In the round-up: F1-courted IndyCar star Colton Herta commits his racing future to Andretti Autosport
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In brief
Colton Herta signs Andretti contract extension
IndyCar race-winner and former AlphaTauri target Colton Herta has signed a new four-year deal with Andretti Autosport to the end of 2027.Herta first drove for the team in Indy Lights in an entry co-owned by George Steinbrenner IV, and he won six races across two seasons. Steinbrenner then backed Herta’s promotion to IndyCar with Harding Racing, and he became the series’ youngest ever race winner with victory at the Circuit of the Americas on just his third start in the series in 2019 and aged 18.
Andretti came onboard with the Harding entry for 2020 and propelled Herta to third in the standings and another race win. He then moved into the main Andretti line-up, winning three races in 2021 and one in 2022.
His contract with the team ran to the end of 2023, but earlier this year it looked like it could be broken as Herta joined McLaren on a Formula 1 test contract and was then courted by AlphaTauri for a F1 race seat but was ineligible due to FIA superlicence requirements.
Driver ratings on F1 22 adjusted once again
Nicholas Latifi has gained the most in the latest changes to driver ratings in the F1 22 video game. His overall rating has risen by two to 69 and three of his attributes – experience, awareness and pace – have risen by one while his racecraft has risen from 72 to 75 following his points-scoring result at the Japanese Grand Prix.
Alpine’s Esteban Ocon has had his experience and racecraft increase by one, but his pace rating has fallen by one to 81 following his failure to get beyond Q1 in United States GP qualifying.
At the top of the ratings, Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen have each had one point knocked off their overall scores. Verstappen remains the highest rated driver in the game on 95 points, two more than Hamilton.
Lindsay Brewer signs up for second USF Pro 2000 season
Social media personality Lindsay Brewer will continue her single-seater racing career with a full season in USF Pro 2000 in 2023.
The former touring car driver joined the second rung of the IndyCar support ladder this year part-time with Exclusive Autosport, finishing eighth on her debut and coming 15th in the standings, and will contest the entirety of next season.
“I hope to bring more attention to women in the motorsports world, as we all push to work together in a sport where women and men can compete together,” said Brewer. “I hope 2023 will be a competitive season, as I have a goal of entering IndyCar and the Indy 500 in the next few years.”
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Links
Motor racing links of interest:
Toto Wolff, the compulsive perfectionist behind Mercedes’s Formula 1 team (The New Yorker)
'The afternoon was humid; the air felt saturated. Wolff was at home. He is tall, dark, and Austrian. He could pass for a Sacha Baron Cohen character or for someone who breezes past you in the airport, smelling good, wearing loafers and no socks. He worked the grid in a white shirt emblazoned with the Mercedes star and the logos of twelve other corporate sponsors, black pants, team-issued Puma sneakers, lovable smile.'
'Brawn, the former Mercedes team principal, also appeared to take a dig at his successor, Toto Wolff, over the team’s inability to produce a race-winning car this season.'
Australian FFord leader to miss finale for UK F4 test (Speedcafe)
'Australian Formula Ford Series leader James Piszcyk will miss out on the final round of the season to test a Formula 4 car. Piszcyk, who currently maintains an 11-point lead in the points standings, will skip the Sydney Motorsport Park round this weekend and instead head to the United Kingdom to complete a F4 test.'
Wharton tops Italian F4 post-season test as karters try single-seaters (Formula Scout)
'Ferrari junior James Wharton was fastest in Italian Formula 4’s post-season test at Mugello this week. Prema driver Wharton topped the two-day test by 0.007 seconds over Van Amersfoort Racing’s Red Bull junior Arvid Lindblad, with US Racing’s Frederik Lund and PHM Racing’s Taylor Barnard also within a tenth of a second of the pace.'
We always endeavour to credit original sources. If you have a tip for a link relating to single-seater motorsport to feature in the next RaceFans round-up please send it in via the contact form.
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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
Next season @LoganSargeant will become America's first full-time @F1 driver for over 15 years – if he gains enough @FIA superlicence points.
Here's the story of his route to the brink of making his Formula 1 debut:https://t.co/OlJOiUeNlW #F1
— RaceFans (@racefansdotnet) October 25, 2022
Dropping into Guadalajara like 💨🍩 pic.twitter.com/hzBmIGnJZX
— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) October 25, 2022
We’ve given Zak the keys… let’s see how he goes!@ZakOSullivan | @AstonMartinF1 #AMABA #AstonMartin #Autosport #BRDC pic.twitter.com/7uZHtWnfhs
— Aston Martin Racing (@AMR_Official) October 25, 2022
The future is taking shape. Watch this space for more. #Audi #F1 #Formula1 #FutureIsAnAttitude pic.twitter.com/y9RESRIXhv
— Audi Sport (@audisport) October 25, 2022
Comeback to racing for me! Wanted to try rallycross for a while.The possibility came up just a few days ago and am excited to drive for @QEV_Tech already coming weekend in RX2e of @FIAWorldRX in Catalunya. No test done yet,but still a couple days left, right…? Will keep u posted
— Nick Heidfeld (@NickHeidfeld) October 25, 2022
Next generation winning championships on my kart. Yeeeeeeeeeeeboooooooiii! pic.twitter.com/mOXUK4KW9N
— Lando Norris (@LandoNorris) October 25, 2022
https://www.instagram.com/p/CkIxyWhMH-C/
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- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Comment of the day
There’s been changes to cars, a technical directive set by the FIA, but bouncing is still an issue with the 2022 Formula 1 technical regulations and McLaren’s Lando Norris had to resort to medication to get through the latest grand prix. So maybe not enough has been done to eradicate the problem from F1…
Seems like if Lando needed headache drugs to compete, the new directive about violent vertical movement causing a safety issue for drivers hasn’t quite done the job yet. Whether the vertical bumps are caused by aerodynamics or the track itself doesn’t really matter in terms of the end result on the driver. I’d be curious what McLaren’s G readings were compared to the other teams.
Leroy
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Luigismen, Xivizmath, Jayfreeseknight and Greg Kingston!
Don
26th October 2022, 1:04
Another site says Herta signed for double the salary of the next highest paid driver in IndyCar for the guarantee of staying with Gainbridge and no F1 until 2025. He’d only be 27 at that time.
Jere (@jerejj)
26th October 2022, 11:14
@Don
Interesting, but a small side note is that he’ll turn 25 in 2025 unless you indeed mean 2027, as referenced above.
Tom
26th October 2022, 1:18
Lindsay Marie Brewer is actually an only fans model
Leroy (@g-funk)
26th October 2022, 5:58
Is her social media platform relevant to the story?
Armchair Expert (@armchairexpert)
26th October 2022, 6:26
Even more than now, heh?
Jere (@jerejj)
26th October 2022, 11:12
So no F1 racing for Herta until at least the 2028 season.
Dex
26th October 2022, 13:50
He probably has an exit clause when it comes to F1.
Alesici
27th October 2022, 7:54
I guess he’s concluded that racing Indycars is more fun than F1, and I can’t blame him – Indycars are beasts that need so much more involved hussling to rag around on the limit.
Though it reminds me of Lando Norris’s long term Mclaren deal. Both seem to be mistakenly selling their talents short by committing to a mid-grid team for a large chunk of the prime of their careers.