Thursday talk - Herta looking ahead to “exciting, new” F2 journey down under

Written by Vyas Ponnuri

Hitech’s Colton Herta fondly remembers watching the Australian Grand Prix on television back home. Several years on, the California native heads into his first ever Formula 2 outing in the country, with plenty of eyes on the former IndyCar racer ahead of his debut F2 weekend. 

Credit: Formula 2

Herta was eager to praise the circuit’s ability to deliver a good race, mentioning the higher overtaking figures at the venue as a great proponent that shapes for an exciting race. 

“I think it's cool to be racing in a new country for me. Never raced here in Australia so that's a new one, and exciting one,” he remarked, ahead of his first weekend down under. 

“It's cool to be a part of it. Overall, it (Albert Park) seems like a street circuit that kind of supplies really good racing. You know I think it's got great potential for an exciting race.

“The forecast is always unclear, so as a race fan, you don't know what you're going to get each year. But like I said to start off with, the most important bit is, you can overtake and that's what people want to see. That's what drivers want to see,” Herta concluded, in his praise for the Australian round on the calendar. 

The Australian weekend finally marks the end of a lengthy period of preparation and training, one that goes back all the way back to late October when Herta was officially announced as Hitech’s F2 driver for 2026. 

The five-month timeline has given plenty of time for Herta to prepare for what will be a defining season in his career, in his quest to pull off a rare move from IndyCar to race in Formula One. Three days of post-season testing in Abu Dhabi in December 2025 allowed him to get a first taste of the F2 machinery at his disposal, while a further three days of pre-season testing in Barcelona got him up to speed for the new season. 

“I mean, the training is fairly similar (to IndyCar),” Herta expressed, speaking to DIVEBOMB and other media ahead of the race weekend. 

“If you look at both the car, or first off, the power steering, the power and downforce, which are relatively similar enough (to IndyCar). So that's all kind of the same.”

The biggest differentiator, though, is the shorter races, with F2’s 45-minute Sprint Race and the Feature Race being just over an hour long. In contrast, IndyCar races often stretch on towards three hours in length, featuring multiple pit stops and tyre strategies in the equation. The relative difference and speedy progress of the race stand as a major learning curve for Herta, going into 2026. 

“If anything, it's just going to be quite as weird just because of the races. The sprint races are less than half, and the feature races are half of what I'm used to. So, that's probably going to be the weird part, the race getting over so quickly,” Herta expressed. 

While Herta remarks on the six days of testing the F2 car getting him closer to the ideal preparation required, he also highlights the sheer differences in the way drivers navigate qualifying sessions and get the ideal lap times. 

Drivers have the freedom to utilise their allocation of Push to Pass at any point in the lap, while F2 cars benefit from gaining DRS only on the straights. With the onus often on utilising P2P to get a boost out of the corners in IndyCar, F2 often sees drivers maximise traction on the exit of a corner, and ensure the Pirelli tyres deliver the best grip all the way through on a qualifying lap. 

It’s this shift in approach that Herta highlights as the biggest phase to get through in his move to F2, highlighting the driving style as being ‘complete 180’ to his IndyCar days. 

“I think how you find lap time in the F2 car is almost a complete 180 (degrees) to IndyCar, and how you drive it. So I think there's been a big kind of transition for me, and the driving style is quite different,” Herta mentioned, speaking of the differences. 

“So I would still not say like 100% confident, but after those six days of (testing in) Abu Dhabi and Barcelona, I definitely feel closer, and starting to be a bit more confident with the car and what I should be doing.” 

“I mean, we're always trying to find lap time to make ourselves better, but I think those big chunks that I was finding earlier on and testing are kind of gone, and now it's kind of to the fine point,” Herta concluded, mentioning his quest to chase the final thousandths of lap time. 

Another big change comes in the tools available to Herta. IndyCar allows between 150 and 200 seconds of P2P to be used on similar road courses and street circuits, with drivers allowed to utilise this extra boost of power even when defending their position. 

In contrast, drivers are only allowed to use DRS when chasing the car ahead, and only in specific zones on the circuit. Herta mentions this simplicity of DRS as an easier tool to understand and work with during his races. 

“I think it'll be different this year just because of the tyre compound switch that could make passing a little bit more interesting. But as far as using it, I think DRS is quite a bit simpler and straightforward.” 

“With push to pass, you can use it whenever. You can use it to defend. You can use it on in-laps, on out-laps, obviously to overtake. The thing that I do like about DRS is you have to be within a second. So there's no defending DRS with more DRS,” Herta mentioned, on the differences in the tools at his disposal. 

For a driver coming into F2 after seven seasons of racing stateside in IndyCar, you’d expect plenty of novelty in the air, and a journey with plenty of challenges to surmount. As Herta himself mentions, ‘basically, everything is new’. 

“I think there's going to be a lot of challenges, especially coming from what I've done before F2. Obviously, a lot of new tracks, a new car, a new tyre, a new engine, a new country. Basically, everything is new. But, I think the most important thing is to learn as much as I can outside the car,” Herta mentioned, on his biggest challenge. 

“I really need to come into the car as prepared as possible. And kind of cut down on that learning period, by using the simulator, data and onboards to try and do that,” Herta concluded, speaking on his next steps in the upcoming season. 

There’s no doubt several fans will be tuning in stateside as well as around the world, as Herta undertakes his first-ever weekend in a new land, kicking off the next phase of his racing career with only one goal ahead: to win it all.