Colton Herta on F2 ambition, learning fast and targeting wins

Colton Herta is embracing what he admits is a move that is “quite different” to what he’s faced before.

Joining Hitech for 2026, the American driver is taking on a new Championship around circuits he either hasn’t tackled in many years, or are completely new to him.

As we close in on the season-opening weekend around one such venue in Melbourne, Australia, Herta explained just how positive testing had gone and why this year is a big but “exciting challenge.”

“We put it to good use, there's been a lot of work done on my side, simulator, going over data and whatnot to try to understand and cut down on this time that it's going to take to get up to speed with this car and tyre combination,” he explained.

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“It's quite different to what I've done in the past, but I think it's an exciting challenge for us. I think it's going to be a huge and very steep learning curve. By no means do I think that we're going to turn up and we're going to win the first round and challenge right away.

“But I think the goal still is to win and be in a championship fight at the end of the year. If it's not to do that, then you're probably in the wrong sport.

“So for me, that's always the goal going into every year, whether how realistic or unrealistic people think it is, that's the mindset that I have to bring into every season to really maximise myself.”

His preparations began in earnest last year, as he trailed the team on the ground on the final weekend of the 2025 campaign, following along from the garage and embedding himself within the team.

It was a useful process and one that brought plenty of positives before he’d even got to test an F2 car at the post-season event following the race.

“I think the most important thing from that was just to understand how it all works, even the minor things like how do the cars get to the grid, what does the pre-race look like in the garage, what does it look like on the grid, how does it work?

“So, there's a lot of questions that I had that were able to get answered from me observing.”

Alongside Herta this year at Hitech is Ritomo Miyata, who himself made a somewhat unorthodox career move, coming over from racing Super GT and Super Formula in Japan to tackling Formula 2, learning new tracks and racing new rivals.

Herta says that having another driver alongside him who has adapted to the Championship having faced a similar challenge to the one he’s embarked upon in 2026 is hugely useful, and he credits Miyata with helping him integrate quickly.

“Our career trajectories are very similar - how we kind of rose to top levels of formula racing in our respective countries and then come here to chase that dream of Formula 1. But it's great to have somebody that's been in Formula 2 for so long.

“He understands these cars, these tyres, going into the third season. So he knows a lot of stuff. And so not only that, but he's been very open with a lot.

“He's been very nice and very kind to me. If I’ve had questions, he will answer them to the best of his ability.

“And that's all you want from a teammate, right? Somebody that's fast and has experience, because it just elevates the whole team and the whole performance of us.”

Looking ahead to the first challenge that awaits him in Melbourne, Herta says that it’s making sure he’s adapting as quickly and efficiently as possible.

From there, the American says that he’s taking it one step at a time as he learns a new Championship and sets his eyes on success.

“The most important thing is to cut down the time that it's going to take to get adjusted to the style of racing. That's the biggest thing. That's why I'm over here: to learn. I'm going to make full use of that."