2016 Indy 500 winner Alexander Rossi has warned Colton Herta against leaving IndyCar for F1's junior series, F2, in 2026. The Andretti Global driver is rumored to be interested in racing in F2 to acquire the required points to get an FIA Super Licence and be eligible for an F1 seat.The FIA needs drivers to earn 40 points in the three years before their F1 entry to be eligible for a seat. However, the FIA awards fewer points to drivers in non-FIA-sanctioned series, like IndyCar, than those that fall under its jurisdiction, like the entire Formula ladder in Europe.As a result, Colton Herta, who is IndyCar's youngest race winner and finished runner-up in the championship in 2024, is having a difficult time reaching that 40-point mark, while junior F2 drivers have an easier path to an F1 seat.Ed Carpenter Racing driver Alexander Rossi, who raced in Europe, including F3, F2, and in a few F1 races for the now-defunct Manor Marussia F1 team, has advised Herta about the "politics" in the F1 system. While speaking about the Andretti Global driver's potential switch from IndyCar to F2, Rossi said (via Indy Star):"Yeah, I mean it's European racing, so there's a lot of politics that go into it. They make sure that the people they want to succeed, succeed. That's part of the formula over there, but I also think everyone knows and understands that."Colton Herta needed to finish in fifth place or higher in the 2025 IndyCar standings to earn the required 40 points for an FIA Super Licence. He also had a direct pathway into F1 in 2026, with Cadillac interested in signing him. However, he is outside the Top 5 in the standings, making him ineligible for a 2026 F1 seat.Colton Herta gives a firm response when asked about the rumored F2 switch in 2026Colton Herta gave a firm but somewhat vague response when he was asked about the growing speculation about his leaving IndyCar for F2 in 2026. Though the Andretti Global driver made it certain that the 2025 season finale this weekend at the Nashville Superspeedway won't be his last IndyCar race, he didn't explicitly refute the rumors.In response to a question from reporter David Land on whether the Nashville race would be his last in IndyCar before a jump to F2, Herta said:"No, it's not my last IndyCar race. There's a lot of stuff that I just don't even have an interest in talking to people about at the moment, you know, especially since we are here in Nashville, and you know, we're at a place I won last year. So that's got to be the goal for me right now. It's just going to be focused on IndyCar and what Nashville has entailed for us."If Colton Herta makes the risky jump to F2, it would be based on the fact that either Cadillac, which is his most likely destination in F1, or some other team has shown interest in signing him, because just getting an FIA Super Licence won't grant him a spot on the F1 grid.