F1 News: Andretti Cadillac Pinpoints Ideal Driver Choice For Formula One In 2025

No.2 would be somebody with F1 experience.

Andretti Cadillac has been making headlines lately and this time, it is for the announcement of its number one driver choice which is none other than Colton Herta. Despite not being officially confirmed as the eleventh team, team boss Michael Andretti is pushing plans to race in 2025. 

The 23-year-old American driver was AlphaTauri's choice last year as it looked to replace Pierre Gasly with Herta but, the IndyCar driver didn't have the required super license points to race in Formula 1. He then went on to race for Andretti Autosport in the IndyCar series. 

Having been approved by the FIA to enter F1, the next big step for Andretti however would be to sign a deal with Formula 1 Management to officially become the 11th team on the grid by 2025.

Once that is done, the American team intends to bring Herta on board its Formula 1 team, with the team boss being hopeful that in less than two years, the driver can score the required points to race in F1. 

Andretti Press Image

When asked by Sky Sports F1 about Andretti Cadillac's potential drivers, Michael Andretti said:

“Besides Dad [Mario Andretti], obviously, we talked a lot about Colton.

"Colton is definitely at the top of our list, but we have the points problem, so we have to see how he does in IndyCar to hopefully get enough points to get a super licence.

"Then, we’ve talked to a few others as well that do qualify. The goal is to have at least one American in the car and then an experienced driver in the other car to help mentor that.” 

Renault Engine Deal 

Though the team lacks an engine supplier currently, it is confident of renewing its expired pre-contract with Renault. The French manufacturer hasn't opted to renew it just yet but Andretti is confident of signing an engine deal with them. 

Michael Andretti Confirms They Are "Already Building Team" In Quest To Join F1 Grid In 2025

Not only that, the pace of their car's development is so quick that they've even built a 2023 spec ground effect car that enters the wind tunnel next week. Speaking of the developments, Andretti added:

“I mean, technically the agreement [with Renault] went out but once we get our approval then you know that that’ll be fixed.

"At the moment we are still shooting for 2025.

"Our car is actually going to be in the wind tunnel next week, so we have a car already built up in 2023 spec.

"We are flat-out and we are building a team, so at the moment it is ’25 but could be ’26, we’ll see.”