Red Bull refrained from attracting Colapinto: His manager explains why
Franco Colapinto has recently signed with Alpine, where he hopes to return to F1 as a full-time driver at some point of the season. Still, it could have turned out differently, as Red Bull were also interested in the Argentinian driver. Colapinto's manager, María Catarineu explained why a move to the Austrian's did not materialise.
'Lots of interest in Colapinto'
After he replaced Logan Sargeant at Williams, Colapinto took the world of F1 by storm. After his great results early on, it was reported that Helmut Marko, the Red Bull family's external advisor, did have an interest in signing the youngster, as Williams two seats were already filled before he got the chance to make his debut in Monza. Still, Red Bull decided not to sign him, reportedly because of the youngter's dip in form towards the end of 2024.
One of Colapinto's managers, Catarineu has now talked about why a move to Red Bull did not happen for the driver. Speaking to Corazon de F1, she explained: "Clearly Christian showed interest in Franco, which could be on Red Bull's side as Max's teammate, or on Red Bull's second team's side. And like others, because there were more, but as well as other team principals, wanted to know what was the situation with Williams and have a chat with James [Vowles]," she began.
"What happens is that later the Red Bull route, for different reasons, couldn't be. First because Red Bull has a board, has a very powerful academy with drivers who were there waiting, and well, that didn’t happen. But yes, effectively that visit from Christian was in part to understand from Williams' side what was Franco's situation for the future," Catarineu concluded.
In the end, Red Bull Racing opted for promoting Liam Lawson from Racing Bulls to become Max Verstappen's teammate, while at Racing Bulls, the runner-up in the F2 championship, Isack Hadjar will succeed the driver from New Zealand. Meanwhile, Colapinto agreed a deal with Alpine, where he is now a test and reserve driver.
This article was written in collaboration with Ludo van Denderen
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Anyone see the similarity between the hype given to DeVries and Colapinto? DeVries was sought after, after one good race at the Spanish GP in 2022, but his true talents were exposed in subsequent races. Everyone seems to be spelbound by Colapinto just because he was able to be close to Albon and beting him a couple of times.... but forget the numerous crashes he had causing $2.8 Million worth of damage to the Williams. Incidently, DeVries has won many more championships than Colapinto .... which isnt that hard when he has only ever won one, way back in 2019! I really wonder if the teams are interested in him for his driving ability or for the Spanish companies sponsorship money that he brings? Albon looks great next to Latifi and Sargeant, but how really high is that bar? We shall see this year when he is partnered with Sainz.
