Colton Herta ends his IndyCar career and joins Cadillac’s Formula 1 team – Mick Schumacher is now officially out
The cat is out of the bag: Colton Herta will take over the role of test and reserve driver at Cadillac instead of Mick Schumacher. The son of former IndyCar driver and current team owner Bryan Herta is ending his IndyCar career to do so.
It had already become apparent on Tuesday that Mick Schumacher would not be accepting the role after he turned down Cadillac at his own request. Herta was thus the new favorite for the role. At the IndyCar season finale, which actually took place on August 31 in Nashville, he made fun of the rumors with a joke on social media.
Now it’s official: the 25-year-old will take on the job as test and reserve driver alongside Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas. Herta can look forward to extensive sessions in the simulator. Should one of the regular drivers drop out, he would make his Formula 1 debut.
“I am thrilled to join the Cadillac Formula 1 team as a test driver. This is a dream opportunity that I have been working toward for a long time. Being part of Cadillac’s entry into Formula 1 at such a crucial time is something I couldn’t pass up,” said the 2024 IndyCar runner-up.
“It has always been my dream to race in Formula 1, and I see this as a big step toward that goal. Right now, I’m focused on giving Cadillac everything I can to build a competitive team.”
Team principal Graeme Lowdon added: “We are very excited to welcome Colton Herta as our test driver. Colton is an exceptionally talented racer with proven speed, racing skills, and a maturity that far exceeds his age.”
From IndyCar to F1.
Our new Test Driver, Colton Herta
Read more at: https://t.co/ckAdwQs35g pic.twitter.com/AARU589oUx
— Cadillac Formula 1 Team (@Cadillac_F1) September 3, 2025
“His experience in American motorsports as part of the TWG Motorsport family makes him the ideal candidate for this role. He will bring valuable new insights, perspectives, and energy to our team as we continue to build for the future.
He makes no secret of the fact that a dose of patriotism played a part: “The addition of an American driver to an American Formula 1 team is an extremely significant moment, not only for our team, but for American motorsports as a whole. We are proud that he will be flying the American flag on the world stage alongside us.”
No stranger to Europe
For Colton Herta, this brings things full circle, as his career began on the Old Continent: in 2015, he secured four victories in the British MSA Formula as the youngest driver in the field and finished third overall for Carlin (now Rodin).
The following year, he moved to the Euroformula Open, also with Carlin, and achieved four wins, six podium finishes, and five pole positions that season—enough to finish third overall. At the same time, he competed in six British F3 races and recorded three more podium finishes, including a victory at Brands Hatch.
After returning to the US, Herta competed for Steinbrenner Racing in the Indy Lights series in 2017 – he made a strong debut with a victory in St. Petersburg on Sunday, won the “Rookie of the Year” title and finished third in the championship. The following year, he repeated this success: four victories—all three of them at Indianapolis Motor Speedway—and a runner-up finish behind Pato O’Ward.
A fixture in IndyCar—until now
He gained international recognition through his successes in the IndyCar Series, although here too, as in the junior categories before, he was denied a title. However, he was always among the contenders for victory and the title.
At the end of the 2025 season, Herta will be able to look back on seven years in the IndyCar Series. In his 116 starts to date, he has racked up nine wins, 16 pole positions, and led over 1,000 laps. He is also the youngest IndyCar winner and the youngest pole setter of all time – both records were set during his success at the Circuit of the Americas in 2019.
Parallel to his IndyCar career, Herta won his class at the IMSA Sportscar Championship’s 24 Hours of Daytona (2019 in GTLM, 2022 in LMP2). In 2024, he clinched overall victory at the 12 Hours of Sebring in a Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-06 alongside Louis Deletraz and Jordan Taylor.
What a ride it’s been. 116 starts, 9 wins, 16 poles, 40 top fives, 64 top tens and so many memories. Thank you, Colton Herta
We’ll be cheering you on in this next chapter pic.twitter.com/mdgWDgILDN
— Andretti INDYCAR & INDY NXT (@AndrettiIndy) September 3, 2025
He will leave a gap in the IndyCar series, but as he himself says, he sees the new job as a stepping stone to a regular driver’s cockpit at Cadillac in the future. After all, Bottas and Perez are no longer the youngest.
To do that, however, he would still need super license points. The IndyCar runner-up title in 2024 earned him 30 points, but in the years before that, he only finished tenth, which earned him one point each time. In 2025, he finished the championship in seventh place, which earned him four points.
For 2026, the 2022 result will be dropped, leaving him with a net total of 35 points. It is assumed that Herta will compete in Formula 2 in 2026. There, he would have to finish eighth in the championship to earn the points necessary for a super license. Alternatively, five Friday appearances in Formula 1, each worth one point, would also suffice, provided he reaches 100 kilometers.
