Colton Herta in his Andretti Global Gainbridge Honda firesuit

Colton Herta: IndyCar's Youngest-Ever Winner Now Chasing F1

July 02, 2026

Colton Herta: IndyCar's Youngest-Ever Winner Now Chasing an F1 Dream

Welcome to the Happy Hour Racing IndyCar Driver Spotlight, where we pull one NTT IndyCar Series driver into the garage and look at what got them here. This week: the driver who won an IndyCar race before he could legally buy a beer.

The Short Version

Colton Herta became the youngest race winner in IndyCar history at 18, and he never really slowed down. Across eight seasons with Andretti's IndyCar program he piled up 9 wins, 16 poles and 20 podiums, capped by a runner-up finish in the 2024 championship. Then, after 2025, he walked away from a top IndyCar ride to chase Formula 1, moving to Europe for Formula 2 while serving as a test driver for the new Cadillac F1 team. Here is the whole story.

Racing Is the Family Business

Colton Herta was born March 30, 2000, in Santa Clarita, California, to a family that already had IndyCar in its blood. His father, Bryan Herta, won twice in what is now the IndyCar Series as a driver, then built a bigger name as a team owner, guiding Dan Wheldon to the 2011 Indianapolis 500 win and Alexander Rossi to the 2016 Indianapolis 500 win. Colton started karting as a kid, won a Formula car title in 2013, then spent two years racing in Europe before climbing the Road to Indy back home. By 2018, at 18 years old, he was in an IndyCar seat.

The Win That Made Him Famous

Herta's full-time rookie season came in 2019 with Harding Steinbrenner Racing, and it did not take long for him to make history. On March 24, 2019, he won the IndyCar Classic at Circuit of the Americas, becoming the youngest winner in series history at 18 years, 11 months and 25 days old. The record still stands. He backed it up with a win at Laguna Seca, and by 2020 he had moved into what would become Andretti's IndyCar program, finishing third in points and posting his best Indianapolis 500 result, eighth place.

Colton Herta pumping his fist from the cockpit after winning the 2019 IndyCar Classic at Circuit of the Americas — Herta celebrates at Circuit of the Americas on March 24, 2019, the day he became IndyCar's youngest-ever race winner. (Photo: Steve, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

A Breakout Year and a Championship Near-Miss

2021 was Herta's coming-out party as a full-time Andretti Autosport driver. He won three races, taking St. Petersburg from the pole, then closing the season with back-to-back wins at Laguna Seca and Long Beach. He added a win at the GMR Grand Prix on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course in 2022, then went winless in 2023. In 2024 he bounced back with his best season yet, winning at Toronto and then, in September, finally winning on an oval for the first time in his career at Nashville Superspeedway with a three-wide pass on Pato O'Ward in the closing laps. That run carried him to a career-best second place in the championship.

By the Numbers

Here is Herta's full IndyCar career, laid out in the parts that matter, from his 2018 debut at Sonoma through his final full season in 2025.

Career figures are NTT IndyCar Series totals through the 2025 season. Original Happy Hour Racing graphic.

The Formula 1 Chase

F1 interest in Herta has circled for years. He tested for McLaren in 2022, and both Red Bull and Sauber looked at him without a deal coming together, partly because he lacked the FIA Super License points that only come from racing in F1's own feeder series. Cadillac's arrival on the grid for 2026 opened a real door. Herta signed on as Cadillac's test and development driver, then left Andretti's IndyCar program entirely to race full time in Formula 2 for Hitech Grand Prix, banking license points while Cadillac gets him track time in its F1 car.

In June 2026 that plan produced his first real Formula 1 outing, an FP1 session in the Cadillac at the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona, subbing in for Sergio Perez. He ran 27 laps and finished last on time, since his job was setup work, not lap times, but he called it exhilarating. It is a long way from a race seat, but for a driver who grew up wanting F1 and instead became an IndyCar star, it is the closest he has ever been.

From a Cadillac F1 FP1 debut yesterday to final-lap heartbreak today. Colton Herta drops from P3 to P5 after going off the road in the Barcelona F2 Sprint. pic.twitter.com/tEMmODk6IK
— Motorsport (@Motorsport) June 13, 2026

Off the Track

Away from the car, Herta plays drums in The Zibs, a garage-rock band he formed with high school friends back in 2017. They cite bands like Ty Segall and Thee Oh Sees as influences and have released a self-titled album, though Herta has said IndyCar's schedule makes it hard to get shows in. He is also known among fans for his love of golf and the rescue dogs he keeps at home. His father Bryan is still in the paddock too, calling strategy and running his own team, Bryan Herta Autosport.

The Bottom Line

Colton Herta spent his IndyCar career rewriting the record for how young a driver could win, then did the harder thing: walking away from a proven ride to chase the series he grew up wanting most. Nine wins, 16 poles and a career-best runner-up finish are already a strong resume on their own. Whether Formula 1 ever calls his name for real, Herta has already proven he belongs at the front of a field.

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