McLaren Racing CEO, Zak Brown, finds it peculiar that some of the best IndyCar drivers on the grid are not eligible for a Formula 1 super license.
Andretti driver, Colton Herta, has been trying to find a seat in the pinnacle of motorsport this year, but the super license system has stood in his way.
The young American has won seven races over a combination of Indy Lights and the main IndyCar championship, but he has only 32 of the 40 required points to be eligible for F1.
While the top two positions in the IndyCar Standings are worth more points than the top two in Formula 3, the penultimate rung of the junior ladder is worth more than the American series in the rest of the championship standings.
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Drivers such as Patricio O’Ward and Herta have tested with McLaren over the last 12 months, but neither of them have enough points to compete in F1 at the moment.
Winning the title or finishing in the top three two years in a row will get drivers racing in America the required points to compete in the pinnacle of motorsport, but there is a harsher limitation, generally, on IndyCar than there is on F2 and F3.
This has all meant that Red Bull’s attempts to capture Herta in the eventuality that AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly goes to Alpine have been futile.
This, as far as Brown is concerned, is unfair on drivers of a very high standard.
“Someone of Colton’s or Pato’s Calibre or half of the IndyCar field are Formula 1 capable,” he said, as per Motorsportweek.com.
“If someone like Colton who’s won a lot of IndyCar races isn’t eligible for a Super License, then I think we need to review the Super License system.”
In the three years before reaching the pinnacle of motorsport, Kimi Raikkonen and Max Verstappen both will have earned around 20 points, including those earned from their karting exploits which, for Raikkonen, would be none.
Brown argues that neither of those world champions would have been eligible under the current system, so urges the FIA to re-think the rules.
“I don’t think Max Verstappen would have been eligible for a Super License, I don’t think Kimi Raikonnen would have been eligible for a Super License,” he added.
“If you go back and look, there are a couple of guys, world champions who wouldn’t have got their super license in today’s environment.”
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As for Herta’s chances of joining McLaren in the future, the 50-year-old affirmed that the British side would not be bringing him on board just so that Red Bull could snatch him for their junior side.
“I would not rule Colton out but anything we do is going to be in the best interest of McLaren as opposed to helping out AlphaTauri,” stated Brown.
O’Ward and Herta finished seventh and 10th, respectively, in the IndyCar Standings last year.