This is Veekays second p4 finish in the last 3 races, putting him tied with Marcus Armstrong in the standings for 11th.
If you can equal Armstrong in a JHR, and MSR is so happy with Armstrong that they give him a new multi year deal, then signing Veekay would be the obvious move right?
The fact that MSR is looking for Indy 500 performance gives us some extra info on who they will choose from.
The drivers that it pretty much removes from consideration are:
Ohta
Lundqvist
Hauger
Lundgaard
Any other F2 or Super Formula driver with interest
That leaves us:
Veekay
Collet
Ericsson (but likely to extend with Andretti at this point)
Technically also leaves us Daly and Ferucci but i dont see that happening
Do we think there is any chance Herta replaces Ericsson in 27 or Power in 28?
He started the F2 season with a few decent results in the top 10 which was good and i was expecting improvements from there as he learned about the car and the tyres.
The last 3 race weekends have been particularly painful though with only 4 points scored in 6 races, ranking him 20th out of 22 drivers in that period.
I know Cadillac have said they dont really care about his F2 results but i doubt they are looking at the situation right now with much confidence that he will be f1 ready by the end of this season. Keeping a guy with a 7 million dollar a year salary in F2 for 2 years would feel like a bad move business wise too.
What do you guys think will be the best move from here?
Herta was up to 6th in the first stint, then had too much tyre wear in the 2nd stint and slowly dropped to 15th getting overtaken by drivers with fresher tyres.
This man has been carrying backmarker teams towards the front of the field the last 2 years and im wondering when will one of the top teams finally be interesting in signing him?
At DCR:
Alabama road course (P4)
Toronto street course (P2)
At JHR:
Indy 500 Super Speedway (P6)
Gateway short oval (P4)
The guy has speed at all 4 track types which should be a perfect addition to a top team especially a McLaren or Penske where some drivers are very one dimensional (say a Lundgaard or Newgarden).
-Pole position, race win and podiums
-25 years old with veteran experience(102 race starts, same age as Rasmussen)
-Has beaten every single teammate in 7 years of driving IndyCar
I dont understand what he still needs to do to get into one of the top 4 teams but maybe im missing something?