Lando Norris makes clear Colton Herta F1 claim: 'He's easily capable'

Lando Norris has made it clear that Colton Herta is "easily capable" of potentially becoming an F1 driver, and will not struggle in his new role at Cadillac. 

Ahead of the Italian Grand Prix, it was announced by the Cadillac F1 Team that Herta had been signed to become its official test and development driver. 

In doing so, the American driver has departed the IndyCar series, where he has raced full-time since 2019. Despite being a nine-time IndyCar race winner, his dream has remained a move to F1.

Alongside being Cadillac's test driver, Herta will compete in Formula 2, to obtain enough super license points to race in F1, as confirmed by Dan Towriss, the CEO of TWG Motorsports, which is running the Cadillac F1 team.

Herta has spent the majority of his career in North America, but raced against Norris in 2015 when competing for Carlin in the MSA Formula Championship.

Norris is confident the 25-year-old will face little difficulty adjusting to being Cadillac's test driver, particularly given he has raced a variety of cars in recent years.

Asked how difficult being an F1 test driver will be for Herta, Norris told select media including RacingNews365: "I mean, it's tricky. How difficult is it? Probably not difficult for him.

"He's good at jumping in all different types of cars, and that's something he's done his whole life. He's an extremely talented driver, and a guy I enjoyed a lot growing up with in 2015 I think it was.

"Yeah, not difficult, because I think he's skilled enough to jump in anything and be quick. But being one of the best in Formula 1 is difficult. 

"If that's still his goal, if his goal is still to not just come in as a test driver, but in the next few years become a Formula 1 driver and a race driver, then of course, it gets tricky. 

"But yeah, he's easily capable of potentially being in Formula 1 and those kind of things. And I look forward to hopefully seeing him."