Red Bull appears to have given up on its efforts to bring Colton Herta to F1.

The switch from IndyCar has been widely seen as a positive for the sport, especially as it seeks to increase its fan base in the US, however the American's lack of the necessary number of point to qualify for a super licence appears to have thrown a spanner in the works.

Red Bull had been seeking special dispensation in order to bring him to AlphaTauri, with the hope of promoting him to the 'big team' at a later date, a move no doubt intended to boost the brand(s) in the US.

However, a number of teams objected to Red Bull's call for dispensation, with F1 CEO, Stefano Domenicali also admitting he was not in favour of the move.

Talking to Germany's Motorsport-Total, Helmut Marko admits that Red Bull has now given up on its plan.

"It's a shame that people don't realise what value an American driver, especially a guy like Colton Herta, would have for the booming American market," he said, "especially with three F1 races."

McLaren boss, Zak Brawn agrees, the Woking outfit having signed Herta to its car testing programme (TPC) earlier this year and subsequently running him in a three-day test at Portimao in July.

"I get that the rules are what the rules are, and the rules shouldn't be broken," he told Racer. "But I question whether just because they're rules that are in place now, that those are the correct rules.

"Someone of Colton's calibre or Pato's calibre or half the field here (in IndyCar) are Formula 1 capable," he insisted. "So no one's sure yet where the ruling's going to come down.

"But I think if someone like Colton, who has won a lot of IndyCar races, isn't eligible for a superlicence then I think we need to review the system."

There was talk of Herta heading east over the winter ina bid to secure the necessary points in the likes of the Toyota Racing Series in New Zealand, but this now appears to have been shelved.

The failure to get Herta on-board will no doubt put an end to Pierre Gasly's hopes to move to Alpine, which will in turn kick-start fresh speculation over the driver market.