IndyCar Series front-runner Josef Newgarden believes Colton Herta’s stint in the UK – including the F4 British Championship certified by FIA – powered by Ford EcoBoost – was important to his development after the latter became the youngest-ever IndyCar race-winner in only his third start at Circuit of the Americas on 24th March.

Herta, who contested the Ford EcoBoost-powered series in 2015 under its MSA Formula guise, finished third overall for Carlin with four race victories and a further eight podium finishes.

His then-team mate Lando Norris, incidentally, also made history last weekend in scoring the first Formula 1 World Championship points for a British F4 graduate for McLaren at the Bahrain Grand Prix in sixth.

Newgarden finished runner-up to James Cole in the 2009 British Formula Ford Championship, before progressing through the international ranks to claim the 2011 IndyLights title, and the IndyCar Series crown – his only to-date – in 2017.

He draws parallels with Herta’s rise through the ranks – not least joining a long list of motorsport stars that can attribute their roots to a Ford-supported junior category.

“He’s done a very similar thing to what I did,” Newgarden told Autosport.