Andretti’s Colton Herta was able to walk away from a terrifying accident during practice for the Indy 500 this weekend.
Turn One at the Brickyard has been catching drivers out all throughout practice for the Indy 500, but some excellent reactions and car control have enabled some fairly miraculous saves.
Herta was not so fortunate, and he lost control of his car on the inside kerb at the first corner before slamming into the barrier on the exit and going airborne, flipping the car onto the aeroscreen.
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He reported that all was well before he had even come to a stop, and marshals were immediately on the scene to make sure he was unharmed and flip the car back over.
The Californian’s incident followed a crash for David Malukas earlier in the session, and Santino Ferucci, known for one of two bits of over aggression on track from his Formula 2 days, was penalised for causing an avoidable collision.
Herta admitted that he simply took too much momentum into Turn One, which has given the Andretti team a fair amount of work to do for Sunday to prepare a car for him.
“I think I was going a little too fast for that corner,” he said.
“A little sad for that race car.”
The 22-year-old thanked the safety innovations that saw him walk away safe and sound, and the marshals for taking good care of him after he had suffered the impact.
“Thankful for a lot of things, I guess the aeroscreen is part of that,” explained Herta.
“More so the safety crew and I guess just the durability of the side pods on the side structure of the cars. That was a big hit from the side. Yeah, the safety crews were there very fast flipping me back over.”
Herta raced in the MSA Formula Championship alongside McLaren’s Lando Norris in 2015, and he won four races on his way to third in the championship.
The American’s incident in Indianapolis epitomised what Norris recently spoke of in relation to Herta throwing the car into corners like a “hooligan.”
“I grew up with Colton, end of 2014-15, my first season of single-seaters,” he said.
“And I mean, his nickname is ‘Hooligan Herta’. Because there’s one place he was extremely strong and that’s high-speed corners.
“And I feel like I’m decent, one of my strengths is pretty high-speed corners. But he was just like another level in some sorts.
“He would quite often go off because of it and maybe not crash, but just go through the gravel and we’d have to clean his car after because of how much dirt there was on it. But yeah, lovely guy, of course.
“I grew up with him when I was younger for a good year and a half, two years and [he is] just a bit crazy.”
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Herta will start 25th if his Andretti team are able to get a car ready for him, while team-mate and former Formula 1 driver Romain Grosjean will start ninth.
Scott Dixon, 2008 Indy winner and six-time IndyCar champion, will start on pole following an astonishing performance in both the fast 12 and the fast six last weekend.