Herta, Explained: The F1 Driver, The Frankfurter Brand, and The Honkai: Star Rail Character

If you’ve landed here typing “Herta” into a search bar, you could be looking for one of three entirely different things, and there is no overlap between them beyond the name. Colton Herta is an American racing driver currently working his way toward a Formula 1 seat through Cadillac’s new team. Herta (sold as Herta Frankfurters, Herta Toasties and Herta Chicken Frankfurters) is a European packaged-meat brand with roots in a small German butcher shop. And Herta, or “The Herta,” is a scholar character from the video game Honkai: Star Rail, known among players for her build and team-comp guides.

This piece treats each one on its own terms rather than pretending they’re connected, because they aren’t. If you came here for the driver, jump to the racing section. If you came for the sausages, the food section covers ownership history and what’s changed recently. If you came for the game character, the gaming section walks through her kit and how players build around her.

What follows is organised so you can read the section relevant to you and skip the rest — three short profiles, each grounded in named, verifiable sources, rather than one article straining to connect things that have nothing to do with each other.

Colton Herta: From IndyCar Prodigy to Cadillac’s F1 Project

Colton Herta, born in Santa Clarita, California, is the son of former IndyCar driver and team owner Bryan Herta. He turned heads early — in 2019, at age 18 years, 11 months and 25 days, he became the youngest winner in IndyCar history, taking the checkered flag at Circuit of the Americas. Over a seven-year IndyCar career split between Harding Steinbrenner and Andretti Global, he compiled nine race wins, sixteen pole positions, and over 1,000 laps led across 116 starts.

For years, Herta was treated as one of American open-wheel racing’s clearest Formula 1 prospects, with a McLaren development role in 2022 and reported interest from Red Bull’s junior programme in 2023. The obstacle was never speed — it was the FIA superlicence points system, which rewards results in European junior categories more heavily than IndyCar. Herta repeatedly fell short of the 40-point threshold required even to apply.

The Cadillac Move and the F2 Detour

That changed when Cadillac announced its entry into Formula 1 for the 2026 season. In September 2025, the team confirmed Herta as its test driver, working alongside race drivers Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas. Because his superlicence points still fell short, Herta made the unusual choice to step back into single-seater competition below F1, joining the Hitech squad for the 2026 FIA Formula 2 season — racing on the same calendar and circuits as F1, with Pirelli tyres, specifically to accumulate the points and experience F1’s hierarchy expects.

In April 2026, Cadillac confirmed Herta would get four FP1 (first free practice) outings during the 2026 Grand Prix season, beginning at the Barcelona-Catalunya circuit. Each appearance counts toward his superlicence tally while giving him direct experience inside a live F1 weekend — running the car, working with engineers, and operating under race-control procedures he won’t encounter in F2 or IndyCar.

Timeline: Colton Herta’s Path Toward F1

Herta Frankfurters: A German Butcher Shop That Became Europe’s Top Sausage Brand

Herta is a brand of pre-cooked frankfurters and other meat products, best known across France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Luxembourg and Ireland. What is Herta? In short: a packaged-meat brand, currently the best-selling frankfurter brand in Europe, with origins tracing back over a century to a single German butcher shop.

The name comes from Herten, a German town where Ludwig Schweisfurth opened a butcher’s shop in 1902. The business expanded into a full production operation, and by 1963 had spread its products across much of Europe. In 1986, Karl Ludwig Schweisfurth sold the company to Nestlé, which launched Herta in the UK in 1988 and grew it into the continent’s leading frankfurter brand, reportedly selling over 150 million units annually by 2000.

Ownership Changes: Nestlé’s Exit, Casa Tarradellas’ Takeover

Nestlé’s ownership ended in stages. In December 2019, the company announced it would sell a 60% stake in the Herta charcuterie and dough business to Spanish family-owned firm Casa Tarradellas, with the deal valuing the business at roughly €690 million and closing in mid-2020. Nestlé retained a 40% share and kept Herta’s separate vegetarian product line, citing its broader push into plant-based food. That joint venture lasted roughly six years. In December 2025, Nestlé sold its remaining 40% stake to Casa Tarradellas, which now owns 100% of Herta Foods outright — the financial terms of that final sale were not disclosed.

