RacingCadillac has handed Colton Herta all four of its mandatory rookie FP1 sessions for the 2026 Formula 1 season, with the American set to make his official Grand Prix weekend debut at Barcelona in June.
That makes this more than a one-off Friday appearance. Cadillac said Herta will complete every rookie practice outing the team must run this year, with the first coming at the Spanish Grand Prix and the other three to be confirmed later in the season. According to Cadillac, the plan follows simulator work Herta has already carried out at the team’s headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Herta is serving as Cadillac’s test driver while racing in Formula 2 for Hitech, and the 2026 campaign is central to his push for the superlicence points needed to reach Formula 1. Cadillac said he opened that F2 season with seventh place in the Australia feature race on debut after moving across from IndyCar.
Herta said, in Cadillac’s announcement, that Barcelona will mark his first official F1 race weekend appearance. “I can’t wait to get behind the wheel of the Cadillac Formula 1 Team car for the first time,” Herta, Cadillac test driver and 2026 Formula 2 racer, said in Cadillac’s announcement. “I am looking forward to working closely with the team in a full Grand Prix environment and am fully focused on learning from every appearance. I hope I can contribute to the overall race weekend and help the team, Checo and Valtteri as much as possible.”
The programme gives Cadillac a full rookie plan built around one driver, rather than splitting those sessions across several names. Graeme Lowdon said the team sees that as the next step in Herta’s development inside the squad. “Colton is a top talent, which he has not only proved by building an impressive resume in the NTT IndyCar Series before joining us, but also with a strong start to his Formula 2 season,” Lowdon, Cadillac team principal, said in Cadillac’s announcement. “Completing all four of our young driver FP1 sessions is a natural next step in his Test Driver role, and I look forward to seeing what he can bring in terms of development and focus.”
Dan Towriss also framed the sessions as part of getting Herta deeper into the team as Cadillac builds its F1 operation. “Colton has really earned this opportunity,” Towriss, Cadillac CEO, said in Cadillac’s announcement. He added that the outings are “a valuable opportunity for him to integrate with the team, develop his skills behind the wheel and off the track, and learn about a Grand Prix weekend from the inside.”
Herta arrived at this point with a strong record outside F1. Before switching categories, he was a nine-time IndyCar race winner and the 2024 series runner-up. Now Cadillac has tied that background, his early Formula 2 results and his simulator work into a four-session FP1 programme that starts in Barcelona and gives him his first official taste of an F1 weekend environment.