There’s a temptation to frame Hitech’s 2026 Formula 2 line-up as a neat “old heads vs kids” story, but the more interesting dynamic is how quickly two drivers with very different passports have found common ground in the way they think about racing.
Ritomo Miyata, now in his third F2 season, has been open about how useful he’s finding life alongside Colton Herta — not because the American has arrived as some mythical benchmark, but because the pair speak the same language when it comes to experience. Both built reputations away from the traditional European junior ladder before committing to the F2 grind, and that shared background has made the early months of their partnership feel less like an awkward merge and more like a collaboration.
“He’s quite a good guy,” Miyata said, reflecting on Herta’s arrival. “He came from IndyCar, and also IMSA. He was doing single-seater and endurance racing. I felt it was very similar to my situation two years ago.”
Miyata’s route is well known to anyone who’s tracked his rise: success in Super GT, a move back into single-seaters via Super Formula, then Europe and a split focus that has included the World Endurance Championship and F2. Herta’s path has been equally distinctive — a nine-time IndyCar race winner who has now pivoted hard toward Formula 1, taking on a test driver role with newcomers Cadillac while committing to a full F2 campaign in 2026.
That “all-in” feel matters, because the challenge for Herta isn’t convincing people he can drive quickly — he’s done plenty of that already — it’s proving he can translate his strengths into the rhythms and demands of F2. And it’s here that Miyata’s value becomes clearer: not as a yardstick for raw pace, but as a teammate who understands the nuances of building a weekend, of extracting points when the car isn’t perfect, and of working a European-style programme with relentless consistency.
“We have a lot of experience, I would say, and also we try to work hard together, improve the car performance, and also driving, of course,” Miyata explained. “I’m already experienced in F2, but still, I could learn a lot from him, and also from the team. It has been very good so far.”
It’s an interesting admission from someone who, on paper, should be the one doing most of the “teaching”. Miyata knows the circuits, the procedures, the peculiar momentum of the championship. Yet he’s pointing to Herta as a genuine source of learning — a reminder that experience isn’t just measured in F2 starts. Herta brings a different kind of reference library: IndyCar race craft, the sharpened instincts that come from driving on the limit in traffic for long stints, and the adaptability of someone who has bounced between disciplines and still found ways to win.
Herta, for his part, has been careful to swat away the idea that age and mileage automatically buy an advantage in a category like F2 — and he’s probably right. The grid in 2026 is packed with drivers who can produce headline laps. The separator is how often they can do it, and how cleanly they can convert opportunity into points.
“I don’t think it’s as much of an advantage as people might think,” Herta said before the season. “At this stage, whether you’re 18 or 25, you’re pretty much fully developed there… as far as outright pace, you’re pretty much close to what your maximum will be.”
But he also underlined why he was happy to land next to Miyata at Hitech: “It’s nice to have that experience. I think what’s very helpful is having Ritomo as a teammate also. He has a lot of F2 experience, and I think it’s going to be very helpful for me this year.”
The early scoreboard reflects a tight, constructive pairing rather than one driver running away with it. After the opening three rounds of the 2026 season, Miyata sits ninth in the standings on 22 points, with Herta 12th on 16. Herta has scored points in every feature race so far — a small detail that usually tells you a driver is finding ways to stay in the game even when the weekend doesn’t sing. Miyata, meanwhile, has delivered Hitech’s strongest results to date with a pair of fifth places in Melbourne and a sixth in the Miami feature race.
No one in the paddock needs reminding that F2 form doesn’t translate to F1 in a straight line. But if you’re Cadillac, quietly watching your test driver take on the category with a serious level of commitment, what you’ll want to see is progress that looks repeatable: fewer “learning weekend” excuses, more predictable execution, and the kind of feedback loop that helps a driver become useful in an F1 environment.
That’s where this Hitech duo could end up being more significant than the standings currently suggest. For Miyata, Herta is a fresh set of eyes with high-level race-winning instincts. For Herta, Miyata is a shortcut through some of the category’s hidden traps — the things that don’t show on a timing screen until they’ve wrecked your weekend.
And for Hitech, it’s a pairing that feels unusually grown-up for Formula 2: two drivers who’ve already made careers in other worlds, now applying that hard-earned perspective to a championship that doesn’t often give you time to breathe. If the season tightens up — and it usually does — don’t be surprised if the value of that experience starts showing up in the places that matter most: Sundays, strategy calls, and points that look ordinary until the title fight makes them priceless.
