IndyCar: Herta signs extension of contract with Andretti Autosport

Colton Herta and Andretti Autosport have reportedly signed a new agreement that will keep the young American star with the team through 2025 and perhaps longer.

With all the driver poaching going on in IndyCar, Michael Andretti wanted to be certain his #1 driver was not poached by another F1 team, Team Penske, or Ganassi Racing.  Herta will be the lead driver on the 4-car Andretti Autosport IndyCar assault.

Most recently, Arrow McLaren SP poached driver Alexander Rossi from Andretti and took away Brian Barnhart to be their General Manager. They also poached Alex Palou from Ganassi Racing and Oscar Piastri from the Alpine F1 team.

Should Andretti Global eventually be successful in buying an existing F1 team, or joining up with an OEM, that would lead to him getting a team in F1, then Herta will be under contract for an Andretti F1 seat.

Andretti Global, the parent company of Andretti Autosport, is building a 575,000 square-foot facility that will occupy approximately 90-acres in Fishers, Indiana, to be the future home of its universal motorsports headquarters.

The $200 million facility is planned to serve as the headquarters of Andretti’s global commercial functions and the base of operations for the team’s current NTT INDYCAR SERIES, Indy Lights and IMSA programs and other future racing initiatives. In addition to housing day-to-day operations for the racing team, the building will be home to the advanced research and development of Andretti Technologies.

If Andretti Global never gets approved by the FIA to enter F1, then one can assume Herta will remain an IndyCar driver until his Andretti contract expires, at which time he will probably be too old for F1.

Meanwhile, another American, F2 driver Logan Sargeant, has a good chance of landing a Williams F1 ride in 2023 if he can put together enough financial backing.