Racing
© Jonathan Borba
Colton Herta says his collapsed move to AlphaTauri for the 2023 Formula 1 season was not just talk, but a genuine deal that fell apart because he did not have the FIA superlicence to complete it.
Speaking on Beyond the Grid, Herta said AlphaTauri had put a contract in front of him as the team looked for a replacement for Pierre Gasly after Gasly left for Alpine. The move never happened because Herta had 32 superlicence points, short of the required 40, and Red Bull's attempt to secure an FIA exemption was rejected.
“There was a very real possibility,” Herta said. “I had a contract from them on the table, but I could only not sign because I didn’t have a superlicence.”
Herta described the process with Red Bull adviser Dr Helmut Marko as a daily swing between confidence and doubt. He said he appreciated Marko’s blunt approach even when it was difficult to hear. “I really liked the directness of Dr. Helmut Marko in dealing with people,” Herta said. “Sometimes it hurts as a driver because you don’t want to hear some things, but sometimes you have to hear those things.”
That directness did not make the situation any less unstable. Herta said the chances of the move changed constantly, to the point where one day it felt like “maybe 80%” and the next it was “40%,” before shifting again to “maybe 60%.” He said that even while outside reports made the deal seem close, Marko would sometimes cool expectations in private, telling him: “Well, don’t be so sure, but maybe something can happen.”
The uncertainty eventually forced Herta to stop waiting and secure his future elsewhere. He said Michael Andretti and Dan Towriss were “very merciful” to bring him back to IndyCar, and that signing that deal proved to be the right decision once the superlicence path closed.
“I would have had neither a Formula 1 seat nor an IndyCar seat,” Herta said. “And I don’t know what I would have done then.”
Herta called the period “very strange” because the possibility was real enough to keep pulling him forward, yet never solid enough to trust. That is what made the superlicence issue decisive: the contract existed, the seat was there, but the FIA points requirement stopped the move before it could become an F1 debut.