LEBANON, Tenn. — “I don’t think he wants to go there as some kind of special case. I think he wants to take a chance at Formula 1, and I believe he’s good enough to deserve that chance, but you also don’t want to go over there with an asterisk walking in.”

Those were the words of Bryan Herta nearly three years ago as the strategist, career manager and father of Colton Herta watched on as just about every corner of the racing world seemed to have an opinion on whether the youngest race-winner in IndyCar history, sitting on the precipice of satisfying his childhood Formula 1 dreams, was qualified or deserving of a spot in one of the 20 cars on the F1 grid — and more to the point, whether he was a driver worth bending the FIA’s stringent rules for.

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