Bortoleto gives Herta the F1 nod, as Norris lauds the American's talent

16:29, 08 Sep

byNorberto Mujica

Colton Herta recently made the decision to leave Indycar in pursuit of a seat in Formula 1. Gabriel Bortoleto and Lando Norris have voiced their view on the American talent's potential arrival in F1.

Herta will take a seat in Formula 2 - GPblog understands Rodin will be jis junior series destination - to acquire the necessary points to attain the super license necessary to race in the pinnacle of motorsports.

Despite being a spec series, IndyCar teams are allowed to make developments to certain regulated parts, with the processes tied to improving performance also varying in level of effectiveness, which are dependant on the teams' available budgets.

Although, on talent alone, Herta is believed to be good enough to fight for wins and titles on a consistent basis in IndyCar, his team, Andretti Global, have yet to be a regular contender for the top prizes in the American-based series in recent times.

This has also had an impact on Herta's inability to accrue the necessary license points to make the coveted switch to F1.

Bortoleto gives Herta the nod

On the back off Cadillac's new test driver's announcement of leaving IndyCar to take on an F2 drive, Bortoleto was asked during the Monza race weekend what his feelings were reagrding Herta potentially landing in F1.

"Look, I'm going to be very honest, I don't know him so much," Bortoleto said to GPblog. "I don't know him at all, so I'm not going to say I want to drive with him because I don't know him."

"I would prefer driving against people I know, that have been racing with me since Go-Karting. Hopefully, he jumps in F2 and he tastes a little bit of what the new generation is.

He continued: "I think he has a lot of experience from IndyCar and I think it's a very strong series as well, so he will be able to adapt and do well if he's as strong in Indy as I believe he is," concluded Bortoleto ultimately giving Herta the nod, welcoming him to F1 if he should prove to be successful in F2.

Norris eyes obstacle in Herta's F1 aspirations

Norris' view, however, offers a valuable caveat, with the Briton having raced Herta in junior series' when the American migrated to Europe in his teen years, in a prior attempt to reach F1.

“I mean, it’s tricky. How difficult is it? It’ll probably not [be] difficult for him, because he’s good at jumping in all different types of cars, and that’s something he’s done his whole life," the McLaren driver stated to GPblog, whilst at the same time outlining the main difficulty for Herta, which would be aligned to the American's own ambitions.

“He’s an extremely talented driver, and [someone] I enjoyed a lot growing up with in 2015," Norris continued.

"I think he’s skilled enough to jump in anything and be quick, but being one of the best in Formula 1 is what’s difficult, and if that’s still his goal, if his goal is still to not just come in as a test driver, but in the next few years to become a Formula 1 driver and a race driver then, of course, it gets tricky."

Norris disagrees with the FIA's super license points allocation for Indycar

The super license points allocation currently has Indycar on par with Formula 2, which Norris fundmentally disagrees with, even stating Herta's superiority over most of the current F1 aspirants in the FIA sanctioned junior series.

“But, he’s easily capable of potentially being in Formula 1 and those kind of things, and I look forward to hopefully seeing him here.”

“I think he’s probably easily capable of driving a Formula 1 car and driving it at an incredibly high level,” Norris added.

“He’s probably better than most other drivers that are in the ranks and coming up in F3 and F2 itself. If I was the boss - I think there’s still a certain allowance of, you know, you have to qualify in some way.

"I don’t think you can just be an ‘Old Billy’ and just give them [super licenses] to whoever you want - but IndyCar, I think, is one of the toughest series in the world.

“I think it’s an incredibly tough car to drive, and I’ve driven it myself, but you can tell all those things, the level of all these drivers is incredibly high.

“So, I don’t know how many [FIA Super Licence] points they get in IndyCar, but I would put it above the level of Formula 2, in a way.”