Red Bull waiting for FIA to rule on Herta superlicence

U.S. IndyCar racer Colton Herta has emerged as a key to Formula One's driver market, with Red Bull waiting to see whether he can obtain a super-licence to race for its AlphaTauri sister team.

The 22-year-old lacks the necessary points and would need a special dispensation from the governing FIA, with some teams unhappy about that.

The American is in the frame to replace Frenchman Pierre Gasly, now considered the front-runner to replace double world champion Fernando Alonso at Renault-owned Alpine when the Spaniard moves to Aston Martin.

"We just need clarity on what is the situation regarding driver points which hopefully will come sooner rather than later," Red Bull team boss Christian Horner told reporters at the Dutch Grand Prix.

"That plays a key role obviously in the driver merry-go-round."

Horner said Red Bull would not release Gasly from his 2023 contract "if we don't have something exciting to put in that (AlphaTauri) car" but also described Herta as an "exciting talent".

"He’s a young American, a guy that’s been a standout talent in the U.S. so it’ll be very interesting to see how he performs in Formula One," he added.

"Formula One obviously has got growing popularity in the U.S. market at the moment and to have a successful U.S. driver could be very interesting, could be interesting for us in the longer term."

Andretti Autosport driver Herta tested a 2021 Formula One car with McLaren in Portugal last July and told reporters then that he felt fast enough to make the switch.

AlphaTauri is a feeder team to Red Bull Racing, whose world champion Max Verstappen started out there when the team raced as Toro Rosso.

Seven times race winner Herta is already the youngest IndyCar driver to triumph in a series that features cars