"Damn they really hate Colton Herta": Fans react as FIA revamps IndyCar's Super Licence points allocation after yearlong criticism

Racing fans felt bad for Colton Herta after the FIA announced a revamp in IndyCar's Super Licence points allocation. The 25-year-old former Andretti Global driver left IndyCar after the 2025 season to race in F2 in 2026, a major reason for which was the Super Licence points system.

In 2022, Herta was on Red Bull's radar. Helmut Marko wanted to sign the American driver to replace Alpine-bound Pierre Gasly at AlphaTauri (now Racing Bulls). However, he possessed only 32 of the 40 required points for a Super Licence, and consequently, the FIA rejected Red Bull's request for an exemption.

2025 was the next pivotal year in Colton Herta's career. He was at the top of Cadillac F1's prospect list for 2026 and needed to finish fifth or higher in the IndyCar standings this year to become eligible for an FIA Super Licence. However, that did not happen, as the Andretti Global driver had a subpar season. He finished seventh in the standings.

In 2026, he will serve as Cadillac F1's test driver while juggling a full F2 season with Hitech GP. The FIA received a lot of flak throughout the year for not valuing IndyCar drivers enough. On Wednesday, December 10, the FIA announced a new points allocation for IndyCar. The allocation for the Top 10 drivers will be 40-30-25-20-15-10-8-6-3-1 instead of the older 40-30-20-10-8-6-4-3-2-1.

Fans found the humor in the FIA's announcement, which came right after Colton Herta's risky move to leave IndyCar and take a step down to race in F2 only to realize his F1 dream. One fan wrote:

"Damn they really hate Colton Herta😭."

"Colton Herta’s gotta be punching air right now," another added.

Another fan took a dig at 25-year-old Herta being the oldest driver on the F2 grid full of teenagers, and wrote:

"The FIA saw geriatric Colton Herta doing TikTok dances with 17-year-olds and said ENOUGH IS ENOUGH."

"😂😂They really waited till Herta went to F2 to change the points," joked one fan.

"Can all the drivers with podcasts stop complaining now, thank you!" one user wrote, referring to the FIA getting criticized by IndyCar drivers for the earlier points allocation.

"About damn time IndyCar is given some more recognition on this front," shared another.

The FIA's new points system for IndyCar still awards its drivers fewer points than F2 drivers, but it is still a decent upgrade over the older allocation.

Colton Herta "far from being super comfortable" in F2 car after first test with Hitech GP

Colton Herta at the Formula 2 Testing in Abu Dhabi - Day 1 - Source: Getty

Another element of humor in the FIA's announcement was that it came on the same day as Colton Herta's first F2 test with Hitech GP at the Yas Marina Circuit. The former IndyCar driver had raced in an older-generation F2 car at Monza in November, but got his first taste of the current-gen F2 cars on Wednesday.

Herta wasn't immediately on the pace in Abu Dhabi. He was 11th-fastest in the morning session and 17th-fastest in the afternoon session.

"It was all about getting comfortable, and I am still pretty far from being super comfortable in the car," Herta said via F2. "It's good first steps, it's such an important three days for us. It's important to maximise everything that we do here. It's fun to be here, fun to be in a car in the offseason, and I am looking forward to the next two days."

Herta completed 83 laps across the two sessions. He still has two more days of post-season testing left at the Yas Marina Circuit that will resume on Thursday morning.