Colton Herta, an IndyCar driver, travelled to the Portugal this week to test a McLaren MCL35M built in 2021.
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Insisting that he is qualified to compete in Formula 1, Colton Herta provided a glimpse inside his “unique” two days spent at Portimao as part of McLaren’s Testing of Previous Cars (TPC) programme. Herta, an IndyCar driver, travelled to the Portuguese Grand Prix location in 2021 this week to test a McLaren MCL35M built for that year. After describing racing in Formula 1 as a “serious goal,” the American driver was being hailed as a potential future McLaren driver.
After the test, Herta was questioned about whether he thought he was capable of competing in Formula 1 to which he replied “Yes, you can’t say no to that question or else you wouldn’t be a professional driver. I do think I’m fast enough. Whether people agree or not, only time will tell. And hopefully I get some more chances in the car and hopefully I can kind of show that. I did feel comfortable, I could feel the limit; maybe not the consistency but I feel that I was close.”
The youngest-ever IndyCar Series champion described how unusual it was to make his Formula 1 debut, thanking McLaren for providing him the chance to pilot a “race-winning vehicle” after Daniel Ricciardo led a McLaren one-two in the Italian Grand Prix last year. “It was a lot of fun,” said Herta. “Great two days getting acclimated to the car, which is obviously quite a bit different to what I’m used to driving, a little bit of a different driving style, but the engineers were very helpful getting me up to speed. What a car. What a car to drive!”
Read more: Colton Herta the IndyCar star set to test in Portimao with McLaren
Herta also discussed his objectives for the two-day test and how he had to restrain himself from pushing the envelope as soon as he got behind the wheel. “I mean it’s hard not to get in a race car and not try to drive it as fast as you possibly can. That was really the goal when I got over here, it was to get acclimated, get up to speed and see what I can do in a race car. It was a car that handled beautifully, and I was able to make some set-up adjustments and get it more to my liking.
