'Some think Herta business is a giant smokescreen to keep the media amused'

Colton Herta is at the top of Helmut Marko's wish list to succeed Pierre Gasly at AlphaTauri. The Frenchman may only leave if Herta can be brought in, but as the IndyCar driver does not yet have his super licence, this is a difficult story. Meanwhile, there are also those who think Red Bull Racing is being incredibly vocal in the media about whether or not to attract Herta in order to put up a smokescreen.

Are Red Bull playing a game?

A partnership between Red Bull and Porsche seemed a matter of time for months, but eventually a story emerged. Porsche wanted to have a lot of say in the team, but the Austrian racing stable wanted to keep control. It was one of the reasons the deal fell through. The amount of negative publicity about this was not too bad, which may have something to do with the fact that there has been plenty of talk about Herta in the media lately.

"There are some who think that the whole Colton Herta business is a giant smokescreen to keep the media amused while Porsche and Red Bull fall out of bed with one another. Without all the speculation about Gasly and Herta, the Porsche and Red Bull relationship (which looks like a fling that ran out of steam quite quickly after Red Bull met Porsche’s parents) would have been front page news. Now it isn’t," Saward writes in a blog on his own website.

According to the Formula One journalist, a move by Herta to AlphaTauri has actually always been virtually unfeasible. Indeed, he cites that Herta is simply under contract with Andretti for 2023 and that the American does not have a super licence. According to Saward, trying to change the rules regarding the superlicence makes no sense, as the FIA does not want to set precedents or undermine the very structure that ensures the sport has more top drivers than ever before.

Marko not giving up hope

However, Marko maintains that neither he nor Red Bull are trying to change the rules. Speaking to German F1 Insider, he stated: "It is not about twisting or introducing a new rule, as some competitors claim." Marko invoked the additional rules created because of the coronavirus and so-called Force Majeure. However, the first attempt to have Herta granted dispensation failed at the FIA last week.