![]() It did not, so Andretti went back to the drawing board and Herta went back to Ind圜ar. ![]() If that deal were to have gone through, Herta would have been expected to join the team this season. He has also been on the market to buy an existing team for the past six months, a process that included lengthy negotiations to purchase the Alfa Romeo-branded Sauber team currently on the grid. Team owner Michael Andretti has already officially applied to open a new F1 team for the 2024 season, but he will have to wait for an answer on whether or not that program will actually go ahead. Herta is currently signed to Andretti Autosport, an Ind圜ar team with very clearly stated Formula 1 aspirations. There are two major factors complicating the matter. At just 21, he is also still young enough to be considered a serious F1 prospect with a full career ahead. He has won six Ind圜ar races through three seasons, including three last year on his way to fifth in the series championship. Herta is one of Ind圜ar’s brightest young stars and the clear most promising young American driver in open wheel racing. Coincidentally, that is also when Daniel Ricciardo's McLaren contract expires. While Michael Andretti tells Racer that this is a positive for Herta to get experience and superlicense points before his hopeful entry with Andretti in 2024, Racer also reports that this deal is between McLaren and Herta as an evaluation for when Herta's Ind圜ar contract expires at the end of 2023. ![]() Herta's deal allows for private, limited running in the year-old MC元5M, with no planned outings in the current car during a race weekend free practice. While the deal does not guarantee any long-term commitment from either McLaren or Herta, it opens a clearer path for America’s most intriguing prospect to eventually join the F1 grid. RACER’s Marshall Pruett reports that six-time Ind圜ar race winner Colton Herta has signed a testing-and-evaluation deal with McLaren’s Formula 1 team.
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