It was difficult this year to come up with which drivers to feature in the Career Retrospective series. However, at the end of this fifth year, it became obvious that a theme was crossroads. A number of drivers were at crossroads, at the end of 2025, some unexpectedly. A few drivers are making clear choices and are heading in different directions. Some are remaining still and are not sure where they will be heading next.
This year, we will look at three drivers as their careers are making a change.
This first part of three focuses on a driver making a clear change. It is more than just changing teams. It is changing series. It is changing disciplines. It is leaving a comfort zone with no guarantee success will come, but this was the last chance for such a big move as the grandeur of Formula One is ahead and it will not be available for much longer.
We start looking back at a driver that is only 25 years old.
We start with Colton Herta.
Where was Herta coming from?
Herta had spent two seasons in Indy Lights prior to entering IndyCar, but his junior career took a hybrid course, spending time on the Road to Indy while also spending time in Europe.
At 14 years old, Herta started in U.S. F2000, missing the opening round in St. Petersburg in 2014 as he was still too young to compete in the series. Competing against the likes of Florian Latorre, R.C. Enerson, Aaron Telitz, Victor Franzoni and even Austin Cindric, Herta had a few top five runs, as this was his second year in career racing after running Pacific F1600 the year prior.
The following year he moved to Britain to compete in the MSA Formula Championship, a Formula 4 series where Herta drove for Carlin and was teamed with Romanian Petri Florescu and Lando Norris. Herta's results were a little behind at the start of the season, but halfway through his finishes improved and he became a multi-time race winner. Norris won the championship, but Herta ended up third.
Carlin took Herta to Euroformula Open in 2016. Herta again finished third in the championship with a handful of victories, finishing behind Leonardo Pulcini and Ferdinand Habsburg. Along with Euroformula Open, Herta ran two rounds in the BRDC British Formula Three championship. At Brands Hatch, Herta won the third race of the weekend, and in the next round at Oulton Park Herta had finishes of third, sixth and third.
On the verge of 17 years old, Herta moved back to the United States to compete in Indy Lights in an entry run in partnership with Andretti Autosport and Steinbrenner Racing. In his first round, Herta went second and first at St. Petersburg. Another victory followed at Barber Motorsports Park. A tough May knocked Herta back in the championship and though he had four podium finishes in the final eight races, he was third in the championship.
In the next season, Herta won four consecutive races over the month of May and into June. His season was thrown off when Herta injured his wrist at Toronto in July. Despite finishing second in six of the final nine races, Herta lost the championship to his Andretti Autosport teammate Patricio O'Ward by 44 points.
What did IndyCar look like when Herta started in the series?
The Hulman-George family-owned IndyCar had just introduced the universal aero kit in the 2018 season after three seasons using manufacturer-developed aero kits. The series aimed to reduce top-side downforce with these aero kits and create more ground effect generated from beneath the cars. The first race for the universal aero kit from St. Petersburg had 366 total passes.
Along with the universal aero kit, IndyCar started testing an aeroscreen in hopes of improving cockpit protection for the driver.
Twenty-two cars filled the grid from 11 teams. The newest of which were Carlin, which had spent a few seasons in Indy Lights adapted to racing in the United States, and Harding Racing, which used a top ten finish in the 2017 Indianapolis 500 and a top five finish later that season at Texas to step up to full-time competition. Herta ended up making his IndyCar debut with Harding at the 2018 Sonoma finale, and Herta spent his first full season with the organization in 2019.
Juncos Racing entered a car in most of the races in 2018 while Meyer Shank Racing was entered in six races with one car.
Six road courses, six ovals and four street courses made up the 17-race calendar. Phoenix was the first oval in April while Texas was in June, Iowa was in July and Pocono was in August. Portland was on the schedule for the first time in 11 years. Sonoma hosted the finale on the third Sunday in September.
This ended up being Verizon's final season as title sponsor after five seasons.
On television, ABC was the network television partner while NBC Sports Network broadcasted all the races on cable. ABC showed the season opener from St. Petersburg as well as the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, Indianapolis 500 qualifying, the Indianapolis 500 and the Belle Isle doubleheader.
How does IndyCar look now?
The most recent season of the Penske Entertainment-owned IndyCar Series was the eighth with the universal aerokit. The aeroscreen was introduced during the 2020 season and it has remained on the car ever since. The Dallara DW12 chassis has just completed its 14th season of service.
The grid has expanded to 27 full-time entries with 25 holding charters to compete in the IndyCar Series, guaranteeing those cars a spot on the grid for every race outside the Indianapolis 500, and those 25 cars are eligible to compete for the 22 Leader Circle spots.
There are still 11 teams in the series. Harding Racing was quietly absorbed into Andretti Autosport, which has become Andretti Global. Carlin left the IndyCar Series after the 2021 season, and the team shut its doors at the end of 2023, becoming Rodin Motorsport around the globe.
Juncos Racing is now full-time as Juncos Hollinger Racing, and it purchased the assets from Carlin after it closed its doors. Meyer Shank Racing is full-time with two cars with a technical alliance with Chip Ganassi Racing. McLaren has joined the series and operates the team formerly known as Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. Prema joined the series in 2025 after four decades competing in the European single-seater racing.
The number of road courses was up to seven in 2025 while the number of ovals was down to five. The street courses remained at four. The only street course change was the Belle Isle round moved to downtown Detroit and was no longer a doubleheader. Phoenix, Texas and Pocono were no longer on the IndyCar schedule, but Iowa was a doubleheader while Milwaukee and Nashville Superspeedway each enjoyed their second years back on the schedule. Nashville returned after a street race in downtown fell off the schedule due to construction of the new football stadium.
