Has Franco Colapinto blown his big Red Bull audition?
Red Bull still have a 2025 driver decision to make
Franco Colapinto’s red-hot form has cooled as the F1 season nears its conclusion, raising new questions about his future.
Williams driver Colapinto has no race seat for 2025 because his team will sign Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz to drive alongside Alex Albon.
Red Bull admitted to making an enquiry about the highly-touted Colapinto’s availability during his impressive first races, after he replaced Logan Sargeant mid-season.
“From my point of view, Colapinto is fixed,” predicted Ralf Schumacher to Formel1.de.
Red Bull have two options to place Colapinto - either in their main team instead of Sergio Perez, or in their RB team.
Perez’s dreadful qualifying for the F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix was yet another setback in his hopes to retain his 2025 Red Bull seat.
Sky Sports’ Martin Brundle hinted that Perez’s latest poor session had opened the door to Colapinto.
Brundle said about seeing Colapinto in F1 in 2025: “I think there’s a great chance you will, probably in quite a competitive car.
“We’ll see how all that plays out, but I think tonight’s various performances cements that a little bit further…”
But shortly afterwards, Colapinto crashed.
He turned too early into Turn 16 and clattered into concrete walls.
The 50G impact threatened Colapinto’s participation in Sunday’s Las Vegas Grand Prix.
He was evaluated by medical professionals and passed fit, but due to his car’s significant repairs was forced to start from the pitlane. He finished a respectable 14th.
But whether Red Bull will remain so hot on this unexpected talent remains to be seen.
They still have Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda, from their RB team, to consider.
And it might be deemed that Colapinto’s fast rise through the F1 ranks is better suited to another year developing outside of a Red Bull car.
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to football, to F1.
