{"id":27210,"date":"2024-11-26T15:00:21","date_gmt":"2024-11-26T20:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/?p=27210"},"modified":"2024-11-30T10:54:50","modified_gmt":"2024-11-30T15:54:50","slug":"colton-herta-a-leading-candidate-for-2026-general-motors-seat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2024\/11\/26\/colton-herta-a-leading-candidate-for-2026-general-motors-seat\/","title":{"rendered":"Colton Herta a leading candidate for 2026 General Motors seat"},"content":{"rendered":"

As General Motors<\/a> prepare to enter F1 in 2026, they have already set a criteria for their potential drivers. Colton Herta is a leading contender to join GM\/Cadillac’s entry, according to Mario Andretti – the team’s director of the board.<\/p>\n

General Motors present Colton Herta with a second chance<\/h2>\n

Although Red Bull<\/a> have resisted making driver changes at their main team, there have been no shortage of swaps at VCARB.<\/p>\n

When Pierre Gasly announced his departure from the Faenza team in 2022, the Milton Keynes squad found themselves scrambling to find a replacement.<\/p>\n

Eventually, it was Nyck de Vries who was chosen to drive alongside Yuki Tsunoda<\/a> for the 2023 season.<\/p>\n

However, the Dutchman was not their first option. Initially, Red Bull wanted to see what Colton Herta could do in F1 machinery.<\/p>\n

There were advanced talks between Herta and Red Bull, with the young American seen as a talent worth giving an opportunity.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately for the Andretti<\/a> driver, a lack of Super Licence points meant he was unable to join the grid.<\/p>\n

Of course, things have changed in the last two years. With GM\/Cadillac (using Andretti’s infrastructure) set to become an F1 team in 2026, there is time for Herta to collect the necessary Super License points.<\/p>\n

Andretti discusses Herta’s chances<\/h4>\n

Should he accomplish this, Mario Andretti makes clear that Herta could find himself in Formula 1:<\/p>\n

“There’s another year to go on, so you have to keep an open mind,”<\/em> he told GPBlog<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“But I am, yes. I’m a supporter of Colton because of his experience.<\/em><\/p>\n

“I mean, he’s raced at a young age alongside Lando Norris, individuals like that who are obviously a prominent in Formula One now. And his experience is vast.<\/em><\/p>\n

“He spent three years in Europe, he has a good feel for the circuits and so forth.<\/em><\/p>\n

“He did a phenomenal test at Portimao in Portugal, it was last year, for McLaren. And it’s really interesting what he’s capable of in a Formula One car.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Other drivers in the mix<\/h4>\n

At this stage, any number of drivers could complete GM’s driver line-up for 2026.<\/p>\n

With Mario Andretti playing a key role in the team’s direction, Colton Herta is obviously in a very strong position.<\/p>\n

Of course, this does not mean he is guaranteed a seat. Someone with F1 experience and an established track record would be a tremendous asset to a new team.<\/p>\n

In this context, there are other drivers General Motors will be considering.<\/p>\n

Many drivers (Ricciardo, Bottas<\/a>, Magnussen, Zhou<\/a>) who were casualties in this year’s driver market will see GM as a chance to get back on the F1 grid.<\/p>\n

Because of this, even without completing a single lap, GM\/Cadillac could have a multitude of attractive options heading into 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As General Motors prepare to enter F1 in 2026, they have already set a criteria for their potential drivers. Colton Herta is a leading contender to join GM\/Cadillac’s entry, according to Mario Andretti – the team’s director of the board. General Motors present Colton Herta with a second chance Although Red Bull have resisted making […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4927,"featured_media":17543,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[2220,1986,495,2406],"class_list":["post-27210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-formula-1","category-news","tag-2024-formula-1-season","tag-cadillac","tag-general-motors","tag-herta"],"modified_by":"Nicole Powell","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4927"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27210\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}