American racing drivers rally behind Colton Herta after he was snubbed for F1 spot

America’s motorsport family have rallied behind Formula One-chasing Colton Herta and insisted that the ‘elitist’ sport don’t want drivers from the USA involved. 

Herta, 22, was heavily linked with a spot on the grid for 2023 until this week, when it was reported that Red Bull – and sister team AlphaTauri – had abandoned its plans to secure him the compulsory superlicense required for him to earn a place. 

The IndyCar race winner had been tipped to drive for AlphaTauri next season amid a shakeup of the grid, and he would have been the first American driver in the sport since Alexander Rossi in 2015.

But his participation in the pinnacle of motorsport hindered on him receiving the full 40 points necessary to grand him an automatic superlicense – he only has 32 – or on Red Bull being able to secure an exemption from the FIA.

Red Bull have since abandoned their efforts to do so, instead opting to go down a different route, thereby leaving Herta without an F1 drive and with little possibility of securing one in the near future.

There was a furious reaction from his fellow American drivers on social media, with IndyCar driver Graham Rahal responding to a journalist’s comment that ‘F1 has no interest in US drivers, just US dollars.’

He said: ‘Damn right. F1 is an elitist sport. They don’t want us. Remember that. They want US companies money, they want wealthy US individuals money. But they don’t care about the rest. Always has been that way, always will be.’

Meanwhile, NASCAR Cup Series Champion Brad Keselowski added: ‘One thing that’s been consistent in motorsports over the last few decades – F1 garage to American’s, “You’re not welcome here.”‘

Rossi – the most recent American on the grid – also weighed in on Saturday morning, writing a long, strong statement on his social media pages, slamming the superlicense situation as the ‘fundamental problem’ to getting Americans in to F1.

It read: ‘I’ve kept my mouth shut long enough, so here goes. I’m so sick and tired of this back and forth regarding super license points. The whole premise of it was to keep people from buying their way into F1 and allowing talent to be the motivating factor.

‘That’s great. We all agree Colton has the talent and capability to be in F1. That’s also great and he should get that opportunity if it’s offered to him. Period.

‘Motorsport still remains as the most high profile sport in the world where money can outweigh talent. 

‘What is disappointing and in my opinion the fundamental problem, is that the sporting element so often took a backseat to the business side that there had to be a method put in place for certain teams to stop taking drivers solely based on their financial backing. 

‘Ultimately these past decisions, whether out of greed or necessity, is what cost Colton the opportunity to make the decision for himself as to if he wanted to alter career paths and race in F1. Not points on a license.’ 

Red Bull chief Helmut Marko has also freely admitted how progressive it would be to have an American driver on the grid, especially given there will now be three races on the calendar in the USA for 2023. 

‘It’s a shame that people don’t realize what value an American driver, especially a guy like Colton Herta, would have for the booming American market, especially with three F1 races,’ he told Motorsport-Total.

Las Vegas will be on the schedule for 2023, adding to the also-new Miami Grand Prix and the historic United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas in Texas.

There are two Canadians on the grid in Lance Stroll and Nicholas Latifi, but still no Americans to follow in the footsteps of the likes of Phil Hill and Mario Andretti, who have both won world championship titles.

The latter of those two men was the last to win a race in F1, all the way back in 1978 at the Dutch Grand Prix.