Potential Red Bull team-mates speak out on Franco Colapinto amid growing rumours

Yuki Tsunoda says he’d be surprised if Franco Colapinto wasn’t on Red Bull’s list for 2025, amidst rumours the Williams driver could join him at VCARB.

Red Bull are in the midst of a game of musical chairs when it comes to the driver line-ups for their two F1 teams.

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It started five weeks ago when they dropped Daniel Ricciardo to make space for Liam Lawson, giving the New Zealander six races in which to show Red Bull what he can do.

But what started out as a VCARB audition has become bigger with Lawson said to be in the running to replace Sergio Perez as Max Verstappen’s 2025 team-mate. And if that happens, Colapinto – if Williams agree to part ways with the Argentinean – could join Tsunoda at VCARB.

Colapinto has excelled in his brief run with Williams, scoring points in two of his five races since replacing the ousted Logan Sargeant after the American failed to score a point in his 15 starts in F1 2024.

“He’s definitely doing a good job,” Tsunoda said when quizzed about the Colapinto rumours in Brazil. “To be honest, I don’t know much about those things. And yeah, I didn’t see much.

“Yeah, definitely. It’s actually, if it’s not an option, I’ll be surprised, right? Because he’s doing well and he don’t have a seat so far for next season.

“And if he’s fast, I’m thinking for all the teams he will be an option who don’t have selected a seat yet for next year.”

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Colapinto to Red Bull is ‘complicated’ says World Champ

Red Bull’s star driver Max Verstappen also weighed in on Colapinto joining the Red Bull family, calling it “complicated” due to his ties to Williams.

But whatever happens, he hopes Colapinto has shown all the teams on the grid that they can trust rookie drivers to do the job in F1.

“It’s complicated to answer that because he’s still contracted to Williams,” said the reigning World Champion. “And of course, he’s doing a great job. I think also Williams is probably scratching their heads a bit about what to do with Franco.

“But for me personally, it just shows that I think teams in general just need to be more open to put young talents in and trust them. Because now you have this kind of situation where he’s a Williams junior and potentially has to leave or try to find luck elsewhere, right? While, they could have put him in the car.

“So, yeah, it’s complicated. I mean, whatever he decides or his management decides to do, I mean, does he deserve a spot on the grid? I think with what he has shown so far, yes. But, yeah, it’s not easy to find a spot at the moment.”

Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton is especially impressed by the 22-year-old given that unlike Hamilton’s 2025 Mercedes replacement Kimi Antonelli, Colapinto was not given extensive time in a Formula 1 car before making his debut.

“I think he’s done an incredible job, I think, to last minute be called upon and thrown into the deep end in this sport,” he said.

“The majority of us, if we’re lucky to get in the sport, we have a bit of a run-up, if you look at, for example, young Kimi, for example, he’s got a lot of test days before his first race. I think he will have over 20 days or something in the car, which is unprecedented.

“He [Colapinto] didn’t have that. So he just jumped straight in and he did a fantastic job. And it was really great to, as I said in the race, it’s always great to see young people and young talented individuals get the opportunity to come through and shine.

“I think he did that in the first race. We had a great little battle and it was super safe. It was hard but fair.”

But while Colapinto says he’s leaving it in the hands of his management team to resolve his future, Hamilton says he should push them hard to secure a 2025 F1 race seat.

“I think he’s earned his right to be here,” he added. “There still is a seat available. And he’s saying it’s not for him to decide. My advice would be to make sure that it is.

“I’d be pushing on my side to make sure I was doing absolutely everything… and at the end of the day he’s got to just continue to focus on doing his job every weekend as he is. Hopefully he’s got good people behind him who are doing the right job to make sure that he’s here racing next year.”

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