Red Bull have once again been at the centre of driver market chaos in recent times. Three different drivers have partnered Max Verstappen in the last six Grands Prix.
Sergio Perez initially signed a contract extension last June that should have guaranteed him a seat for 2025. But Red Bull had to perform a rather embarrassing U-turn after Perez’s performance deteriorated.
Negotiations in December culminated in a payoff, and Christian Horner controversially chose Liam Lawson over the more experienced (and demonstrably faster) Yuki Tsunoda as his replacement.
Remarkably, Lawson lasted just two races before Red Bull’s senior leadership realised they had made a mistake. They finally turned to Tsunoda, relegating the New Zealander back to Racing Bulls.
F1 insiders are suspicious of Franco Colapinto’s camp after Red Bull interest claims
One name that surprisingly came up in Red Bull conversations – both last year and in 2025 – was Franco Colapinto. The Argentine has only made nine F1 appearances after replacing Logan Sargeant at Williams for the final third of the 2024 season.
With Carlos Sainz already signed alongside Alex Albon, Colapinto started looking elsewhere. Rather than joining the Red Bull family, he switched to Alpine on what’s widely believed to be a long-term loan deal.
And yet, Colapinto was linked with a Racing Bulls move before the Tsunoda/Lawson swap was confirmed. That would have been a remarkable turn of events so soon after penning an Alpine contract.
However, according to ESPN, ‘multiple sources’ say Red Bull ‘never even explored’ dropping Lawson entirely to sign Colapinto. As such, it’s becoming ‘difficult to trust’ the messages that emanate from the Argentine’s camp.
It’s now ‘less certain’ that he’ll replace the under-pressure Jack Doohan during the 2025 season. However, ‘many in the paddock’ still believe there’s a deal in place ‘for later in the year’.
Ted Kravitz recently offered an update on the Franco Colapinto vs Jack Doohan battle at Alpine
Colapinto hinted that Red Bull ‘fell asleep’ during 2024 talks before he moved to Alpine. But Horner may at last be relatively pleased with his four-driver line-up.
Tsunoda has made a respectable start, Hadjar has been excellent at Racing Bulls and Lawson showed overdue signs of life in Saudi Arabia.
Colapinto needs to focus on Alpine, where he’ll have a chance to impress in private test sessions and simulator runs. He’s due to be in the paddock in Miami next month.
Even though Doohan hasn’t scored a point, Ted Kravitz says the Colapinto rumours have cooled. His name has rather gone out of ‘fashion’, but the driver market can change very quickly.
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