Cadillac F1 boss Graeme Lowdon says the team will "just have to live" with the possibility of Colton Herta being denied a super licence, if it wished to sign him for 2026.
The expansion of the F1 grid to 11 teams for next season was confirmed last week when F1 gave Cadillac the green-light to join for 2026, alhtough no driver news has been confirmed by the team.
IndyCar star Herta has long been linked with making the move to F1, with Helmut Marko being keen to get him into the AlphaTauri in mid-2022, but the FIA refused to grant Herta a super licence as he did not meet the required 40-point threshold.
Heading into the 2025 season, Herta currently has 32 points to his name for the three-year period, taking into account the '22-'24 seasons.
By 2026, the one point he picked up for a 10th-place finish in 2022 will fall away, dropping him to 31 points, meaning a top-four finish in the IndyCar standings this season would be automatically required to earn the licence, with fourth place earning 10 points.
Assessing the situation, Lowdon explained how Cadillac would have to accept if Herta was prohibited once again from making the transition.
"With regards to Colton, he doesn't have the required number of super licence points, and if that were to remain the case, then that is clearly an impediment for him," Lowdon told media including RacingNews365.
"We can't choose a driver that doesn't have the points, that is just the real world we live in and we have to take that into account.
"Does his lack of being at the threshold for the super licence in any way affect his ability to drive a race car? No, he is an incredibly talented driver, so it is not shocking news that we would be looking to consider Colton alongside a whole bunch of other drivers.
"Certainly, he is not the only one in that situation, and he isn't the first and won't be the last driver where there is some uncertainty due to super licence points, but we just have to live with that.
"It is a regulation, and we just have to respect it."
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