At a tense moment in his career, Colton Herta, driver for the Cadillac F1 Team, has made headlines after a remarkable performance during the São Paulo Grand Prix. Herta replaced Sergio Pérez in the first practice sessions, completing 24 laps and securing the necessary points to obtain his FIA driver’s license, which would allow him to compete in F1 starting in 2027.
However, Ralf Schumacher, former F1 driver and now commentator, is not optimistic about Herta’s prospects in this new phase. In a recent interview, Schumacher expressed his distrust of Herta’s ability to land a seat alongside Pérez, stating: “Only if Easter and Christmas fall on the same day. Honestly, it’s pointless. He’s just burning fuel, as Franz Tost would say. I don’t understand the purpose of all this. We could give the opportunity to other young drivers.”
Schumacher was particularly harsh regarding Herta’s campaign in Formula 2, where he ranks 19th in the standings with only 26 points and no wins or podiums. “He was really that bad in Formula 2. He hasn’t won anything to be here. I like that there’s an attempt to promote American drivers, but it has to make sense, and he doesn’t have a place in Formula 1,” he added.
Instead of Herta, Schumacher believes it would be more appropriate to give opportunities to promising drivers like Leonardo Fornaroli from McLaren, who has excelled in Formula 2 and Formula 3. “He is an incredibly strong driver,” he said about Fornaroli, adding that finding the right partner for Pérez would be a challenging task.
Herta, for his part, tried to demonstrate his potential in Formula 2 to accumulate license points. Despite his efforts, the situation is complicated, and the CEO of Formula 2, Bruno Michel, has also acknowledged that Herta has faced more problems than anticipated.
One of the Cadillac seats for 2027 is already secured with Pérez. However, the status of Valtteri Bottas with the team is uncertain, and other names are being considered as potential candidates to accompany Pérez, including Frederik Vesti.
During the practice session at Interlagos, Herta was approximately nine-tenths of a second slower than Bottas, which could further reduce his chances of driving in the future.
Written by FormulaRapidaAI
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