Red Bull’s interest in Franco Colapinto extends to considering him for an immediate place alongside Max Verstappen, making him and Liam Lawson the leading options to replace Sergio Perez at the Formula 1 team.
Perez is under contract at Red Bull until the end of 2026. However, he is under mounting pressure to turn around his disappointing form.
The six-time F1 race winner has not scored a podium finish since April’s Chinese Grand Prix, and failed to even score a point in the Brazilian Grand Prix despite Verstappen ending a Red Bull grand prix win drought of more than four months.
Though Perez has his long-term Red Bull contract and has been frustrated by reports he could be dropped, Red Bull is willing to do exactly that.
There will not be an alternative place for him to take on the grid so Perez’s only choices should he lose his Red Bull drive are to view it as a sabbatical or accept his grand prix career would be over.
That is why Perez choosing to retire is understood to be seen as a neater solution rather than being axed two years early. It could potentially involve Perez staying involved with Red Bull in an ambassadorial role.
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner said in Brazil there was “nothing evident in the race” of a technical issue or limitation to explain Perez’s difficult grand prix. And while Verstappen’s win has put him firmly in control of the drivers’ championship, Red Bull is still third in the teams’ fight, 49 points behind McLaren and still 13 behind second-place Ferrari.
“[Sunday] was an opportunity in the constructors' to take a big chunk out of both Ferrari and McLaren,” Horner admitted.
“Unfortunately, we've not been able to capitalise on that, so obviously that's frustrating.”
The slump in the constructors’ championship is chiefly because of Perez’s form. He is a firm last of the eight drivers of the top four teams – even though Mercedes has ended up in no-man’s land in performance since the summer break.
“Everything in life is subjective and you've got to look at the facts,” said Horner on Sunday in Brazil.
“We're working hard with Checo, he had a chassis change this weekend.
“I thought he drove a good race [in the sprint], but today wasn't his day.”
COLAPINTO ALONGSIDE VERSTAPPEN?
Colapinto was already known to be on Red Bull’s radar, although it was initially thought that this was as a team-mate for Yuki Tsunoda at RB in the event Lawson gets promoted.
He is on a long-term contract with Williams, one he had to sign to get this F1 opportunity for the rest of the year, but will not have an F1 race seat beyond the end of 2024 because Carlos Sainz is joining to partner Alex Albon.
However, Colapinto’s performances alongside Albon have attracted attention. There were some talks with Sauber, Red Bull’s interest is well established, and another team understood to be Alpine has also made contact over a loan deal – although it's unclear why given Alpine has Pierre Gasly and Jack Doohan confirmed for next year.
Red Bull represents Colapinto’s best chance to get on the grid. It has two seats to fill for next year, and seems to have reservations that its own protege Isack Hadjar is ready for F1. Hence it being willing to consider moving for someone else’s junior driver.
“Franco’s another talent,” Horner said in Brazil.
“You're always keeping an eye on the market, how things are developing.”
There is a chance Colapinto could go straight in at Red Bull Racing if the evidence over the final three races supports it.
One doubt Red Bull has about Lawson is whether his qualifying pace will be good enough to be Verstappen’s team-mate, although it is impressed by his performance level so far, as well as his confidence.
That is similar to Colapinto, whose mentality as much as his speed against Albon is what Red Bull has paid attention to. The way he has stepped into F1 with very little preparation, and been competitive straight away, has demonstrated a resilience that Red Bull thinks is essential for top drivers.
But to make a firm impression, Colapinto needs to shrugs off a crash-hit Brazil Sunday – including a huge shunt under the safety car – and get back to his point-scoring best.
NO SAINZ MOVE IN NEGOTIATIONS
Horner met with Williams team principal James Vowles in Brazil which, while fitting in with the known Colapinto interest, sparked a theory in the Interlagos paddock that Red Bull might actually be trying to get hold of Sainz before he goes to Williams.
However, The Race understands that is not on the cards.
Red Bull has an awkward recent history in the driver market but not so chaotic that it would pay a likely eight-figure sum to get hold of a driver who was a free agent just a few months ago, and who was waiting for a Red Bull offer at the time.
It is standing by its choice to dismiss Sainz because there are fears of a repeat of the tension that existed internally when he and Verstappen were team-mates at Toro Rosso in 2015 and early 2016.
Williams is also extremely unlikely to have allowed Sainz’s contract to have such an early escape clause the team would be vulnerable to being left high and dry on the driver front for 2025.
Plus, Vowles has talked Sainz up so highly, that releasing him even for a high fee would reflect very poorly on Williams. With Colapino, it is different.
Williams is currently holding out for a significant pay-off to let Colapinto go, although whatever price it has set is understood to be beyond what Red Bull is willing to pay even to get him permanently rather than on loan.
“We're actively working with teams that are interested to try and find the right arrangement that helps Franco, that protects Franco as well and protects all parties,” said Vowles.
“It's never straightforward between Formula 1 teams because you're fighting on track and you're trying to find a solution for the career of a young man.
“He is earning his place. He needs to do more on track to keep earning his place, but he's shining, and that's why there's interest from teams.
“I have a responsibility both towards him and Williams. And hopefully we'll have some great news to be able to talk to everyone about.”
A resolution is expected before the final race of the season. To reach a positive one, though, Williams either needs to lower its price or a third party needs to facilitate Colapinto’s release.
That may be where his backers come in, especially if a Red Bull Racing seat is the reward.
LAWSON’S STRONG CASE
Red Bull brought its young reserve driver Liam Lawson into the picture after dropping Daniel Ricciardo from the RB team after the Singapore Grand Prix.
Lawson impressed in a five-race cameo substituting for Ricciardo last year and he is now in an audition for a full-time race seat in 2025, either with RB or Red Bull in place of Perez.
That process has started very well. Lawson scored points on his 2024 debut, and again in Brazil last weekend. In between that he controversially clashed with Perez in Mexico – then raced wheel-to-wheel with Perez again in the Brazilian sprint race and the main event, which he finished ahead in.
This seems to have made Lawson the leading choice. While he was second-best to Tsunoda in the grand prix Interlagos, it was another new track for Lawson, only his third grand prix since replacing Ricciardo, and just his eighth weekend in total.
Horner was quick to point out Lawson had done a “super job”, singling him out ahead of Tsunoda specifically because of the experience gap.
Lawson always looked like a points threat in Brazil. He was the lead RB driver in the sprint, in which he battled Pierre Gasly and Perez for a points finish before being relegated to ninth by the driver he wants to replace next year.
That was their second on-track fight in less than a week, after a controversial clash in Mexico, despite Perez being in a much faster car. And their third fight came 24 hours later when Lawson managed to beat Perez in the grand prix.
They had another wheel-to-wheel fight in the race, one that left Perez far less angry than in Mexico.
That the two drivers keep finding one another on-track reflects far better on Lawson than it does Perez, not least because he’s come out on top in two of the three fights, and he is still regarded as the favourite for the seat given he is already in the Red Bull family and performing so well.