, who returned to the cockpit after having to sit out last weekend’s second race from Iowa, narrowly missed out on advancing into the second round.

His lap was 0.0340 seconds too slow, and he was forced to accept the 13th starting position instead of fighting in the next round.

Scott McLaughlin was also eliminated in the first round despite showing a lot of pace in the morning’s practice runs.

He blamed himself for not lining up all the corners correctly, and will start from 15th as a consequence.

Josef Newgarden will line up even further down the order, and will have to fight from 18th on the grid.

Both Ed Carpenter Racing entries and both Juncos Hollinger Racing entries struggled to put together a fast lap.

Out of the four drivers on those two teams, Conor Daly’s 21st grid slot is the highest. All will have a potentially long day ahead of them.

Drivers will return to the track for the main event on Sunday at noon eastern time, when the streets will become more narrow than ever with a full field battling for the same real estate.

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IndyCar took to the streets of Toronto on Saturday morning, turning practice laps in preparation for an important qualifying session later in the day.

Andretti Global was once again the fastest team, with Colton Herta setting the fastest individual time of the session.

Herta lapped the 1.79-mile course in 1:00.0578, just missing out on eclipsing the one minute barrier while completing qualifying simulations.

His team-mate Kyle Kirkwood was just a hair slower, following up his quick Friday performance with another on Saturday morning.

Team Penske was hot the heels of the Andretti duo, with Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin slotting into the third and fourth position on the timesheets.

Pato O’Ward was fifth quickest and reported that his car was as comfortable as can be expected on the slick course.

Unfortunately, Juncos Hollinger Racing appeared to be having nearly as many troubles as they did the day before. Conor Daly and Sting Ray Robb were 24th and 26th quickest respectively, with only Devlin DeFrancesco lapping slower.

All three drivers were two or more seconds off the pace, however, which is an age with the short lap times produced at this venue.

For the second day in a row, Jacob Abel found the wall during his runs. This time he attempted to continue after breaking his second consecutive toe link, which sent him spinning into the wall and doing more damage than the day before.

He and his Dale Coyne Racing crew will need to come up with a game plan to keep a larger margin to the barriers before qualifying later in the day.

Track adjustments

IndyCar worked with track crews overnight to add a strip of new asphalt leading into Turn 3 to help alleviate a large bump in the track that was bothering drivers on Friday.

The result was a bit smoother trip through the hardest braking zone on the track, but multiple drivers still found themselves locking their front wheels when attempting qualifying simulations.

During qualifying later in the day, drivers will surely have trouble with the same bump, which stretches all the way across the track.

Another problematic feature of the Toronto course was slightly improved on Saturday, with the extremely slick track surface beginning to hold grip as more and more rubber has been laid down.

It is still one of the more slippery courses on the calendar, however, and a couple drivers slid sideways and bounced their wheels off the concrete barriers.

Session leader Herta was among those that gathered a bit of concrete dust on the outside of his tires at one point.

Knockout qualifying takes place at 2:30 PM eastern time, giving teams only a few hours to make adjustments after practice concluded.

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After IndyCar completes the event at Mid-Ohio this weekend, the paddock will take a trip to Iowa Speedway for a double-header on the 7/8-mile oval.

Many teams completed a test on the track in Newton, Iowa in recent weeks, and drivers are talking about how physical the upcoming event is likely to be.

Last year, qualifying speeds topped 188 MPH, and the recent test unofficially saw speeds 7 MPH below that mark. Despite the difference, drivers reported that there is an extra element of strength needed for this year’s visit.

Will Power was the first to describe just how much grip the cars have with a new downforce package this season.

“The challenge is being able to hold on for a stint,” said Power. “They’ve just added so much downforce. It’s so stuck that it’s actually painful.

“I did half stint, and I’m like, man, I didn’t know if I could actually continue. I think there’s going to be people like stopping just because it’s so painful. It’s too much, too much grip.”

Colton Herta was present at the same media briefing, and was seen nodding along with everything the veteran was describing.

He added his thoughts, saying that completing two races in as many days is going to test drivers’ physical limits.

“Yeah, I agree,” said Herta. “It’s going to be extremely physical.