This was the first season with Fox being the broadcast partner of the IndyCar Series. All 17 races were shown live on Fox, and in July, Fox Corporation purchased one-third of Penske Entertainment.
What did Herta do in-between?
Though short of an Indy Lights championship, Herta had done enough to make his IndyCar debut at the 2018 finale at Sonoma with Harding Racing. Patricio O'Ward was brought in as a teammate for that round and the plan was for O'Ward and Herta to be teammates at Harding with Steinbrenner Racing support in 2019.
Financial issues caused the O'Ward entry to dissolve before the team could even get to testing, reducing the team to one car for Herta.
After opening the season with an eighth at St. Petersburg, Herta won his third career start at Austin, benefitting from a timely caution after he made his final pit stop while running in third. Herta became the youngest winner in IndyCar history. Though this terrific day had occurred, Herta fell into a rut with four consecutive finishes outside the top twenty and seven consecutive finishes outside the top ten.
Results improved in the second half of the season. Herta ended up winning three pole positions, and he closed the season with a dominant victory at Laguna Seca. Despite winning two races, Herta fell short of winning Rookie of the Year, finishing behind Felix Rosenqvist.
Herta took a step forward in 2020 as he had seven top five finishes after having only three in his rookie season. With a highlight of a victory at Mid-Ohio, Herta was third in the championship in his sophomore season behind only Scott Dixon and Josef Newgarden.
Success remained steady into 2021 as Herta was now fully a member of Andretti Autosport. He won at St. Petersburg and closed the season with a pair of victories at Laguna Seca and Long Beach. While he had some results get away from him, and he struggled on ovals, he still finished fifth in the championship.
However, over the next two seasons, form dropped off, and not just for Herta but for the entire Andretti organization. While Herta had a memorable victory in mixed conditions in the 2022 Grand Prix of Indianapolis, the team threw away a number of promising results, and the team struggled for pace. He was tenth in the championship in consecutive seasons.
Things turned around in 2024. Herta snapped a 40-race winless streak at Toronto, and he capped off a season that featured six podium finishes and 11 top five finishes with his first oval victory at Nashville as Herta ended up second in the championship behind Álex Palou.
Expectations were high in 2025, and Herta had good results, but he could not replicate his 2024 success. He failed to win a race with his best finish being third. While he won two pole positions, he ended up seventh in the championship, the second-best Andretti Global entry with Kyle Kirkwood taking fourth in the championship with three victories.
What impression did Herta leave on IndyCar?
If at the start of 2019, you were told Colton Herta would leave IndyCar at the end of 2025 to chase a Formula One seat, you probably would have thought Herta was leaving IndyCar with multiple championships, maybe two-dozen victories and at least one or two in the Indianapolis 500. You know... the career Álex Palou basically has achieved.
Herta leaves IndyCar with zero championships, nine victories, and his best finish in the Indianapolis 500 was eighth.
I don't think anyone expected Herta to leave and feel a little underwhelmed at what we saw considering what he is hoping to achieve.
Herta is a talented driver, but he isn't leaving as the best in IndyCar, and anyone leaving IndyCar for Formula One you would believe would be the best or at worst second-best in the series. Over seven full seasons, his average championship finish was 6.285.
Was Herta one of the top five drivers during his time in IndyCar? That is debatable.
Top ten? Definitely.
Top eight? Probably, but no one brags about being the sixth-, seventh-, or eight-best in IndyCar.
Herta's impression on IndyCar is about to come because his move to Formula Two in 2026, while being a Cadillac F1 development driver, is being viewed as an indictment of IndyCar. The pressure isn't on Herta for the sake of Colton Herta. Herta is competing and representing IndyCar, which hasn't had a driver move to Formula One since Sébastien Bourdais went to Toro Rosso in 2008.
Patricio O'Ward has even said Herta is driving for all of IndyCar next year. However Herta does in Formula Two will set the perception for where IndyCar sits on the global motorsports picture.
It sounds odd to say but we are covering what could be the end of Colton Herta's IndyCar career. If this goes right, Colton Herta will spend the next ten to 15 years in Formula One. He will become a driver who is competitive with Cadillac F1, beating his teammate and either achieving great success with the team or doing well enough to be poached by another team for a bigger and better ride, which could lead to podium finishes, victories and possibly championships.
If Herta is making this move thinking he is going to spend two or three years in Formula One before returning to IndyCar, this experiment will fail. If he goes in confident he at least has a backup plan, this is not going to work. A quick return to IndyCar is not good for IndyCar.
But if Herta does succeed in Formula One, his IndyCar record ten years after his driving career is over might not be much different than it is at the end of 2025. We might have seen the last of Herta as a full-time IndyCar driver. Even if he races in Formula One until he is 42 or 43 years old, he could still return and compete in IndyCar, but there is no guarantee that will happen. I suspect Herta will run the Indianapolis 500 next May as that is in the middle of a six-week break in the Formula Two schedule, but outside of that, I don't know when Herta will race in IndyCar again.
His IndyCar career could be limited to a handful of Indianapolis 500 attempts. He might never win an IndyCar championship if his Formula One career sticks. That is an odd thing to write considering what we expected him to achieve, and what he could still accomplish.
It feels weird to write a retrospective about a driver who is 25 years old and is going to still be competing, but we might have seen the everything we will ever see of Herta as a true IndyCar driver. Even if he does return, there is a chance Herta will be returning to a much different IndyCar. As much as we joke about things not changing and the DW12 being omnipresent, IndyCar will be different a decade from now. Herta would not rejoining a familiar series but essentially moving to another new series in the latter stages of his career. If he spends a decade in Formula One, such a move might not be as desirable as it sounds.
There will be a part two to Herta's career, but how much it involves IndyCar is to be determined.
