Franco Colapinto set to miss out on 2025 Sauber F1 seat due to reason out of his control

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Franco Colapinto has impressed those in F1 with his points finish at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix for Williams.

Colapinto had out-qualified teammate Alex Albon after he suffered from a bizarre incident when he emerged from his pit box with a fan still attached to his airbox.

Albon was forced to stop at the pit exit and attempt to remove it from his car, avoiding any marshals from touching his Williams otherwise it would be counted as outside assistance.

Colapinto managed to stay ahead of his teammate in the opening stages, but Williams elected to swap the cars to see if Albon could progress further into the top 10 places.

After making his sole pit stop, Colapinto worked his way through the field and passed Nico Hulkenberg in the closing stages of the race, just a few laps before Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez collided and brought out the Virtual Safety Car.

This meant Colapinto was promoted to eighth place, enabling him to take home four points which was more than double what Logan Sargeant managed throughout his period at the team.

There are questions over whether Colapinto is in the running for a seat in 2025, given there are two seats still left at RB and Sauber. Accoriding to journalist Julianne Cerasoli on YouTube, there could be a major barrier to Colapinto’s chances.

Franco Colapinto does not have the budget to race for Sauber

With RB likely to look in-house for any driver to pair Yuki Tsunoda in 2025, it means Colapinto would only stand a chance at the opening in Sauber alongside Nico Hulkenberg.

But according to Cerasoli, there is a major factor that will prevent Colapinto from being able to get the seat in 2025.

READ MORE: Who is Williams Formula 1 driver Franco Colapinto? Age, nationality, stats and more

“Does Colapinto stand a chance at taking Bortoleto’s seat at Sauber? I went to talk to people who are closest to Colapinto to understand the situation and the question whether he was in talks with Sauber and they looked at me and said ‘no’ as if it was the most absurd question,” said Cerasoli.

“Then I understood the situation a little bit more and he doesn’t have the budget to do F1 as a starter next year. He’s talking about a budget of around 15 million, 10, 12, 15 million dollars to do F1 next year to take up the place at Sauber and he doesn’t have that kind of money. He would also be tied to his contract at Williams.

“The idea is for him to sign a contract with Williams, do these next seven races, and remain as a reserve to see what the market does for 2026.”

Sauber ‘very close’ to signing Nico Hulkenberg teammate

There is a lot of interest in what Sauber will do with their remaining seat alongside Hulkenberg, given they will become the Audi works team from 2026.

Mattia Binotto, who was recently appointed as the head of Audi’s F1 project, has said the next task is finalising their driver lineup with Sauber reportedly ‘very close’ to signing Hulkenberg’s teammate.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Sauber and Audi F1 chief Mattia Binotto

With a lot of options left on the table, Binotto has stated that he would favour an experienced driver over a rookie which has led some to believe it could be Valtteri Bottas who re-signs.

Bottas has not scored a point yet this season, in what has been a tough year for Sauber. The team only just recently got on top its pit stops during the Azerbaijan GP, setting the record for the weekend at 2.32s.