Rossi: Herta a victim of ‘greed’ in Super Licence saga

Alexander Rossi believes past greed is ultimately the reason why his former IndyCar team-mate Colton Herta missed out on a Super Licence to race in Formula 1.

Red Bull had been eyeing the Californian as a driver for Scuderia AlphaTauri, where he would take the place of Pierre Gasly, but the signing hinged on him obtaining the requisite FIA Super Licence.

However, he has earned only 32 of the requisite 40 points, a figure which will drop to 29 next year, and Speedcafe.com understands that he has already once been refused dispensation.

With the FIA unlikely to provide it at a second time of asking, Red Bull has now given up on recruiting Herta.

Following that revelation, Rossi took to social media to weigh in on the saga.

Briefly a Formula 1 driver himself, with Marussia, he endorsed the Super Licence system as a means of preventing purely pay drivers from reaching the world championship.

However, he ultimately blamed those same drivers and/or the teams which fielded them for costing Herta his shot at F1.

“I’m so sick and tired of this back and forth regarding super license points,” wrote the 2016 Indianapolis 500 winner in a post published on Twitter.

“The whole premise of it was to keep people from buying their way into F1 and allowing talent to be the motivating factor. That’s great.

“We all agree Colton has the talent and capability to be in F1.

“That’s also great and he should get that opportunity if it’s offered to him. Period.

“Motorsport still remains as the most high profile sport in the world where money can outweigh talent.

“What is disappointing and in my opinion, the fundamental problem, is that the sporting element so often took a backseat to the business side that there had to be a method put in place in order for certain teams to stop taking drivers solely based on their financial backing.

“Ultimately these past decisions, whether out of greed or necessity, is what cost Colton the opportunity to make the decision for himself as to if he wanted to alter career paths and race in F1.

“Not points on a license.”

The Herta case has aroused controversy at least in part because IndyCar is underweighted relative to Formula 2 on the Super Licence points matrix, although it is the second most lucrative competition.

By finishing third in the 2020 IndyCar Series, he would have amassed 40 points that year alone, if the North American category had the same allocation as F2 does.

As it stands, he earned four points for finishing seventh in 2019, 20 for that third placing, and eight for finishing fifth in 2021.

Having ended this year just 10th, the figure would drop to 29 points if, hypothetically, Herta were to apply for a licence before next year’s IndyCar season is done.

In F2, however, the top three in the championship all receive 40 Super Licence points.

Whether the disparity is fair or not is up for debate, with the depth of the respective competitions and merits of promoting F1’s dedicated feeder championships worth considering.

What is objectively true, however, is that Herta could have guaranteed himself (subject to administrative formalities) a Super Licence by winning the IndyCar Series in any season since his rookie 2019 campaign; finishing second in one season and fourth in another; or finishing third in one season and fourth in another two, for example.

Herta and Rossi were team-mates at Andretti Autosport since the former’s rookie season, although the latter will drive for McLaren SP next year.

FIA Super Licence points allocation 2022 International Sporting Code Appendix L