“Maybe that changes in the race. Maybe people save fuel a little bit more. The race pace will slow down from what we’re doing at the test, but how much — because we have to do it twice.

“It’s going to be a rough one.”

The Iowa Speedway double-header takes place on July 12-13, and is part of a busy summer stretch on the IndyCar calendar that sees drivers tackle five races in four weekends.

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27 drivers took to the streets of Detroit in order to set the fastest single lap around the 1.645-mile course and finalize the grid for Sunday’s race.

Colton Herta repeated his pole performance from last season and logged the 15th pole of his IndyCar career. The Andretti driver seemingly has magic that others do not when visiting street courses.

David Malukas was second fastest, slotting in between two Andretti drivers with Kyle Kirkwood just behind on the grid.

READ MORE: IndyCar Detroit – Full Qualifying Report

Scott Dixon narrowly advanced out of the first round, beating rookie Louis Foster’s time by 0.0081 seconds. He ended up with a lap good enough for 11th on the grid.

Josef Newgarden brushed the wall in the first session, which bent the toe link on his Team Penske Chevy. He will start down in 24th.

Sunday will bring race day around the tricky streets, with the green flag waving at 12:30 PM.

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Saturday afternoon on the streets of Detroit was reserved for IndyCar qualifying, and all 27 drivers put their feet to the floor as they motored around the Motor City.

The first two rounds whittled the field down to six, and the fastest of the fast completed one last push lap to see who would sit on the top spot.

It was little surprise that Colton Herta put in the fastest lap when it mattered most. He completed his lap at 1:00.477 seconds and earned his 15th career pole position.

READ MORE: IndyCar Detroit – Full Qualifying Results

Herta has been on rails all weekend in his #26 Andretti Global Honda, and he will look to use his advantageous position to earn his first win of the season.

David Malukas was the second fastest on the day, impressively placing his AJ Foyt Racing Chevy onto the front row.

He felt that he had a car fast enough for pole, but final tweaks to the front wing made before his final run did not help as expected.

Kyle Kirkwood was third fastest, but was disappointed with the result. He was up on the time delta halfway through the lap, but a small break in traction on acceleration led to him tapping the wall and bending his toe link.

Starting alongside in fourth will be Christian Lundgaard, the only representative of Arrow McLaren in the Fast 6.

Graham Rahal was fifth fastest in qualifying, but will have to take a six-place grid penalty ahead of the race.

Alex Palou will advance up to fifth on account of the penalty. The reigning champion has been on an absolute tear this season, and there is no reason to believe Palou will not be able to pull out another victory from the third row.

Advancing no further

Scott McLaughlin was the fastest Team Penske driver at Chevrolet’s home race. He put his #3 entry into the eighth position on the grid, with his team-mate Will Power lining up ninth.

Scott Dixon had just enough pace to make it out of the first round, beating out rookie Louis Foster by 0.0081 seconds.

Dixon’s run in the second round was good enough to earn him the 10th starting spot.

Josef Newgarden had poor luck during his run, clipping the wall and bending the left rear toe link on his final fast run.

He limped back to the pits but will have to fight his way to the front from 24th on the grid.

The drivers lining up just behind will be the Juncos Hollinger Racing duo, who have had poor pace all throughout the weekend.

Conor Daly will line up in 25th and Sting Ray Robb in 26th. Taking up the final position on the grid will be Nolan Siegel, who was not able to set a representative time due to an engine issue.

Sunday’s 100-lap race is scheduled for 12:30 PM, with temperatures predicted to be the warmest of the weekend.

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Saturday’s IndyCar practice from the streets of Detroit got underway early in the day, with cool temperatures and a brisk wind greeting the field of 27 drivers.

Colton Herta was the fastest driver after 45 minutes were complete, using a long run to build heat into his Firestone tires.

He completed a lap of the temporary course in 1:10.7823, which was just a hair slower than his Andretti team-mate Kyle Kirkwood was when he topped the timesheets on Friday.

Scott McLaughlin was the second fastest on Saturday, followed by Kirkwood just behind.

