Colton Herta to Test McLaren F1 Car in Portugal

Colton Herta will have his first Formula 1 test with McLaren in Portugal this week.

Herta will get behind the wheel of McLaren’s 2021-spec MCL35M at Portimao, which hosted the Portuguese Grand Prix in 2020 and 2021. Andretti Autosport IndyCar racer Herta was signed to a testing deal by McLaren and has recently spent time at its Technology Center in the U.K. to prepare for the outing.

Herta is due to test the car on Monday and Tuesday before long-term development driver Will Stevens gets behind the wheel on Wednesday.

“We want to give him a chance to run a Formula 1 car and to show what he’s actually able to do in such a car,” said McLaren team boss Andreas Seidl. “We also have the possibility now to run a one-year-old car this year and that’s the objective of the test, first to see how he’s doing there.

“As you know, we have to do two times this year a free practice session with a young driver and once we’ve tested all the candidates we want to give a chance in our TPC (Testing of Previous Car) we will make our mind up who will actually run these free practice sessions.”

Herta was linked to a Formula 1 seat amid Andretti’s attempted buyout of the Sauber-run Alfa Romeo team which ultimately collapsed last fall.

Andretti is still attempting to enter Formula 1 with its own team from 2024 and Herta has been installed as a favorite for one seat if they are granted an entry.