SILVERSTONE, UK — Formula 1 has long been European-dominated.Nine of the 11 teams have bases in the United Kingdom, with Silverstone — home of the British Grand Prix — at the heart of this ‘Motorsport Valley’.It has become a hub for engineering talent. And, on the drivers’ side, there are 11 British world champions, who between them have taken 21 titles across F1’s 76-year history.It has been almost 50 years since the United States’ national anthem played during an F1 podium ceremony. Mario Andretti was the last American driver to win a race in the stars and stripes, at the Dutch Grand Prix in 1978 (the same year he won the drivers’ title). Logan Sargeant was the most recent American F1 driver, competing for Williams in 2023 and then replaced midseason the following year.On the grid, however, another team from the U.S. has entered F1: Cadillac, which initially began as an Andretti Global bid to join.After a tumultuous journey to approval, Cadillac received the green light in March 2025, and it began racing at the start of the ongoing championship. With the General Motors-backed project came a talented driver who has broken IndyCar records: Colton Herta.The 26-year-old is familiar with European championships — he finished third behind future F1 world champion Lando Norris in the 2015 MSA Formula (Formula 4) season. But for most of the next decade, Herta concentrated on racing in the U.S.In 2026, he is racing in Formula 2. Herta and Cadillac wanted to respect the motorsport ladder, and the move allowed him to learn about the circuits F1 uses and adjust to different tires.No stranger to the F1 world, Herta completed a TPC test with McLaren in 2022. He had a Red Bull contract in hand at one point, which meant Cadillac CEO Dan Towriss said he needed to convince Herta to stay in IndyCar a bit longer.“At that point, it became a shared dream to get a team and create a pathway so that Colton had an opportunity,” Towriss told The Athletic. “But also (show) that American drivers have strong opportunities to drive in F1.”But does Herta have what it takes to make it to F1?How that’s judged will look different than some expect, particularly when analyzing F2 results and his F1 practice outings. But there’s no question in Towriss’s mind: It’s a yes.Colton Herta in a Cadillac F1 car at the 2026 Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix. (Clive Rose / Getty Images)Rewind to the 2025 IndyCar season.Midway through, Towriss told Herta that they faced a crossroads for their shared F1 hopes.Herta faced multiple challenges, the primary one being that he lacked the points to secure an FIA Super Licence, which all drivers require to race in F1.On top of that, Towriss pointed out that Herta needed to learn the tracks and tires, given IndyCar uses bespoke Firestones while the F1 and its support championships use Pirellis.“There’s a real benefit to learning tracks and tires, so the path to Formula 1 is a Formula 2 seat,” Towriss said. “If you don’t want to do that, that’s totally fine, but stay here in an IndyCar, and don’t talk about it anymore.”But Herta wanted to take the time to think about such a switch, so the IndyCar season wore on. Almost a month went by before Herta made his decision, a move that Towriss felt was wise given the stakes.“It’s a very different lifestyle. It’s more races, it’s all over the world,” Towriss said. “Taking the time to really count the cost (is important). That was a very mature thing for Colton to do, and I was impressed by it.”The night before the IndyCar season finale in Nashville, Herta called Towriss. It was a yes.In early Sept. 2025, news broke that Herta would join Cadillac as its first F1 test driver, and the following month, Hitech announced that the American driver would compete for them in F2 in 2026.“For Colton, it was about showing respect to European open-world racing. Showing respect to the circuits and the tires — what it takes to prepare and be in F1 — and not just try to jump over,” Towriss said.“We’ve certainly seen the entitled American approach, and it hasn’t worked in the past.”Colton Herta racing at the 2026 Formula 2 round in Canada. (Clive Rose / Getty Images)Heading into the 2026 British GP weekend, after six F2 rounds, Herta sat 15th out of 22 drivers in the standings, with 20 points.He told The Athletic that learning how to compete in F2 has taken “every bit of every emotion,” and it’s not a car he is 100 percent confident with. But feels he’s making progress.“It takes so much,” he said. “It takes every bit of skill that you have, and every bit of focus through the session and through the race to understand, ‘OK, this is what I’m doing wrong. This is what I need to change.’“You just need time in the car to build that understanding of adaptation.”Judging when a driver is ready to advance from F2 to F1 is complex. The results don’t show the full picture.Take the 2024 F2 season, when this year’s F1 championship leader Kimi Antonelli finished sixth before advancing to F1 with Mercedes, while his then-teammate Ollie Bearman was 12th before he joined Haas in F1 in 2025.As Towriss put it, “Looking at points in F2 is not a proper benchmark for F1 aptitude or ability to do well in F1.“F2 is about learning tracks and tires, getting used to racing, and he can showcase what he’s going to do,” Towriss said. “But you can be limited by the car that you’re in.”Cadillac team boss Graeme Lowdon said, “At no point did we say, ‘Go and win that championship and then come back when you’ve done it.’”What will be taken into consideration when assessing Herta for a future F1 graduation is his work in Cadillac’s simulator and his performance in its MAC-26 car (named after Mario Andretti) during four practice sessions this season.All of this focused on learning “about his ability to handle these cars (and) the feedback that he’s giving to the engineers,” Towriss said.At Barcelona last month, Herta took part in his first F1 practice session for Cadillac. He finished last (and was 0.379 seconds slower than the slowest Aston Martin that session). But Cadillac felt he did exactly what it asked.“The focus was on (regular race drivers) Checo (Sergio Pérez) and Valtteri (Bottas) that weekend,” Towriss said.“It isn’t really the task to come out and set the fastest lap and set a track record. Actually showing the discipline to do what was asked of him and provide feedback and help in setting up the car for (Pérez and Bottas) is really what we were looking for. And he did all of that.”Herta said his first F1 race weekend appearance felt “a lot of fun.” But his head was spinning after a day of trying to prepare for F1 and F2 cars.Colton Herta on track during FP1 at the 2026 Barcelona-Catalunya GP. (Clive Mason / Getty Images)Hitech and Cadillac helped him prepare for the transitions, as he had to switch between the cars across the day. “It was very busy and very hectic, so it was easy to be distracted,” Herta said.There are significant technical differences between the two categories — for example, the F2 car lacks power steering — and overall, F1 machines are far more complex.“You’re talking about a car (made from) a budget of hundreds of millions of dollars, and a car worth a few million at most,” Herta said.“As far as the F1 car went, it’s a lot closer to the IndyCar,” he continued. “They’re still very different race cars, but the overall driving style was a lot more similar to what I’m used to.”Familiarity can boost Herta’s confidence, particularly given the big learning curve for younger drivers when it comes to getting up to speed in one-hour FP1 sessions.There’s not a lot of time to get comfortable with the car. Using Cadillac’s simulator at its Charlotte, North Carolina factory helped him maximize his preparation and determine his plan for the Barcelona session.Herta’s next FP1 outing will be in Hungary, the last race before F1’s summer shutdown. After that, he will have two more, though the locations have not been announced.“It’s one (race) at a time,” he said when asked about his F1 future. “We don’t talk about 2027, we don’t talk about 2028. We talk about the next race weekend — it’s process over outcome.“It’s focusing on doing the work, the preparation and the readiness, and then you trust the results will be there.”