"He won't become a worse driver when he's gone" - When Danica Patrick gave her verdict on Colton Herta's F1 dream with Andretti

IndyCar star Colton Herta has been in constant contention for an F1 seat for over half a decade. In 2021, former IndyCar driver Danica Patrick wholly backed him for an F1 switch, during her first appearance as a Sky Sports analyst during the US Grand Prix weekend.

While speaking with Motorsport about Netflix's F1 series 'Drive to Survive' and the need for an American driver in F1 to boost the series' popularity in the US, Patrick also addressed Herta's chances.

"Definitely, if it's something that you want to do and you feel like you have an opportunity to do well, I mean, he's (Herta) not going to become a worse driver when he's gone (from IndyCar). If it doesn't work out for him, usually Formula 1 drivers have quite a bit of credibility to try and come over and drive an IndyCar," Patrick, a former Andretti driver, said.

"So, I think it's a totally great opportunity, and especially if it's something that he's really excited about, I think that's really cool. And to have it be all American, I think that'd be great. I'd love to see how that goes," she added.

Her "all American" remark referred to Colton Herta driving for his American employer Michael Andretti's team in F1. Andretti was in talks with Alfa Romeo/Sauber to acquire the team and make it the grid's second American team alongside the Gene Haas-owned Haas F1 team.

However, the 1991 CART champ's negotiations with Sauber fell through "48 hours" before the official announcement. Eventually, it was Audi that bought a stake in Sauber in 2024 and announced a full buyout in 2025 ahead of their F1 entry in 2026.

Colton Herta is currently the favorite to land a Cadillac F1 seat in 2026. The American team is backed by General Motors and Andretti Global. Michael Andretti, however, is no longer an owner of his namesake organization.

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Mario Andretti announces Colton Herta as the top driver choice for Cadillac F1

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Mario Andretti is the director of the Cadillac F1 team. In November last year, he revealed that the team's driver pairing will consist of a new American driver and an experienced F1 driver.

In a recent interview with Motorsport, he confirmed that Andretti Global driver Colton Herta is their top choice for one seat. Herta, who is IndyCar's youngest race winner, has raced alongside the likes of McLaren driver Lando Norris during their junior Formula years and participated in an F1 test for McLaren in 2022.

In Andretti's eyes, these experiences make the 24-year-old a perfect contender for the Cadillac F1 seat.

"Looking back at the way Colton has trained from the very beginning of his young career — as you know, he started in Formula 3 and so on with the likes of Lando Norris, and he's done some F1 testing. Zak Brown gave him a good test at Portimao in Portugal (in 2022). You should see the report that we got from [team principal] Andrea Stella. And Andrea is an individual that says it like it is — so again, [Herta's] a great candidate. And all of this has to be proven, of course, but going in, he's a good bet, in my opinion," the 4-time IndyCar champ said.

To partner with Colton Herta at Cadillac, the names currently flying around are F1 veterans Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez. Herta enters the 2025 IndyCar season on the heels of a career-best second-place finish in the 2024 standings.