Today, Herta sits alongside Casa Tarradellas’ existing lines — chilled pizza, fresh dough, and Spanish cured meats — as part of a European charcuterie portfolio. The product range spans classic frankfurters, the “Toasties” pre-cooked snack range, and chicken frankfurters aimed at consumers looking for a lighter alternative to pork-based sausages. Verified data on Herta’s current annual revenue under full Casa Tarradellas ownership has not been publicly disclosed; the most recent confirmed figure — €667 million in 2018, for the charcuterie and dough business specifically — predates both ownership transitions.

Herta Foods Ownership at a Glance

Herta in Honkai: Star Rail: Two Characters, One Name

Who is Herta in Honkai: Star Rail? There are actually two playable characters sharing the name. The original, simply called “Herta,” is a 4★ Ice Erudition character available since the game’s global launch — she typically appears in battle as a small puppet rather than in person, since the real Herta is established in the story as someone who rarely leaves her space station. The second, “The Herta” (sometimes called “Big Herta” by players), is a 5★ Ice Erudition unit introduced in the Version 3.0 update, representing the character’s true, full-strength form.

Both follow the Path of Erudition, a damage archetype built around hitting multiple enemies and scaling off a stacking mechanic called Interpretation. The Herta (5★) has been widely regarded by build guides as the strongest Erudition damage dealer in the game since her release, particularly dominant in the “Pure Fiction” endgame mode, which rewards wide, multi-target attacks.

When Does the Herta Release, and What’s Her Best Build?

The Herta (5★) was first revealed during the Version 2.6 Special Program and launched as a playable character in the Version 3.0 update. According to community build guides such as Prydwen and Mobalytics, she should be built as a critical-hit damage dealer prioritising ATK, CRIT Rate and CRIT DMG, ideally reaching at least 80% CRIT Rate before stacking CRIT DMG further, since her kit grants an automatic CRIT DMG bonus when another Erudition character is in the party. Her best-in-slot relic set is generally listed as Scholar of Lost Erudition, paired with the Izumo Gensei planar ornament set for additional CRIT Rate. Her signature light cone, Into the Unreachable Veil, restores a skill point whenever she uses her Ultimate — a meaningful quality-of-life upgrade, though guides note she remains strong without it.

Recommended teammates include other Erudition-path units to multiply her stacking bonuses — the free-to-play 4★ Herta and Serval are commonly cited starting options, with Anaxa, Jade, and Tribbie listed in guides as stronger upgrades for players who have pulled them.

Where Things Stand Now

Colton Herta is mid-season in a dual programme: racing a rookie Formula 2 campaign with Hitech while fulfilling Cadillac’s FP1 schedule, with his first appearance at the Spanish Grand Prix in June 2026. His F1 race-seat future depends on accumulating enough superlicence points through F2 results combined with his FP1 mileage — Cadillac has not announced a race-seat timeline beyond his current test and reserve role.

Herta Foods now operates wholly under Casa Tarradellas, which folded the brand into its broader European charcuterie and fresh-dough portfolio after buying out Nestlé’s remaining stake in December 2025. The production sites and existing workforce were reported to continue without disruption through the transition.

In Honkai: Star Rail, both Herta units remain in active rotation in community tier lists, with the 5★ version still ranked among the strongest Erudition damage dealers by sites like Prydwen and TheGamer as of recent patch cycles, while the original 4★ Herta retains value as a free-to-play support option for Erudition-focused teams.

“I can’t wait to get behind the wheel of the Cadillac Formula 1 Team car for the first time.”

— Colton Herta, ahead of his 2026 FP1 debut at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix

Final Thoughts

Three “Hertas,” three industries, zero connections. Colton Herta’s story is still being written — his F1 future hinges on points accumulated in cars most American racing fans rarely watch. Herta Foods’ story just closed a chapter, with Nestlé fully out of the European meat business it built over four decades. And the Honkai: Star Rail character’s story keeps adding chapters with each new patch, as her kit gets folded into evolving team metas.

If you came here chasing one specific answer, you likely have it by now. If curiosity got the better of you and you read all three, that’s the nature of a name that happens to belong to a driver, a sausage, and a scholar with a wizard hat — three unrelated stories that only ever meet in a search bar.