David Croft shares ‘understanding’ on Franco Colapinto after Christian Horner spotted visiting Williams

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Franco Colapinto has suddenly become one of the most sought-after drivers in the F1 paddock right now with his impressive performances in 2024.

The Argentinian driver was called up to replace Logan Sargeant at Williams from the Italian Grand Prix onwards and has taken immediately to the sport and demonstrated his ability and skill in the cockpit.

Colapinto has not finished lower than 12th in his five races in F1 so far. The 21-year-old has scored five points in that time, which is four more than Sargeant could manage in almost two years with Williams.

Teammate Alex Albon is now under pressure from Colapinto – something that will feel unusual given that he had considerably outperformed Sargeant in their 36 races together. The Thai driver was beaten by Colapinto in the last three races, albeit he retired from two of them.

While Colapinto’s performances have been impressive, he is faced with the issue of Williams not having a seat for next year as they will field Albon and Carlos Sainz.

David Croft thinks ‘things might happen’ for Franco Colapinto in 2025

The Argentine is being heavily linked with the vacant Sauber seat, with Colapinto holding talks over a potential loan move from Williams for the next two years.

It has even been reported that Colapinto could be brought in to replace Sergio Perez at Red Bull, with speculation growing that the 21-year-old could join either the main team or their junior team RB.

These rumours were given even more life when Christian Horner was spotted leaving the Williams camp at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, suggesting that discussions are ongoing between the two parties for Colapinto to make the switch to Red Bull.

Speaking on the Sky Sports F1 coverage of FP1, David Croft shared that Colapinto might be in talks with billionaire Carlos Slim – who has backed Sergio Perez throughout his career – over potential funding and that everyone should ‘watch this space’ as he hinted that the Argentine could be seen in an F1 car again sooner than expected.

“My understanding on that, is that Franco Colapinto is not in discussion with RB, [he] might be talking to Carlos Slim a little bit about future funding,” he said.

“But watch this space with Franco Colapinto because things might happen in the near future on that one in terms of his potential appearance on the grid in 2025.”

How likely is it that Franco Colapinto will move to Red Bull?

Red Bull’s situation is a highly complex one as they try to work out what to do with Perez, who is desperately struggling and under pressure to keep his seat.

It is difficult to say where Colapinto stands in this and where he will end up, but it is clear that the defending champions are interested in him. Red Bull have reportedly offered £15.4m to Williams to poach the 21-year-old and bring him in for 2025.

Colapinto’s move to Red Bull will likely depend on what happens to Perez and if they decide to promote either Liam Lawson or Yuki Tsunoda to the main team. Lawson is auditioning for the seat at Red Bull after he was drafted in to replace Daniel Ricciardo from Singapore onwards.

While Lawson looks to be the favourite, Damon Hill thinks that Tsunoda will be feeling ‘overlooked’ for the seat. The Japanese driver is in his fourth season with RB and largely outperformed Ricciardo for much of 2024.