Red Bull was willing to release Pierre Gasly from his contract for 2023 so he could join Alpine, but the only requirement was that Herta get an F1 superlicence, to be his replacement at AlphaTauri.
However, Colton Herta only has 32 points out of the 40 needed to earn the famous FIA super license and race in F1, thus closing any chance the American driver had of landing on the top-flight grid in 2023.
That drew criticism from Helmut Marko , who said it was “incomprehensible” that a driver who has won seven races in IndyCar couldn’t get a super license and that it was a huge missed opportunity to bring a very talented American driver into F1. .
McLaren’s Zak Brown , which has a deal with Herta for an F1 testing programme, believes the superlicence rules need review as he sees IndyCar undervalued in the current points system.
Both the IndyCar and Formula 2 champion receive 40 points, but from second place on down, IndyCar has a lower rating than the categories below F1, despite its greater international pedigree.
“I think the whole licensing system needs to be reviewed,” said the McLaren man. “I understand that the rules are what they are and should not be broken, but I wonder if they are the right rules.”
“Someone of Colton’s caliber, or Pato’s caliber, or half of the drivers on the IndyCar grid, are capable of competing behind the wheel of a Formula 1.”
“If someone like Colton, who has won a lot of IndyCar races, can’t get a super license, then I think we need to look at the system because something is wrong,” he added.
Brown also explained that other drivers who have been world champions such as Max Verstappen and Raikkonen , who came to F1 at a very young age and skipped the lower categories, would also not have been able to make it to the grid with the current superlicence regulations.
“I don’t think Max Verstappen would have gotten a superlicence, and I don’t think Kimi Raikkonen would have either,” said the McLaren driver.
“So if you look back there are a couple of drivers who are world champions who wouldn’t have gotten the super license in the current environment,” concluded Zak Brown.
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