Formula 1 wasn’t the only race series with wild wrecks in qualifying today. Day one of Indy 500 quali kicked off today with Colton Herta finding air.

The Andretti Autosport driver and Cadillac F1 hopeful landed unhurt upside down, as the team works to rebuild his No. 26 Honda.

Colton Herta flies in Indy 500 qualifying

Formula 1 at Imola saw two major wrecks in qualifying — one from Yuki Tsunoda, who was thrown upside down into the fence before landing back on his tyres, and one from Franco Colapinto.

Not long after, as Indy 500 qualifying got underway, Colton Herta found himself in a similar situation to Tsunoda.

The Indy 500 will take place next weekend, but qualifying for the Greatest Spectacle in Racing takes place over the course of two days this weekend.

On Saturday, all 34 drivers who have entered the race will be guaranteed one attempt at qualifying for the Indianapolis 500.

Drivers must complete four laps around the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a carry-over from the days when 10-mile qualifying runs were required in order to understand if a car could actually compete.

Positions 12-30 will be locked in today. On Sunday, the fastest 12 drivers will battle for pole position, and the slowest four drivers will battle for the final three grid positions.

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Colton Herta was the 14th driver to qualify on Saturday, with the order being determined on Friday night by a random draw while one driver ahead of him, Marcus Armstrong, forfeited his position due to a morning warm-up crash of his own.

Herta managed to complete a warm-up lap, but as he headed into Turn 1 on his flying lap, he lost control.

The rear end of his No. 26 Andretti Autosport Honda snapped around at high speed, sending the rear of the car into the wall at around 235 miles per hour.

After making contact, the car launched into the air briefly before landing on its side, with the halo rubbing against the safety barrier, before the car skidded to a rest, still upside down.

Despite initially needing assistance to climb from the cockpit and walk to the ambulance, Herta was deemed fit enough to race by the Speedway’s medical team.

“Luckily these days these crashes look a lot scarier than they feel — not to say that one felt good,” Herta said.

“There were no real signs leading to it. We were super happy with the car this morning. Went out loose and couldn’t even get Lap 1 in.”

The session was halted for 18 minutes while the safety team cleaned up the track and made repairs.

It was all hands on deck when it came time to repair the car.

Andretti Autosport had a spare speedway chassis on hand; with qualifying lasting just under seven hours, the team is confident it can get Herta onto the track before the end of the day to allow him to set a qualifying speed and lock himself into the field.

Herta’s name has been strongly linked to the incoming Cadillac F1 team.

The outfit started life as an F1 entry helmed by Andretti Autosport, which later became Andretti Global — Herta’s longtime team.

One of the squad’s early goals was to field an American driver in the big leagues of Formula 1, though as its debut approaches, Cadillac has begun to point out that no American is currently fit to join the team.

As it currently stands, Herta is not eligible for a super license; he currently has 31 points and will need nine more to satisfy the 40-point requirement to join F1.

To reach that mark, he needs to finish fourth in the IndyCar championship to secure the required points.

Five races into the year, Herta is ninth, with 104 points compared to leader Alex Palou’s 248.

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