FIA System Weighs F2 over IndyCar; FIA IndyCar veteran Graham Rahal: 'They don’t want us. Remember that.'
- Any driver wanting to enter Formula 1 needs to have amassed 40 Super License points over the course of the previous three years of competition.
- Super License points are awarded based on final season standing in a racing series.
- Currently the system heavily favors Formula 2 participation over IndyCar. For example, a fifth-place final-season finish in Formula 2 is worth 20 Super License points, while the same fifth-place finish in the final IndyCar season standings is only worth eight points.
Perhaps inevitably the attempt to circumvent the FIA’s Super Licence points with NTT IndyCar driver Colton Herta looks to have failed.
It’s a shame that bureaucracy has gotten in the way of Herta getting a chance in Formula 1 in 2023. It would have been a positive news story for Formula 1—getting an American driver on the grid via an unconventional route—and created an intriguing talking point through next season.
Herta will instead continue to earn his living in IndyCar, which is not exactly a negative for the young American, given his explosive speed and potential. But it does pose the question of whether the FIA’s Super Licence system needs to be re-evaluated.
Currently any driver wanting to enter Formula 1 needs to have amassed 40 points over the course of the previous three years of competition. There are also other stipulations, such as completing 300 km in a Formula 1 car, being aged over 18, as well as holding a valid driving license.
The ambition was to ensure drivers could not jump entire categories or merely buy their way into a seat in Formula 1 without showing the required composure.
Ironically, and perhaps showing the flaws in the system, the points-based structure was introduced after Max Verstappen’s debut in 2015, aged 17 with just one F3 season under his belt, and he has since gone on to become one of Formula 1’s elite. Had the system been in place in past eras the likes of Kimi Räikkönen and Jenson Button would have struggled to meet the threshold.
IndyCar is not and should not be regarded as a feeder category for Formula 1: that’s the job of the FIA’s single-seater pyramid, which comprises Formula 4 through Formula 2.
But there are two significant problems for any driver wanting to make the jump to Formula 1 from IndyCar.
FIA System Greatly Favors F2 Over IndyCar
The first is the weighting of the points; while the champions of IndyCar and Formula 2 both receive 40 points the sliding scale does not favor IndyCar. Third in Formula 2 still receives 40 points, but third in IndyCar gets only 20. Fourth in F2 gets 30, fourth in IndyCar gets 10, and so the scale decreases.
The second is the caliber of driver in IndyCar. It is an ultra-competitive series and the veterans tend to be the lead contenders each year: Scott Dixon, Will Power and Josef Newgarden have between them 723 starts. In Formula 2 the champion—and often the leading contenders—move on to other categories each season. Formula 2 champions are worthy, but IndyCar is a significantly more competitive category, meaning it is harder to pick up those Super Licence points.
Appendix L of the FIA’s International Sporting Code outlines the Super License system. Go to PAGE 60 of the document to see the points chart.
Herta had 32 points for 2022 after finishing seventh, third and fifth in the standings the previous three years. He has seven IndyCar victories—including in only his third start, becoming IndyCar’s youngest winner—nine poles, not to mention a couple of Daytona wins. Clearly, the kid has talent. Or as Scott McLaughlin tweeted, “kid’s a stud.”
Herta and Andretti can take some share of the blame for an underwhelming season, and a few too many incidents, but there has been nothing to suggest Herta would be woefully out-of-place in Formula 1. Removing the oval events from the equation—and using only the street/road courses as found in Formula 1—would have propelled Herta in the standings each season and ensured he comfortably hit 40 points.
There has also been the argument that Herta could partake in a winter-based F3 category to acquire more Super Licence points. It is a rather foolish suggestion that a multiple IndyCar race winner must prove his Formula 1 worth by stepping down to race in F3.
And for those who want to say that @ColtonHerta didn’t “earn” the right. You’re off base. He’s as talented if not more than the rest. He’s a proven winner. He came to the top, and has done exceptionally well. F1 has had ride buyers for years who don’t hold a candle to CH. FACTS! https://t.co/9RpJ62nKIq
— Graham Rahal (@GrahamRahal) September 16, 2022
“F1 is an elitist sport,” tweeted Graham Rahal. “They don’t want us. Remember that. They want US companies [sic] money, they want wealthy US individuals money. But they don’t care about the rest. Always has been that way, always will be.”
That’s an extreme perspective, but the manner in which the Super Licence system is sculpted, and Herta’s rejection, only adds fuel to such a burning view.
Again, IndyCar is not Formula 1’s preschool, but it highlights the anomaly. A logical person would go “yep, clearly we have flaws in our system, Herta’s fine,” but alas, there’s the politics to consider.
One suggestion is that the FIA has been keen to protect its carefully cultivated ladder and ensure drivers are not keen to try their hand elsewhere to get to Formula 1. Liberty Media also prospers as it owns Formula 2 and Formula 3. And if Red Bull was to get an exemption from the FIA then no doubt rival teams would be quite keen to point this out on the next occasion that they want a rule bent or tweaked in their favor.
Overall it is a missed opportunity and a case of “what might have been,” for Formula 1, Red Bull/AlphaTauri, and for Herta. Maybe the F1 paddock will come calling again in the future —and Herta does have plentiful time on his side—but for the short-term it is a shame.
Keyword: FIA Super License System Unfair to IndyCar Drivers, Needs an Overhaul