Who is the next American F1 driver?

America: land of the supposed free, unbridled opportunity, some of the biggest sports teams in the world and… no Formula 1 champion for almost half a century.

Mario Andretti’s 1978 world championship triumph in the groundbreaking Lotus 79 is a long-distant memory, and no driver from the US has come close to matching his achievement since.

The disappointment of most-recent American driver Logan Sargeant’s season and a half in grand prix racing has been emphasised by his replacement Franco Colapinto’s brilliant substitute performance, managing to outscore his predecessor’s entire F1 haul in just two races.

What’s been lacking? Is there a dearth of quality racing in the US? Is there something wrong with the junior ladder system? Do the tracks not pose enough of a challenge? Championships like IndyCar and IMSA take high-quality drivers from F2 when there’s no space at the F1 inn, with new entrants very often performing well, but hardly trouncing their US colleagues.

This suggests a perceived lack of quality isn’t the limiting factor in US drivers struggling to make a breakthrough to the insular, inward-looking world championship.

Though F1 now has three American championship races, it’s still searching for a Stars ‘n’ Stripes standout in one of the cars. We look at the top young US drivers racing right now – and rate their chances of making it into F1.

Colton Herta – IndyCar

Colton Herta has been the bright young US racing star in IndyCar over the last few seasons.

The Californian-born driver won his second race ever in the series at COTA aged just 19 in 2019, and took another win that year at Laguna Seca.

Immediately proving himself as one of the fastest drivers in the series, he has since won races every year apart from 2023, but has been unable to mount a fully convincing title challenge.

However 2024 proved to be a breakthrough in terms of consistency, Herta took just a single race win in Nashville but finished second to Alex Palou in the title race.

For a brief period Herta was flavour of the month in F1, and Red Bull team boss Christian Horner wanted to hire the young hotshot for 2023 at AlphaTauri.

“I think he’s an exciting talent,” Horner said in 2022. “He’s a younger American guy that’s been a standout talent in the US, so it’ll be very interesting to see how he performs in F1.

“And F1 obviously is growing in popularity in the US market at the moment, and to have a successful US driver could be very interesting. It could be interesting for us, in the longer term.”

Due to a lack of Superlicence points (IndyCar championship placings offer less points than F3), and the FIA’s unwillingness to give Red Bull special dispensation, Herta was blocked from making the hop over the pond.

He has also been touted as the driver figurehead of the Andretti F1 project, but that still appears a while away from realisation.

However, Herta is still clearly one of the fastest single-seater racers in the world. With his runner-up place in IndyCar this year now giving him enough points to drive in F1, and still being aged just 24, could we see him in F1 in the future?

Kyle Kirkwood

Kyle Kirkwood is another scintillating US talent but, like his Indy NXT rival David Malukas (see below), hasn’t been mentioned as an F1 prospect.

The Floridian won 12 of the 14 US F2000 (the US F4 equivalent) rounds in 2019, and nine of the 16 F3-equivalent Indy Pro 2000 races the next year to claim both titles.

A serial champion, he would prevail in his battle with Malukas for the Indy NXT crown in 2021 too.

After showing flashes of speed during a learning year at the AJ Foyt IndyCar squad in 2022, Kirkwood moved to Andretti in 2023 and announced himself with two brilliant wins at Long Beach and Nashville. He consolidated those victories with a seventh in the championship this year and, like Herta, will be eyeing a title push in 2025.

While Herta has often been mentioned as an F1 prospect, 25-year-old Kirkwood is another driver who deserves a chance in grand prix racing.

Jak Crawford – F2

19-year-old Jak Crawford hails from the home of NASCAR, North Carolina.

The F2 driver has had a solid rise through the European ladder. First starting out on IndyCar’s ‘Road to Indy’ junior system, he moved to EuroFormula for 2021.

Despite missing the opening two races of the season, he claimed eight wins to finish third in the standings of the F4-based series.

Making his way through ADAC F4, Italian F4 and FIA F3, Crawford has usually been a race winner without having the consistency to make him a title challenger.

