Alonso reckons Herta would be "a good fit" for F1 amid Alfa Romeo rumours

Herta has been linked with a switch to F1 with Andretti rumoured to be interested in taking over the Alfa Romeo team.

The American finished fifth in the 2021 IndyCar standings with three victories to his name.

Alfa Romeo has already announced Valtteri Bottas as its replacement for Kimi Raikkonen, while Antonio Giovinazzi appears set for the exit door.

Formula 2 drivers Oscar Piastri and Guanyu Zhou are other names to have mentioned with a possible F1 seat at Alfa Romeo, but the links have cooled since Andretti's interest emerged.

Speaking ahead of this weekend’s United States Grand Prix, Alonso voiced his support of Herta's potential switch to F1.

“I think he is a very good driver, very talented, very young, I think the youngest IndyCar race winner, and I think has a very good organization with Andretti,” Alonso said. “But yeah, it will be a good fit for Formula 1 for sure, but each of us has a different plan in his career and I don’t know what Colton has in his head at the moment, I’m sure he is happy with IndyCar, same as Alex Palou, that won the championship this year, and he’s really committed to the US, racing, and enjoys racing here in the States.

“Sometimes there is not only one target, Formula 1, motorsport is much more than Formula 1, even if inside this bubble some people feel this is the top top top, which is probably the top, but there are other super categories.”

Despite Herta’s impressive CV in IndyCar, he currently is eight points short of a super licence to race in F1.

Alonso believes IndyCar should be valued more by the FIA when handing out points to obtain a super licence.

“It’s difficult to comment on regs and things, more a question for the FIA and whoever is dealing with the license thing, but if you ask me my opinion for sure there are categories like IndyCar that has the level high enough that you should get the necessary points like you do in other categories in Europe, it’s a good debate for sure,” Alonso added.