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Alumni Bryan Herta eager to land in Formula 1

1991 Barber Pro Series Champion Bryan Herta is hoping to come to an arrangement with Minardi that will allow him to become the first American to race in Formula 1 since another Skip Barber trained racer, Michael Andretti, drove for McLaren in ...

Published: Aug 16, 2002, 4:37 PM

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1991 Barber Pro Series Champion Bryan Herta is hoping to come to an arrangement with Minardi that will allow him to become the first American to race in Formula 1 since another Skip Barber trained racer, Michael Andretti, drove for McLaren in 1993.

Herta, who won four of 12 races during the 1991 Pro Series season, tested for the Minardi team at Donington Park last weekend and enjoyed the experience. Minardi has confirmed that Anthony Davidson will stand in for Alex Yoong in Hungary and Belgium, leaving the possibility open for Herta to take over for the final three races.

"There's two issues," Herta said. "One is that after the test, I think both myself and the team are keen to do it. The other, at the moment, is that the team is short on funding, but there are some things in the works that could take care of that. It's not a lot of money, they're not asking for millions of dollars. That's why I think it's doable."

This year Herta has been racing for Panoz in the American Le Mans Series, so found driving a modern F1 car a bit of a culture shock.

"It was an entirely different experience from driving a Champ Car," he continued, "and definitely different than the Panoz. I was really surprised by how quickly I was able to get comfortable with the car, and I got down to really competitive times pretty quickly.

"What really surprised me was just the complete response of the car to every little input that you give it; whether it be steering or throttle or brake, it felt like a near immediate effect in the car. It's very sensitive, and the more economical you can be inside the car, the better it seems to work. It seemed to suit me because of that."

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