That reputation has endured since his move to F2 last season. Crawford won the Red Bull Ring sprint en route to 13th in the 2023 F2 standings, and is currently fifth in the 2024 title race, although some distance from championship leader Gabriel Bortoleto.

Having been part of the Red Bull junior stable for since 2020, last year Crawford moved over to Aston Martin to join its driver development programme.

He’ll have a third crack at F2 in 2025, remaining with the DAMS squad.

Juan Manuel Correa – F2

Juan Manuel Correa’s incredible and tragic journey is one to be commended – but his chances of making it to F1 look pretty slim.

After middling results in F4 and F3, the Ecuadorian-American (he races with a US licence) scored a brace of podiums in his first F2 season in 2019.

However, his life was turned upside down later that year after being involved in the horrifying Spa crash that claimed the life of Anthoine Hubert.

Correa suffered serious breakages to both legs and a spinal injury in the incident, and at one point feared his right foot might have to be amputated, but managed to go on to make a remarkable recovery.

18 months later he was back racing, competing in F3. Correa returned to F2 in 2023 and again in 2024. He scored his first F2 podium in five years at Spain this year.

Correa was a member of the Sauber Academy prior to his crash, but his chances of an F1 return aren’t high. Having competed at Le Mans, a career in sports cars looks more likely.

Max Esterson – F2

Max Esterson made a real impact at junior single-seater level in the UK, coming third in the 2021 Formula Ford Trophy, second in that year’s Formula Ford Festival and winning the prestigious Walter Hayes Trophy.

The New Yorker won the Formula Ford Trophy too the following year, but has struggled for success since. A 2022 GB3 campaign took in one race win and a seventh-place finish in the championship, but Esterson fell to 11th in the same series the next year.

A graduation to F3 in 2024 has been even worse, with just two points finishes to show for his efforts. However, the American is racing for the relatively un-fancied Jenzer team – the smallest on the grid. It appeared Esterson just needed a more competitive seat and now he might just have one.

The New Yorker will make the step up to F2 for the last two races of 2024 at Qatar and Abu Dhabi, replacing Richard Verschoor at Trident. Will the American show he has what it takes to race in F1 one day?

David Malukas – IndyCar’s unlikely bet

Driving for what is widely considered the poorest team – Dayle Coyne – in IndyCar for his debut season of 2022, David Malukas showed immediate speed and claimed a podium finish at Gateway.

He would do the same the next year, and more impressive drives would earn him a move to the McLaren IndyCar squad for 2024.

McLaren has proved better at marketing and showing just how exciting IndyCar is than the championship itself. Malukas, along with the championship’s most popular driver Pato O’Ward, appeared to be the perfect complement to this, with a rapidly growing social media profile which looked far more in tune with fans than most US racers.

This made it all the more surprising, then, when Malukas was dropped by the team due to uncertainty over a hand injury which ruled him out for the early part of 2024 – the rapid young racer seemed worth the wait.

However, six weeks later he was back with Meyer Shank Racing, immediately on the pace at both on road courses and ovals. The Chicago native led several races on his comeback, with a best race finish of sixth in Toronto.

McLaren’s loss seems to have been Penske’s gain. Malukas was snapped up by AJ Foyt for 2025 and beyond which, through a technical partnership with Penske, appears to be morphing into the IndyCar heavyweight’s junior squad. Rumours through the IndyCar paddock suggest Malukas is being primed for a promotion to Penske in the coming seasons.

Having just turned 23, Malukas could still prove to be an effective driver for a US-focused F1 team – if he scores the requisite Superlicence points, of course.

Kyle Larson – the even more unlikely bet

While the above drivers look like outside chances at best, there’s one more driver who could surely show a turn of speed in F1.

Kyle Larson, along with being the 2021 NASCAR Cup champion and 2015 Daytona 24 Hours overall winner, is a hugely successful sprint car dirt racer.

The Californian further proved his adaptability by attempting ‘The Double’ early this year, competing in the Indianapolis 500 (driving for McLaren) and Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte on the same day.

He qualified an incredible fifth on his Indy debut, and was fighting for the lead before a pitlane speeding infraction put him out of contention. While the Charlotte race was rained off, Larson had proved himself once more as a driver who can be competitive in almost any kind of car.