‘It's going to be taken very seriously’ – Herta on his FP1 opportunities with Cadillac, pressure and the ‘biggest goal’

Colton Herta's work with Cadillac is set to step up a gear in the following weeks, with the American due to make his F1 race weekend debut at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix.

Earlier in April it was confirmed that Herta would get his first run out in a competitive session during in the opening practice session of the Barcelona weekend, an opportunity he concedes is not without pressure.

Currently competing in F2 with Hitech, with the support series also due to race in Miami in what will be the first North American outing for the championship, Herta knows there's a great deal of expectation in terms of proving himself. After all, the former IndyCar racer has been open about pushing to make it to F1 in the future.

“You want to be fast in any car you drive, and this isn't going to be any different, so it's going to be taken very seriously on my part," he says.

“But I think the biggest goal is they [Cadillac] need to see value in me doing it. The team needs to see value, and they need to come out of it positively. It can't all just be about me and how fast I want to go.”

Preparing in the simulator with Cadillac

Preparations for the first confirmed FP1 session of four in total will begin in earnest ‘soon’ according to the Cadillac Test Driver.

While he has been hard at work with Hitech in F2, the last time he drove the F1 team’s simulator was before pre-season testing.

A lot has chanced since then, and with Herta having spent some time away from the F1 set up, he is eager to get stuck in once again with early season learnings taken into account.

“I think the sim programme is going to ramp up from here pretty soon in preparation for these FP1s," he explains. "But, when I had driven it, the car hadn't even done a winter test yet.

“So it was very early on, and it was a pretty big guessing game. But from the feedback that I've seen from Checo [Perez] and Valtteri [Bottas], it seems like the guessing was pretty accurate as far as the mechanical and engine side.

“I think it was positive. I think I'll get my next taste in the next few weeks and have a better understanding where I need to be at before I get in the real thing.”

Making F1 a priority over an Indy 500 cameo

Herta had hoped at one stage to be able to return to IndyCar for a one-off appearance at this year's Indy 500, though that opportunity has now closed due to the addition of Montreal to the F2 calendar.

There was even an outside chance he was banking on that would have allowed him to compete in both events on the same Sunday, though he quickly realised timelines and preparations for both would not line up.

While it was a disappointment for the American driver not to get a chance to race at Indianapolis as he’d hoped, his F2 season and wider work with Cadillac take priority.

“I had visions in my head of being able to do that but I kind of always knew it wasn't going to be achievable legitimately," he admits.

"As far as the Indy side, you miss Carb Day, which is a very important day, and then even if it were to work it's difficult because F2 and Cadillac is the clear priority for me this year.

“That was just going to kind of be a little bit of an added bonus when I had a bit of time off. But, it wasn't meant to be this year.”

Herta hoping Barcelona familiarity pays off

Even though Herta last raced around the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya nearly a decade ago, the 26-year-old does have more recent experience around the Spanish venue courtesy of pre-season testing with F2.

He completed 205 laps across the three-day event, allowing him to build up plenty of track specific knowledge he’ll now be carrying into his simulator work with Cadillac.

Herta acknowledges that the experience will definitely count in his favour with a better understanding of the circuit in its current state versus how it was back in 2016.

“It's a track that we're all super familiar with," he says. "I know when I was over here racing in F3 and F4, it's a hot spot for winter testing in the junior categories, although the track has changed quite a bit since then.

“It's going to help having that experience and the knowledge of, hey, this is where this bump is, or, you know, maybe this is a kerb that you can take or can't take. So having that little bit of that knowledge from the F2 testing, it's going to be helpful for sure.”

High hopes of an outing on American soil

Though Herta is yet to turn a wheel in an F1 car, he can’t help but imagine what subsequent FP1 sessions and work with the team might look like.

The Cadillac test driver is particularly excited about the prospect of an outing on home turf, with the Circuit of The Americas the next visit to the United States following Miami.

It’s something that he admits he has thought about but knows any chance is up to the team and will be based on his work between now and then.

“It’s mostly going to be at the discretion of the team," he explains. "There’s a lot of things that performance-wise kind of take the lead on when I'm going to be able to do it. So I think it'll be more catered towards that.

“Personally it would be pretty awesome for me, I think it would be a really cool thing. For the team, I think it would be a really cool thing.

“I don't get to make those decisions and, more importantly, it needs to benefit the team whenever I'm in the car. If they see it fit on an American round, and it's going to benefit the team, that would be great.

“But if they tell me, you're going to drive the car here, here and here, I'm still going to be just as excited about it.”