Setting the fourth best time was Callum Ilott, showing that his PREMA team has found a setup that is at least close to what is needed on the bumpy streets.

Continuing his aggressive streak from the day before, Will Power was seen hassling other drivers throughout the day.

He did not end up with any penalties from the day before despite admitting to pushing Kirkwood deliberately. His actions were firmly within the rules on Saturday, though still aggressive.

Power ended the day in 18th, considerably further down the order than he would have liked.

The two Juncos Hollinger Racing drivers were at the very back of the order, leaving Sting Ray Robb and Conor Daly hoping something can be found in the garage area in the short time before qualifying.

Over the limit

Pato O’Ward suffered the biggest incident of the session, though it was relatively minor.

The Mexican driver overshot the braking zone for the hairpin but decided to try to make the corner anyway.

His #5 Arrow McLaren Chevy slid wide into the tire barriers and crunched his front wing in the process.

O’Ward was able to reverse on his own and returned to pit lane, with no break in the action needed.

Josef Newgarden drifted wide at one point and clipped the concrete barriers, which did a little bit of damage to his left rear and ended his session a few minutes early.

As with the previous session, and most street course sessions, there were quite a few instances of drivers running long in the braking zones.

In all cases, drivers were able to get going again on their own, owing in part to the hybrid system that allows drivers to restart their own cars if needed.

Qualifying is only a couple hours away, with a knockout session scheduled for 12:20 PM eastern.

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Saturday’s marathon Indianapolis 500 qualifying session took place beginning at 11:00 AM and lasted for six total hours.

The four-lap qualifying runs served to lock in positions 13-30, and set the stage for Sunday’s pole runs.

A majority of the 34 drivers attempting to qualify for the Indy 500 locked in their positions, but those at the top and the bottom of the charts have work to do yet.

Some of the usual suspects placed themselves in the top 12 positions, including Scott McLaughlin, Josef Newgarden, and Pato O’Ward.

At the very top of the pylon was the #10 of Alex Palou, who set a four-lap average time of 233.043 MPH.

Scott Dixon was fifth quickest and rookie Robert Shwartzman stunned everyone by completing a set of laps that locked him into the Fast 12 qualifying on Sunday in the PREMA.

Also advancing were David Malukas, Felix Rosenqvist, and Takuma Sato, who were sixth, seventh, and eighth quickest.

Will Power, Marcus Ericsson, and Christian Lundgaard were the final three at the top of the field that will fight it out for pole on Sunday.

The final run of the day was completed by Conor Daly, who was only 0.084 MPH too slow to advance into the Top 12. He and the next 17 slower drivers were locked in on Saturday’s runs alone.

Counter to how Saturday typically progresses, there were a lot of times set in the middle to late portion of the afternoon.

Track temperatures actually dropped due to clouds moving in, which gave drivers a bit of an advantage to run later in the day.

Narrow margins

On the outside of the cut line looking in were Rinus VeeKay, Jacob Abel, Marcus Armstrong, and Marco Andretti.

Just 12 minutes before the end of the session, Andretti completed a fourth qualifying attempt and nearly guaranteed himself a spot in the field.

In the end, he was 0.004 MPH slower than Graham Rahal, which left Andretti on the outside and Rahal with a locked in spot.

Those four drivers will have to take the track again on Sunday and will compete for three total positions at the back of the grid.

Most drivers chose to use a very slow deployment of the car’s hybrid system. The strategy involved a slow trickle of power that was sustained throughout the fourth and final lap.

The result was that there was very little fall-off during the four lap run as the extra power overcame the degradation of the tires.

Colton Herta did not even get a chance to utilize the hybrid power as he crashed on his first flying lap.

Herta’s car flipped over, slid down the track upside down, then slammed into the wall again directly on the Aeroscreen.

Fortunately the 25-year-old was unhurt and was cleared to climb back behind the wheel, and amazingly his crew was able to prepare a backup car before the end of the day.

Herta completed a set of laps that was just quick enough to lock him in the show, and he will start from 29th.

Drivers at the top and the bottom will fight it out on Sunday. The final row will be decided at 5:15 PM, followed by the pole shootout at 6:30 PM.

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