The FIA Has Formally Rejected Colton Herta's Super License Bid

The FIA has formally announced that it will not grant Colton Herta a super license, ending a month of brief hope that Herta would be able to participate in an agreed-upon deal and join AlphaTauri for the 2023 Formula 1 season.

Herta, a seven-time IndyCar winner and nine-time pole sitter over four full seasons at just 22, had just 32 super license points earned in IndyCar. The margin for acceptance to the F1 grid is 40. While exact details of his protest are not known, two popular assumptions are that he either chose to argue in favor of his points from finishing second in the 2018 Indy Lights Series (rejected because the field was too small) or his points earned from his finishes in IndyCar's road-course-only championship standings. In the latter case, Herta would have easily qualified with 60 points off his finishes of second in both 2020 and 2021. Instead, the organization chose to run with the standings that factor in oval races that are in no way relevant to Herta's potential career in Formula 1.

An FIA spokesperson quoted by Autosport noted that "the FIA continuously reviews its regulations and procedures, including with respect to superlicence eligibility, with the main factors being considered with respect to this topic being safety, experience and performance in the context of the pathway." Nevertheless, the group continues to build its licensing system around Formula 2 and Formula 3 first and foremost, with a heavy bias of points awarded to each of its primary junior series over any non-F1 senior series in the world.