Colton Herta up and running with McLaren in Portimao

©McLaren

IndyCar star Colton Herta kicked off his two-day test with McLaren on Monday morning at Portimao in Portugal.

The Andretti Autosport charger who is being heralded as the next American driver to race in Formula 1 is running onboard the Woking-based outfit's 2021 MCL35M in preparation – if everything goes well – for an official Friday practice session with McLaren at a yet to be determined upcoming race.

Herta, a seven-time winner in IndyCar, spent his formation years in motorsport in Europe, and had never hidden his ambitions of racing one day in Formula 1.

"It is a serious ambition of mine," he said recently.

"There’s a lot of things that when I'm done racing I want to be able to say that I did. And Formula 1 is pretty high on the list for one of those things."

The last Alerican driver to grace the grid in Formula 1 was Herta's Andretti-Autosport teammate in IndyCar, Alexander Rossi.

©McLaren