©Indycar
IndyCar front-runner Colton Herta hasn't given up on his F1 aspirations after missing out on a opportunity to join motorsport's elite following Andretti Autosport's failed takeover last year of Alfa Romeo Racing.
Andretti's talks with the owners of Sauber which operates the Swiss outfit in F1 did not come to fruition, with the US outfit's potential deal with the latter scrapped at the last hour just ahead of last October's US Grand Prix in Austin.
However, Andretti's initial plan to enter F1 with Alfa Romeo Racing called for Herta - a six-time winner in IndyCar and the youngest driver to triumph in the series - to be included in the Hinwil sqaud's line-up.
The potential move sparked a lot of excitement in the US, while the 21--old relished at the time a chance to measure up against Grand Prix racing's finest.
© IndyCar Media
Ahead of his third IndyCar season with Andretti Autosport, that through still sits at the back of Herta's mind.
"You know, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to do Formula 1," said the young American, quoted by MotorsportWeek.
"I want to do a lot of stuff in my career, but a lot of it also needs certain timing. Formula 1 is one of those things.
"If you’re 28, you’re not going to Formula 1, unfortunately. That’s just how it works. The time is right for me if I got the opportunity.
"I’d have to have a good think about it, but I most likely would do it because I want to run in Formula 1 at some point.
"I think people forget that I’m 21 years old and think that I can’t come back in five years and still run 15 years in IndyCar and be 40."
Indeed, several forty-year-olds - including Scott Dixon, Will Power or Takuma Sato - continue to race competitively in IndyCar.
But while Herta is keeping F1 on his bucket list for a few more years, he's also perfectly happy to remain in IndyCar for the foreseeable future.
"Yeah, I definitely want to give [F1] a crack if I get the opportunity," he added.
"But definitely not disappointed at all in IndyCar. I like this series more than any series in the world, and I enjoy racing in it a lot.
"But, there’s just a lot of stuff that I’d like to try in my racing career outside of IndyCar, also."
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