"He’s not gonna embarrass himself"- Colton Herta more than 'ready' to drive in F1, says TV pundit

Colton Herta is ready to move to F1 from IndyCar and will not embarrass himself if he does switch from IndyCar, according to Sky Sports analyst Ted Kravitz.

Herta is a seven-time race winner in the IndyCar series and is being touted for a seat with Scuderia AlphaTauri for the upcoming 2023 F1 season. The American's entry into the series, however, is subject to him being granted a superlicense by the FIA.

To be eligible to race in F1, a driver needs to have amassed 40 points over three years. Herta has not spent an adequate amount of time in the junior formulae to merit a seat in the pinnacle of motorsport as per the FIA rulebook.

Despite the rules being against Herta, the 22-year-old has the public backing of Red Bull, who want the American to race for their junior team.

Ted Kravitz believes Herta will be right at home in the sport even with the experience the FIA wants him to boast. Speaking on Sky Sports' Any Driven Monday program, the Briton said:

“This superlicense thing was brought in basically to give a bit more credit to the likes of Formula 4, F3, and F2, and to make sure that there aren’t any drivers who weren’t prepared for Grand Prix racing. Well, [IndyCar] is not a Formula 1 Grand Prix, but it is a Grand Prix and Colton Herta has won seven of them. He’s ready. He’s competent, he’s able to do it. He’s not gonna embarrass himself. He’s not gonna be a danger to anybody, himself or otherwise, no problems with that.”

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Red Bull trying to find middle ground with FIA for Colton Herta's F1 entry, claims Ted Kravitz

Red Bull could be trying to find some sort of middle ground with the FIA that allows Colton Herta to become eligible to race in F1, according to Sky Sports analyst Ted Kravitz.

In an episode of Any Driven Monday after the 2022 F1 Dutch GP, the Briton spoke about how Red Bull are trying to work around the rules to get Herta into the fold while also keeping the FIA on their good side. He said:

“Whilst Stefano Domenicali from Formula 1 was saying that we have to stick to the rules, I think there’s a middle way here that Red Bull should be able to get both to happen. I think, with COVID, there was a little bit of relaxation of the rules of super license points. You could take some from one year, you could take some from the other year. I think that’s what Red Bull are trying to do, to convince the FIA to have a little bit of latitude, a tiny bit of latitude, and that will mean that we get an American driver, an exciting American driver back in F1.”

Herta did have an F1 test with McLaren in Portimao earlier this year and the 22-year-old was impressive at the time.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has already stated that Pierre Gasly will only be allowed to leave AlphaTauri for Alpine if Herta is given the green light to join the sport.