Following the announcement from Red Bull that Sergio Perez is retiring from Formula One, his replacement in Liam Lawson and Isack Hadjar, driver promoted to the Racing Bulls from F2, now see the grid for 2025 complete.

Had the list been published just two months ago, there wold have been raised eyes in the paddock at the exclusion of a certain rising Argentinian star. Franco Colapinto stepped into the VCARB race car for his first full time F1 weekend at the Italian Grand prix in Monza 2024 following the sacking of the hapless American, Logan Sargeant.

With little time to familiarise himself with the Williams car, Colapinto was predictably out of qualifying in the first session. Yet his race pace was good and the Argentinian made his way through the field to finish a creditable twelfth ahead of the likes of experienced drivers like Pierre Gasly, Esteban Ocon, Yuki Tsunoda and Nico Hulkenberg.

 

 

 

 

Young Argentinian takes F1 by storm

With no worse than a top twelve finish in his first five race weekends added to the fact Colapinto had scored points on two of those occasions, paddock interest was rising quickly in who could be the next big F1 star driver.

Red Bull quickly losing ground to retain their constructors’ title as Sergio Perez scored a mere 21 points in the final ten F1 weekends of the season, Colapinto looked F1 ready to go and both Dr. Helmut Marko and team boss Christian Horner admitted they may be interested in the Williams academy driver.

Speaking ahead of the Mexican Grand Prix, Marko indicated Red Bull had given the matter of Colapinto serious consideration but there could be complications in any negotiations due to the handcuffs in place with Williams.

“It’s an unusual situation. He didn’t stand out in any junior category. Of course he was good, but not exceptional. He hit the ground running, even though he was thrown in at the deep end like Liam Lawson,” observed the 81 year old Austrian.

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Red Bull interest peaked

Marko’s added that Colpianto was “definitely someone [for the] future” and hailed his performances for Williams to date as “very, very good,” although this was before the Argentinian blotted his copy book causing his team an enormous headache.

Next time out in Brazil, Colapinto was to experience one of those F1 race weekends which comes around just every few years. Colossal amounts of rain fell on the Interlagos circuit such that qualifying was abandoned on Saturday and rescheduled for early Sunday morning.

Such was the concern over the monsoon conditions, the FIA and FOM agreed on a highly unusual decision, to move the time of the Grand Prix despite the global marketing by the broadcasters having little time to adjust.

During qualifying, Colapinto crashed out in Q1, creating a huge amount of work for the Williams mechanics in the shortened interval before the race. Unlike team mate Alex Albon, Franco’s car was ready to go as the pit lane opened just forty minutes before lights out.

Ferrari: Hamilton in for big shock

 

 

 

Franco’s repair bill HUGE

In torrential rain and on the opening lap of a deployed safety car, Colapinto put his car spectacularly into the wall as he claimed the hill to the start/finsih line. Williams had two weeks to produce two cars capable of racing in Las Vegas, something they just about managed with a little help from the power unit supplier Mercedes.

In the packed paddock at Interlagos, the teams hospitality units are on display for all to see. It was reported by several news outlets that Christian Horner had been seen deep in conversation with Williams boss James Vowles, the topic being the release clause for Franco Colpinato.

The came the race along The Strip, where Franco Colapinto suffered a disastrous end to the second part of qualifying by hitting the wall in spectacular fashion, causing the 50g impact as registered by the car’s sensors.

The damage estimation for Colapinto’s off track excursions was estimated by various F1 analysts to be enormous. This included five front wings and noses, six front suspensions, three floors and a chassis amongst other parts, the Argentinean’s estimated crash damage was €5,054,000 while Albon, who broke seven front wings and noses as well as eight front and rear suspensions, came in at €4,975,400 for the entire season.

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Red Bull lose interest

After three big crashes in two F1 race weekends, interest from Red Bull in Colapinto waned quickly as news of a $20m buyout clause emerged simultaneously.

Just days after the 2024 Abu Dhabi finale, the white smoke emerged from the Milton Keynes shareholder enclave which had been called to discuss their driver lineups. Perez was out, lawson in alongside Max and Isack Hadjar would debut with the Racing Bulls for 2025.

Colapinto was now yesterday’s news, yet hope springs eternal for the impressive young Argentinian and his fledging F1 career. Ex-F1 McLaren chief engineer and current F1 medias figure, Marc Priestly now tells Casino Uden Rofus he has confidence in Franco’s imminent return F1.

“For Franco Colapinto, it was always a long shot for him to get a seat in 2025,” he said. “He did everything Williams needed him to do, not just in terms of getting decent results but also kept the car on the track. But, he did end up crashing the car a lot towards the end of the season. It’s to be expected in a rookie season.

Hulkenberg at Ferrari

 

 

 

Jack Doohan under threat

“If you think about Logan Sargeant, he made a similar amount of mistakes, but he wasn’t getting any results.

“I think Colapinto’s introduction was a real success story, teams are now interested in bringing him on board and I have no doubt he will make his mark in F1 in the future,” Priestly concludes.

This week, Alpine senior consultant Flavio Briatore expressed his view that he wold not be shy of making mid-season driver changes if necessary. This fanned the flames of the Colpianto return story given the team are taking a punt on rookie Jack Doohan at present.

Doohan is believed to have just a five race contract with the French owned F1 team which means Colpianto cold make his return to the sport as early as the Miami Grand Prix at the beginning of May.

In terms of his Williams contract buyout, it is expected South American corporate sponsors would pay the huge fee to the British team in return for control of Colapinto’s marketing rights for the rest of his career.

Hamilton sends message as Ferrari driver

 

 

 

 

Ban on Red Bull 2 team ownership proposed for new Concorde Agreement

The Concorde Agreement which is up for renewal at the end of 2025 is the glue which binds the world of Formula One together contractually. It is a contract between the FIA, the F1 teams and the FOM Group which controls the commercial interest of the sport and it defines the terms by which the annual F1 competition must take place.

Before the first agreement in 1981, teams cold pick and choose which events they attended and drivers had threatened frequent boycotts of certain Grand Prix weekends on the grounds of poor safety controls being in place.

The intent of the various agreements over the years is to promote professionalism and certainty, all part of what was required to take F1 from racing in farmers fields in days of yore, to the cathedrals of speed we now see erected around the world… READ MORE