IndyCar will award more Super Licence points to its drivers in 2026

This is information that Colton Herta might have liked to have before deciding to leave theIndyCar for Formula 2 ! During its World Motor Sport Council meeting held this Wednesday in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, the FIA ​​adopted a modification to the number of Super Licence points allocated to the top ten in the IndyCar championship.

Each international championship awards Super Licence points to its best drivers. To obtain a Super Licence in Formula 1A driver must accumulate 40 points over the last three seasons of competition (2023, 2024, and 2025). For example, only Formula 2 and IndyCar automatically award 40 points, and therefore a Super Licence, to their champion. The top three finishers in F2 also receive this coveted license, regardless of their previous results.

When Colton Herta was approached by Alpha Tauri To drive in Formula 1 in 2023, his performances in IndyCar had not allowed him to score the required 40 points. The team therefore preferred to call upon the Dutchman. Nyck de VriesHe was dismissed after ten Grands Prix. Since then, the Californian's case has come up regularly, even being raised again this season, with Cadillac's arrival in the top category.

The American team has therefore decided to send Herta to Formula 2, so that he can try to score with Hitech TGR the Super Licence points he now needs to reach F1 in 2027. Second in 2024 and seventh in 2025, the Californian has so far scored 34 points, so he needs 6 more to score in the 2026 F2 season, which corresponds to an eighth place in the championship.

In 2026, IndyCar will award more points to drivers finishing between third and ninth place. Specifically, with eight points now awarded for seventh place in the championship, compared to the previous four, Herta would have 38 points if the system were retroactive and could secure his Super Licence simply by participating in two Formula 1 Free Practice 1 sessions. However, he would not have the Super Licence if his 2023 results, where he finished tenth in the championship, were included, as they still awarded him one point.

The FIA ​​justifies its decision by citing the interest of "To reflect the growing importance of this category." It's true that IndyCar has gained a bit more popularity in recent years, but the championship is the premier category of the car American for over a century now… Is it any wonder, then, that the FIA ​​is only now discovering the importance of IndyCar? One can therefore imagine that a championship like Super Formula, which currently awards 25 points to its champion even though the cars on the track are the second fastest in the world after F1, could see its Super Licence points increase if a certain Kalle Rovanperä were to perform well in 2026…

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