Colton Herta’s Formula 2 rookie season marred by crashes, incidents
NXTbets Pro | Published On: October 17, 2026
Herta’s Formula 2
Colton Herta’s rookie Formula 2 season has fallen short of expectations, and the early returns have not matched what he and Cadillac set out to do. Herta left IndyCar for Europe to chase a Formula 1 path with Cadillac, then moved into Formula 2 to chase the superlicence points that could put him in position for a future Cadillac seat. The goal was clear from the start. He needed a strong season and the kind of results that would keep the path to Formula 1 moving forward. Instead, the campaign has become a test of how quickly a driver can adapt to a new championship, new formats and a different week-to-week rhythm. Cadillac CEO Dan Towriss set a top-10 Formula 2 finish as the target, and Herta has spent the season working well behind that pace. He has also already logged three Formula 1 free practice 1 sessions, with one more planned, which adds another layer to a busy schedule built around the same long-term objective.
Qualifying struggles
The biggest problem has come from incidents and crashes, and they have shown up most clearly in qualifying. Herta has struggled with consistency, and Bruno Michel said he and the team had “underestimated” how different the working environment would be for him. Formula 2 gives drivers little room to settle in. The sessions are short, the preparation is limited and qualifying lasts only 30 minutes. That format has been a difficult fit for Herta so far. Michel said Herta has struggled more in qualifying than in races, and that split has shaped the way the season has looked from round to round. The crashes have been especially noticeable when the cars are pushed for single-lap pace, where every small mistake carries a bigger cost and leaves even less time to recover. For a rookie trying to learn a new series and build momentum at the same time, the margin for error is thin. Herta has not found that rhythm yet, and the results have reflected the setbacks.
Herta’s standing
The standings tell the same story. Herta sits 19th in the Formula 2 championship and has yet to score a podium or a win. That places him a long way from the level Cadillac wants to see and leaves little room to waste the remaining chances on the schedule. Michel still hopes Herta can finish the season strongly, which gives the late stages of the campaign added importance. A strong run would not erase the early struggles, but it would give Herta a better platform as he continues working toward the Formula 1 path that pushed him into Europe in the first place. His experience in Formula 1 free practice has kept that goal in view, and the final planned session gives him one more chance to build on that track. For now, though, the season has been defined by the gap between expectation and execution. Herta entered Formula 2 to move closer to Formula 1. The challenge now is turning the rest of the year into something that looks more like progress than a setback.
