Silly season can be one of the most interesting times in racing circles, whether it’s Formula 1, NASCAR or IndyCar racing. Drivers retire, move to other forms of racing or switch teams in a seemingly never-ending domino effect that eventually ends with all seats being filled.
In IndyCar racing, two of the central figures in this year’s version of silly season have been Will Power and Colton Herta. Both drivers have had massively different aims as they head into the next phases of their career and had different wants ahead of 2026.
For Power, he wanted a multi-year deal to remain at Team Penske. Having stability at that point in his career was the top priority and why shouldn’t it be? Power is the winningest driver in Team Penske history and was the highest placed Penske driver in the 2025 NTT IndyCar Series championship standings.
However, the prevailing theory is that Team Penske did not want to give the 2018 Indianapolis 500 winner a concrete multi-year extension and it was Power’s decision to leave.
But where would he go to get what he wanted? What did Power want? As of this writing, Power is fourth on IndyCar’s all time wins list at 45 wins, behind A. J. Foyt (67), Scott Dixon (59) and Mario Andretti (52). Therefore it would stand to reason that Power would want a multi-year contract in a ride that can get him race wins and, just maybe, one more championship.
But what rides were open? Enter Herta. The 25-year-old has always had eyes on Formula 1, with people annually trying to figure out the number of points Herta had for that seemingly out of reach Super License that allows him to race in F1.
To get that Super License, there are two main paths for Herta to traverse. The first is to win the IndyCar title. I don’t know how many people pay attention, but Alex Palou has made championships nearly impossible to win with his Chip Ganassi Racing squad.
Which leaves option two: Formula 2. A driver finishing in the top three of the F2 championship automatically earns enough points to qualify for a F1 Super License which requires 40 points. If Herta finishes fifth in the F2 championship, he’ll earn 20 points toward his Super :icense, which is the same for finishing third in IndyCar points (scroll to page 64 to see the points table).
On Wednesday, the Cadillac F1 team announced that Herta would become the team’s test driver, with racing plans yet to be confirmed for the upcoming season but F2 seems to be the leading landing spot for the Californian.
Herta gets what he wants: a shot at getting into F1 and the chance to learn the tracks they race on in a F2 seat (if it materializes). That means his seat at Andretti Global is open…
For Power to fill.
Power gets what he wants. Andretti Global are race winners, though their last championship was in 2012 with Ryan Hunter-Reay. With a street circuit package that has won five times in the last three seasons, Power has a package that will play to his main strengths.
In a perfect world, it never should have happened this way. But we don’t live in a perfect world and we’ll all have to deal with that.
Bring on St. Petersburg next March.
Christopher DeHarde has covered IndyCar racing and the Road to Indy for various outlets since 2014. In addition to open wheel racing, DeHarde has also covered IMSA and various short track racing events around Indiana. Originally from New Orleans, DeHarde moved to the Indianapolis area in 2017 to further pursue a career as a motorsports writer.