As The Race reports, Colton Herta found himself one superlicence point short of a Formula 1 superlicence ahead of his fifth FP1 outing of the season with Cadillac in Mexico due to an incorrect calculation. Herta had believed completing 30 laps in the session would push him to the required 40-point threshold, only to learn otherwise on Friday evening after FP2. Cadillac, which had already planned to run him again to secure the final point, will give him another session after exceeding the mandated four rookie practice outings. Far from simply cruising to log 100km, Herta was handed an extensive program very similar to that of his potential 2027 team-mate.
That teammate-to-be is Perez, and the comparison offers a fascinating look at the American's adaptation. Herta started his FP1 with an 11-lap stint on hard tyres, posting a best lap of 1m22.452s—which left him 1.067s slower than Perez on the same compound. While he felt he was leaving time on the table in sector one, his engineer pointed out he was actually faster there than Perez, with the real time leaking in sectors two and three. Later, on medium tyres, Herta recorded his personal best lap of 1m21.365s on seven-lap-old rubber, while Perez managed his fastest time on three-lap-old tyres during his initial medium stint. The actual gap between their best efforts stood at 0.970s, closing slightly to 0.817s if you combine Herta's best individual sectors.
The technical challenges were distinct. Herta wrestled with big understeer in low-speed corners and lost about four tenths alone in Turn 12 compared to Perez, citing timing in that specific corner as his biggest limitation during performance runs. However, data showed he halved that time loss during his longer run, which he called the most consistent part of his running with only a half-second variation over seven laps. Onboards revealed he needed more steering input and better throttle usage out of Turn 11, as he continues adapting from the aggressive style used in IndyCar—where the lack of power steering allows multiple inputs—to the smooth, precise lines demanded by an F1 machine.
Despite the learning curve, Herta remains firmly in the frame for a 2027 race seat alongside Perez, with Cadillac impressed by his progression even if his ultimate pace was adrift. But the queue for that Cadillac seat is long. Mercedes reserve driver Frederik Vesti, who replaced George Russell for FP1 and finished just 0.111s off Kimi Antonelli in the sister Mercedes, boldly declared his interest, earning praise from Russell. Other names like incumbent Valtteri Bottas and Yuki Tsunoda are also in consideration.
Meanwhile, other rookies caught the eye during a chaotic FP1. Nikola Tsolov made his F1 weekend debut just 0.13s off Arvid Lindblad on softs, though his session featured a bizarre physical issue where his tight seat compressed his right leg and cut off blood flow, causing temporary numbness. Elsewhere, Formula 3 runner-up Freddie Slater endured a deeply difficult F1 debut for Audi, completing only 13 laps across six runs. Audi was fined €7,500 after a cooling fan was left in Slater's right-side sidepod inlet, causing an unsafe release, and subsequent lock-ups and flat spots hampered his running before he finally posted a respectable lap on hards to finish 21st, 1.337s behind team-mate Nico Hulkenberg.
F1
F1
F1
