LONDON: Race-winning US IndyCar driver Colton Herta is trying out a Formula One car for the first time with McLaren at Portugal’s Portimao circuit this week, the British-based team said.
The 22-year-old Andretti Autosport driver will be behind the wheel of last year’s McLaren MCL35M as part of the team’s Testing of Previous Cars (TPC) programme.
The southern Algarve circuit has hosted two Formula One grands prix. The TPC programme began yesterday and runs until tomorrow. Herta will share testing duties with McLaren’s test and development driver Will Stevens.
“Colton is a proven talent in IndyCar and we will be interested to see how he adapts to a Formula 1 car,” said McLaren Team principal Andreas Seidl.
“We believe this testing programme will provide him with valuable experience while demonstrating the benefit of expanding previous car testing to showcase promising drivers for the future.
“We have to do two times this year a (Friday) free practice session (at a grand prix) with a young driver. Once we have tested all the candidates who we want to give a chance in a TPC car we will make our mind up who will actually run this free practice session.”
The US has not had a F1 driver since Alexander Rossi in 2015 but Herta is a strong candidate to end that wait. In 2019 he became IndyCar’s youngest winner.
Michael Andretti has applied to the governing FIA for an entry to become the 11th team in the F1 championship by 2024 but that has met resistance from existing entries.