Norris backs Herta for F1 seat without delay

Lando Norris says Colton Herta is already good enough for Formula 1 and should not have to wait until 2027.

Herta, already tied to Andretti and named Cadillac’s test driver for 2026, still lacks the FIA super license required to race. Although proven in IndyCar, the 25-year-old is expected to contest Formula 2 next year in order to build the necessary points.

“I think he’s probably capable of driving a Formula 1 car and driving it at an incredibly high level,” McLaren’s Norris told the Indy Star. “He’s probably better than most drivers that are in the ranks and coming up in F3 or F2, so I don’t think he should need to race in F2, if I was the boss.”

Norris, who raced alongside Herta a decade ago at Carlin in the junior series now known as British F4, said the standard of IndyCar is frequently overlooked. “IndyCar is one of the toughest series in the world,” he said.

“I think it’s an incredibly tough car to drive and I’ve driven it myself, but you can tell those things, and the level of those drivers is incredibly high, so I don’t know how many points they get in IndyCar, but I would put them above the level of Formula 2.”

At the same time, COTA chairman and US GP promoter Bobby Epstein told Newsweek that new pit facilities are being built to accommodate the 12th entry from 2026.

“We have to build new garages, because there’s another team on the grid,” he explained. “And someone said, ‘Well, you’re building the Cadillac garages.’ And I said, ‘What makes you think that garage is going to be for Cadillac? Because I don’t expect them to be the last-place team.’”

He added: “And they said, ‘Well, it goes by the year before’, so I forgot about that. So they’re automatically, by default, the Cadillac garages.”

Epstein also believes a successful American driver would supercharge F1’s popularity stateside. “For the sport’s sake, separate from just COTA and the grand prix at our track, if there were an American champion driver, that would go a lot farther. That would take it to the next level.”

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