Colton Herta revealed that he briefly toyed with the concept of racing in F2 in Montreal earlier than competing within the Indianapolis 500.
Herta was scheduled to benefit from the anticipated sunny weekend to make his return to IndyCar alongside Andretti on the iconic Indy 500 on the finish of Might.
Nevertheless, because of the battle within the Center East, the Bahrain and Saudi Arabia Grands Prix, the place F2 was scheduled to help F1, had been each cancelled. These had been later changed with weekends in Miami and Montreal, the latter clashing with the Indy 500.
When requested if he had thought of repeating the problem, Herta informed some media retailers:
“On the Indy facet, we will miss Curb Day, which is a vital day, however I feel it is going to be if it really works out. It is troublesome as a result of F2 is clearly a precedence for me and Cadillac is clearly a precedence this yr. It was meant to be a bit further after I obtained a bit little bit of time without work, however yeah, it wasn’t speculated to occur this yr.”
Up to now, 5 drivers have tried NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600 and Indy 500 “Double Obligation,” with Tony Stewart being the one one to efficiently full the 1,100-mile distance.
Drivers have beforehand commented that F2 vehicles really feel distinctive, with restricted crossover with trendy F1 vehicles. Herta, who believes the identical is true between F2 and IndyCar, doesn’t assume the Indy 500 problem will negatively influence his foremost effort through the season.
“I don’t assume it’s going to be a distraction as a result of it’s so totally different,” he defined. “It is easy to inform the distinction between going round an oval in an IndyCar and going round a everlasting highway course or avenue circuit in an F2 automobile as a result of they’re each very totally different.
“I feel if there have been some similarities to driving an Indy automobile on a avenue circuit or one thing like that, it in all probability would not be as optimistic since you might choose up these sorts of microscopic issues and drag them into different issues. But it surely was so totally different that I do not assume it mattered.”
F2 has by no means raced in North America earlier than. Of the unscheduled journey to his homeland, Herta added: “It is nice. I hope we placed on a fantastic present and other people get pleasure from it and that can open the door for a return to F2 as a result of it will be nice if F2 might proceed to try this.”
