Graeme Lowdon has confirmed Colton Herta is under consideration for a seat with the Cadillac team for the F1 2026 season.

Herta is a leading light of the IndyCar series, with the American driver at the forefront of Andretti’s line-up where he has hauled himself into contention for a seat when Cadillac arrives in F1 next year.

Graeme Lowdon: Colton Herta under consideration for Cadillac

Cadillac’s arrival onto the grid in F1 2026 opens up two more seats as the field expands to 22 drivers in total.

As an American brand representing the General Motors manufacturer, the possibility of signing an American driver will be an allure for Cadillac – and there are few who tick all the boxes quite like Colton Herta.

The California-born driver became an IndyCar winner during his first full season in the series in 2019, aged just 19. He’s become a regular frontrunner and race winner, and finished as runner-up in the 2024 IndyCar series.

Driving for Andretti for the last five years, the arrival of Cadillac – which began life as an eponymous Andretti outfit under Michael Andretti – would appear to open the door for Herta to make the switch to F1 and allow a team to capitalise on the large American audience in terms of harnessing their immense marketing and commercial potential.

Speaking to media this week in his first appearance as Cadillac F1 team boss, Graeme Lowdon confirmed Herta is of interest for the Fishers-based squad but a major consideration does stand in the way.

“Colton doesn’t have the required number of Super Licence points,” Lowdon told select media, including PlanetF1.com.

“And, if that were to remain the case, then that’s clearly an impediment for him. We can’t choose a driver that doesn’t have the points. So that’s just the real world that we live in, and we just have to take that into account.”

Herta had been a target of Red Bull almost three years ago, as it eyed up a high-profile switch to get Herta into an AlphaTauri for 2023 – a potential move that eventually was called off due to the Super Licence issue.

Under FIA rules, drivers are only eligible for a Super Licence – which is required to race in F1 – by accumulating a minimum of 40 points scored by weighting across various series and junior categories over a total of three years.

Due to his racing outside of the FIA sphere of motorsport, Herta hasn’t yet reached the required 40 points but, thanks to his runner-up place in 2024, is on 30. Finishing in the top four of this season’s championship would get him across the magic 40-point threshold.

“Does his lack of being at the threshold for the super license in any way affect his ability to drive a race car? No, he’s an incredibly talented driver,” Lowdon said.

“So, for sure, it’s not shock news that we would be looking to consider Colton alongside a whole bunch of other drivers as well.

“Certainly, he’s not the only one actually in that situation where – he won’t be the first, he won’t be the last driver where there’s some uncertainty due to super license points – but we just have to live with that. That’s a regulation. We just have to respect it.”

With Herta needing 10 points to reach the 40-point threshold, it’s therefore possible Cadillac could spend this year waiting to see where he finishes in the IndyCar championship, or evaluating ways to get him to that number – options include racing in other lower categories, provided no significant clashes with the IndyCar calendar, or by taking part in as many as 10 FP1 sessions this year.

Drivers can earn one point per FP1 outing provided they drive 100 kilometres or more in the session, meaning Cadillac could – in theory – ask for co-operation with a team to help with that goal. With Cadillac set to be Ferrari customers, the obvious candidates for this would thus be Sauber and Haas.

In 2022, with the prospect of a seat with Red Bull’s second team, Herta had shown willingness to race in other categories in order to get to the 40-point threshold.

In early 2023, Herta’s father, former racer Bryan, reportedly approached FR FRegional series race director Scott Goodyear to find a way for him to add to his tally.

The FIA, Goodyear says, wouldn’t allow it.

“We offer super licence points to the drivers competing in our series and if you win the F3/FR FRegional series in this country you are awarded more points than if you win the Indy Lights championship,” Goodyear said on the Racer to Racer podcast.

“That’s just the way that it works because we are under the FIA.

“It’s interesting because Bryan Herta called me in July, just before Toronto, and wanted to see if he can get Colton to come and run in our F3/FR series because he needed more super licence points.

“We were approving it from a series perspective, and our management group certainly approved it, but he couldn’t get clearance from the FIA to be able to run that and be given an opportunity to be able to run in the series just to collect some points. So it was difficult.

“The teams and the drivers in FRegional were ecstatic because they thought somebody of Colton’s calibre was going to come to run in the F3, and they get a real chance to see how their abilities matched up to somebody that’s one of the best drivers.”

More on F1’s Super Licence system and Cadillac

👉 FIA Super Licence explained: How drivers can reach the magic 40-point mark to race in F1

👉 Cadillac F1: Who are the key personnel at America’s latest Formula 1 team?

Graeme Lowdon: No reason American drivers can be at Cadillac on merit

While a driver being American will undoubtedly be an added fillip for them when being considered for a seat at Cadillac, Lowdon emphasised several times how merit will dictate the team’s decision-making.

But, with the team also eying up creating its own junior driver academy programme, Lowdon said there’s no reason why drivers from America can’t make it into the line-up based on that merit.

“Just because someone’s American doesn’t mean that they can’t be a good Formula 1 driver,” he said.

“We’re not starting a team for the short term here – the partners have made this commitment into Formula 1 very much for the longer term.

“I think we spoke fairly early on in the process about our desire to also improve opportunities and ability, and the ability for the drivers to come through as well.

“We will be looking at some form of Academy programme and the likes and so, looking forward, I see no reason why we won’t have American drivers in the team on merit as well.”

While IndyCar is not usually regarded by incumbent F1 teams as a potential pool of talent, the immersion of GM and Andretti in IndyCar suggests the series could be taken more seriously by the arriving F1 team.

Asked whether he will be eying up the IndyCar field as potential leads for his driver line-up, Lowdon – who also hired Californian driver Alexander Rossi to his Manor driver line-up a decade ago – spoke of a ‘blueprint’ against which prospects will be evaluated.

“Gone are the days I think, where – I’m talking decades ago – drivers were almost uniquely suited to multiple formula,” he said.

“I think we see, more and more, that as different formulas have become more and more specialised – Formula 1 included, and IndyCar and WEC – you tend to get people who are just incredibly good at a particular form of racing, the endurance racing or whatever.

“Certainly, over that time, we try and build a blueprint of what are the attributes that create the best driver that we could possibly have in the team? We have a blueprint for that, we’ve worked with a lot of drivers over the years and I think we understand what it is that we need.

“It can change over time as well, depending upon where you are in the competitive ladder in Formula 1. So I think it’s less a simplification, should I say, of… if you’re at the sharp end of IndyCar, you’d naturally be good at Formula 1, or anything like that.

“I think it’s more a case of what we’re looking for is the driver that fits a particular blueprint, and we want to get as close to that as we possibly can.”

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