Colton Herta believes he has a fairly normal set of driver preferences in the cockpit of a racing car. But, he does have one “weird” approach.
Herta opened up on his tendency to push the pedals toe first, rather than with a planted heel. That has implications for his use of a heel rest.
Colton Herta explains unusual pedal technique
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A multi-time IndyCar race winner, Herta has returned to European open wheel racing in 2026, as he chases his dream of becoming a Formula 1 driver.
As well as contesting the 2026 Formula 2 campaign with Hitech, Herta also signed with F1 newcomers Cadillac, as the team’s test driver.
Herta appeared on the Beyond the Grid podcast, speaking from Cadillac’s Silverstone headquarters. Herta was also there for a seat fit in the MAC-26.
Herta is set to make his Formula 1 race weekend debut in Barcelona, where he will contest FP1 ahead of the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix.
“It’s definitely a pinch me moment, like a realisation of how close it is and how close to driving it is,” said Herta.
As he looked to get comfortable in his MAC-26 seat ahead of that Cadillac F1 debut, Herta was asked whether the driving position is different in a Formula 1 car, compared to what he experienced before.
“Yes,” he confirmed.
“I think for the most part, the European open wheel cars are different to the US open wheel cars, apart from a few in the US.
“But if you look at a lot of the European cars, where your legs are, the car kind of bumps up quite a bit and comes up, so your feet are raised quite a bit compared to the Indy car.
“So I would say the back positioning, similar, but your feet are a little bit higher and the visibility is a little bit less because of that, because the tub comes up on the front a bit more.”
Asked if that means a driver is lying down more in the cockpit in comparison, Herta continued: “Maybe a little bit. But I would say the back positioning and how the back starts to come up is similar.
“It’s just a little bit of a different feel, because you’ve got your legs up here instead of maybe down here.”
Herta was quizzed on his preferences as a driver in the cockpit.
It is common for different drivers to want different things to feel fully comfortable, and ready to extract maximum performance.
“I would say generally, pretty normal and average compared to a lot of drivers.
“But the only thing that’s weird about me is I don’t like to run a heel rest, and that’s because when I push the pedal, instead of going on like this [demonstrates with his hands an action with the heel planted], I actually push with my toes, and so my heel comes up.
“And so if I run a heel rest, then I can’t get forward with my heel. It kind of stops it.”
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Herta does not know why he has this preference to push the pedals with his toes.
“I think it’s something that I picked up in karting, and it’s been like that ever since.
“Everything else is pretty normal about how I set the car up, but that’s one weird thing.
“I mean, I can run a heel rest, just it never gets used because my heel ends up just flying over the thing.”
In his rookie F2 season, Herta has scored points in both feature races thus far, a P7 in Melbourne, and P8 in Miami.
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Continue reading: Colton Herta closes in on F1 race seat with Cadillac FP1 plan
Originally published by Planet F1 —
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