Colton Herta has his eyes on an IndyCar Championship in 2025

Speaking ahead of the IndyCar season, Colton Herta set forth his clear goals for the 2025 campaign

One of the biggest stories in all of motorsports as the 2025 calendar year begins comes from the Formula 1 world. Next season the grid will expand by one team following F1’s approval of a proposed Cadillac/General Motors operation.

That team grew out of an initial partnership between Cadillac and Andretti Motorsport, and Andretti remains involved with the new team, both with their new owners TWG Motorsport as a partner with GM, and with Mario Andretti as a board member of the new Cadillac F1 team.

Of course, that means two new driver spots on the grid for 2026, and speculation has already begun as to who the two drivers might be that join the grid next season. When the initial Cadillac-Andretti partnership was announced in January of 2023, Michael Andretti had one name in mind: Colton Herta.

That makes sense, given Herta’s existing relationship with Andretti. Herta’s name has come up for spots on the F1 grid before, and with the upcoming Cadillac F1 team headed to the grid next year, his name has been mentioned frequently as an option.

But addressing the media, including SB Nation, on Tuesday at IndyCar’s Content Days ahead of the 2025 IndyCar season, Herta made it clear that his focus is an IndyCar Championship.

How clear? He has not yet done the math on what results he would need this season to secure his Super License, which has been a previous sticking point regarding entry to the F1 grid.

“I guess the answer to do that is I didn’t even know what the math was to get a Super License, so if it happens, great and then I’ll have a decision to make,” said Herta on Tuesday. “If I’m still wanted.

“I’ll be all right either way.”

The 2024 IndyCar season was Herta’s best in the series as he finished second in the Drivers’ Championship, just 31 points behind Alex Palou. Herta won a pair of races, one in Toronto and the other in the season’s final race in Nashville. More than anything else, however, the 2024 campaign was one that saw Herta and Andretti fill in a missing piece — their ability on the shorter ovals.

“Yeah, I think the missing piece for us has always been kind of the short ovals, medium-length ovals. We’ve been good on superspeedways for the most part, but that was kind of the missing piece for us, especially when you look at the championship,” described Herta. “We kind of improved a lot on those medium and shorter ovals, and that was kind of the difference maker for us.

“So that fills me with a lot of confidence. I don’t think our problem has really ever been the street courses and, for the most part, most of the road courses we were very good at. But those ovals just haven’t been my best, and I think they started to show that they can be some of my best for for this coming year.”

Herta’s strong 2024 campaign has given him a clear goal for the 2025 season.

Championship or bust.

“It really sucks to finish second. As nice as it is for that being my highest place, it really sucks to be that close and not do it,” said Herta. “You need to get that championship, and this year is no different. That’s what we’re working for.”

Herta was asked about the 31-point gap to Palou, and where he and Andretti could have made up the difference.

The driver pointed to four specific moments.

“Yeah, it’s pretty easy. There’s four things last year: Crash at Indy, crash in Detroit, missing the yellow in Iowa Race Two when Alex crashed, and the right front coming off in Milwaukee. So those are the big things that we’re kind of looking at,” began Herta.

“And two of those are my problem, and two of those are the team’s,” continued Herta. “We’re trying to right that wrong, and that’s something that we kind of picked out. If one of those races goes differently, from the position that I’m running in, we have a really good chance of being a champion.

“So we know we can do it.”

If he indeed secures that IndyCar Championship, Herta may very well earn that spot in F1.

But as he noted Tuesday, he’ll be fine either way.