The inconvenient truth about F1’s ‘American driver’ dream

That McLaren has made a play to sign Oscar Piastri doesn’t just underline the team’s lack of faith in Daniel Ricciardo to arrest his poor form. It also reveals that despite the 2021 car tests afforded to IndyCar shining lights Colton Herta and Patricio O’Ward, the cream of the crop from the Stateside series can’t make a wholly convincing case to be given a plum seat in Formula 1. As such, the best option was to prise the reigning F2 champion away from his nurturers at Alpine.

F1’s relationship with IndyCar can be uneasy. The fact is the grand prix cars are quicker, driver salaries higher, viewing figures greater. Some choose this to mean the American series is in every respect the poor relation to ensure it remains isolated and underestimated. Others appreciate the split and are content to watch IndyCars more slowly slither their way around the streets of Long Beach as plenty of entertaining opposite lock is required.

The latest opportunity to test the former, mostly Eurocentric attitude has now almost certainly been missed. With what would have absolutely been the full blessing of Liberty Media, McLaren was seemingly the leading candidate to poach one of IndyCar’s posterchildren. The US owners of F1 could have paraded its new US driver [sic] at all three of its US races in 2023.

But the debate about whether defending champion Alex Palou (Spanish), O’Ward (Mexican) or Herta (American) moving across the pond would have actually undermined IndyCar in so far as they would have traded race-winning seats for the toils of the GP midfield can be saved for another day. For now, it seems, they will continue to ply their trade on the other side of the Atlantic only.

The question should therefore be ‘why aren’t any of them an option for McLaren?’. O’Ward partook in the post-Abu Dhabi test in the Italian GP-winning MCL35M. Herta got the keys to the car at the Algarve Circuit last month, where he completed 162 laps over two days. Instead of either resulting in a full-time F1 berth, it seems both will only help McLaren fulfil the need to run two rookies in FP1 sessions during the final nine rounds of the term.

As much as it would have been a boon for F1 to gain an ‘American driver’ as Zak Brown (rather than McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl) pushed the IndyCar route, it seems the two tests didn’t offer enough early indications that it was worth the risk of binning known quantity Ricciardo. If the team was going to gamble, better to do so strategically and tap up debutant Piastri.

At least the Australian has been wholly developed in the F1 driver mould and so in the very unlikely event that he bombs, it’s a hire still much easier to defend to board rooms and investors. Herta’s longstanding ‘win or spin’ record carrying across to GP machinery much less so.

O'Ward jumped into McLaren F1 machinery at last year's post-season test in Abu Dhabi

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

The second question might be ‘should we be surprised that O’Ward and Herta weren’t viable options for McLaren?’. Granted, it is a reductive argument but not an invalid one to argue their junior and current careers against them. Wind back to 2015 and Herta was team-mates with Lando Norris at Carlin for the British F4 season.

The Briton was crowned champion as Herta ranked third, only truly coming on song for the second part of the campaign. Although, he was one of the youngest drivers so took a while to get up to speed. Herta was then third from an unremarkable Euroformula Open crop the year after before returning to the States to ply his trade.

O’Ward’s much more limited European single-seater exploits are harder to assess. For instance, a two-race F2 cameo at the Red Bull ring with MP Motorsport was a hiding to nothing as he chalked a best result of 14th. His three-race 2019 Super Formula cameo was on a par with Dan Ticktum’s similar length stint in Japan with the same Mugen team.

F1’s relationship with IndyCar can be uneasy. The fact is the grand prix cars are quicker, driver salaries higher, viewing figures greater

Then there’s who they’re up against now. Albeit thanks in large part to his Indianapolis 500 success, Marcus Ericsson is third in the IndyCar standings. Chip Ganassi team-mate Palou is fifth, O’Ward seventh and Herta 10th. They’re not dominating the Swede and even Romain Grosjean in 14th, two decent known F1 quantities (plus former Manor driver Alexander Rossi in eighth). That partly speaks of the competitive nature of IndyCar where few are capable of the Scott Dixon trademark runs of consistency. But might it also be a case to say that none of the McLaren candidates are truly, truly world class like Norris?

It seems that if F1 is to welcome another American driver anytime soon, the much more conventional route of recruiting an F2 frontrunner will be the way to go. Courtesy of his recent wins at Silverstone and the Red Bull Ring, the stock of Williams Academy driver Logan Sargeant is only climbing. For now, then, Liberty Media and the surging US audience will have to make do with him making his FP1 debut in the United States Grand Prix in October.

PLUS: The on-form F1 protege carrying America's hopes on his shoulders

Sargeant will make his F1 debut with a practice outing in the United States GP weekend

Photo by: Williams