Colton Herta's work with Cadillac is set to step up a gear in the following weeks, with the American due to make his F1 race weekend debut at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix. Earlier in April it was confirmed that Herta would get his first run out in a competitive session during in the opening practice session of the Barcelona weekend, an opportunity he concedes is not without pressure. Currently competing in F2 with Hitech, with the support series also due to race in Miami in what will be the first North American outing for the championship, Herta knows there's a great deal of expectation in terms of proving himself. After all, the former IndyCar racer has been open about pushing to make it to F1 in the future. “You want to be fast in any car you drive, and this isn't going to be any different, so it's going to be taken very seriously on my part," he says. “But I think the biggest goal is they [Cadillac] need to see value in me doing it. The team needs to see value, and they need to come out of it positively. It can't all just be about me and how fast I want to go.” Preparing in the simulator with Cadillac Preparations for the first confirmed FP1 session of four in total will begin in earnest ‘soon’ according to the Cadillac Test Driver. While he has been hard at work with Hitech in F2, the last time he drove the F1 team’s simulator was before pre-season testing. A lot has chanced since then, and with Herta having spent some time away from the F1 set up, he is eager to get stuck in once again with early season learnings taken into account. “I think the sim programme is going to