Colton Herta calls Melbourne F2 debut ‘unsatisfactory’ after practice crash setback

Colton Herta called it an “unacceptable” mistake from himself to crash out of Melbourne Formula 2 practice. It is an error which he felt set him up for an “unsatisfactory” debut weekend.

But, while the Cadillac-backed driver is “not particularly happy” about his race weekend, he did recover to open his Formula 2 points-scoring account, an impressive achievement on debut. Herta was keen to divert the plaudits to his Hitech team.

Colton Herta reflects on ‘unsatisfactory’ Formula 2 debut weekend in Melbourne

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There were plenty of eyes on Herta in Melbourne, as he made his F2 debut. Herta left his IndyCar career behind to go all-in on his Formula 1 dream.

The American encountered an early setback to recover from, crashing out heavily in the sole practice session.

“It’s unacceptable to crash in practice at any time, but especially at a track that I’ve never been to when basically everybody on the grid has,” Herta admitted when speaking with the Formula 2 website.

“I’m already fighting an upward battle and that just didn’t do me any favours.

“I need to complete all the laps and do as much as I can in the driver’s seat to learn.

“I didn’t do myself any favours so that set us up for failure to be honest the rest of the weekend.”

But, Melbourne was far from all doom and gloom.

Narrowly outqualified by experienced Hitech teammate Ritomo Miyata, Herta bounced back from a P16 in the Sprint to come home seventh in the Feature Race, bagging six points.

It was an eventful race, one which saw Rodin teammates Alex Dunne and Martinius Stenshorne crash out during an early battle for the lead. There were time penalties meanwhile for Sebastian Montoya and Joshua Durksen, further boosting Herta up the road.

For Herta, his first F2 race weekend was “C minus. Unsatisfactory.”

But, he was full of praise for his Hitech team.

“I guess the only positive is that we scored points today and the guys did a great job.

“They did a great job putting the car back together after practice, they did a great job in the pits, I thought the setup was also very nice, and I thought the pit-stops and strategy were great.”

He added: “I think there are a lot of positives about our fight back. The guys should be happy with their effort this weekend. But for me, I’m not particularly happy about it.”

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Herta admitted that it is “just not natural yet” for him, but that feeling will come as he gains more experience at the wheel of F2 machinery.

Going forward, his target is to qualify in the top 10 as the “bare minimum”, something which would ensure a starting position within the Feature Race points-paying spots.

Herta has been tasked with a top 10 finish in the F2 championship by Cadillac F1 CEO Dan Towriss.

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