Colton Herta suffers huge airborne crash in Indy 500 qualifying

Colton Herta suffers huge airborne crash in Indy 500 qualifying

Colton Herta, the Andretti Autosport driver and Cadillac F1 hopeful, suffered a dramatic airborne crash during the first day of Indy 500 qualifying. While trying to complete his qualifying run, Herta lost control of his No. 26 Honda heading into Turn 1 at high speed.

The rear of the car snapped around, making contact with the wall at approximately 235 mph. The impact launched the car into the air, briefly becoming airborne before landing on its side with the halo scraping the safety barrier. The car eventually skidded to a stop upside down.

Despite the severity of the crash, Herta was able to climb from the cockpit with assistance and was deemed fit to race by the medical team.

Reflecting on the incident, Herta commented, "Luckily these days these crashes look a lot scarier than they feel — not to say that one felt good. There were no real signs leading to it. We were super happy with the car this morning. Went out loose and couldn’t even get Lap 1 in."

Qualifying was paused for 18 minutes for track cleanup and repairs. Andretti Autosport has a spare chassis and worked to get Herta back on track later in the day to set a qualifying speed.

Herta has been strongly linked to the potential Cadillac F1 team, which originated from Andretti Autosport. However, his eligibility for an F1 super license remains a hurdle. He currently has 31 points and needs a total of 40. To earn the necessary points through IndyCar, he would need to finish fourth in the championship. Five races into the current season, Herta is ninth.