Lawrence Barretto thinks Helmut Marko won’t want to miss out on signing one rival F1 ‘talent’

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Red Bull Racing chief advisor Helmut Marko is always on the lookout for the best drivers available.

During the recent summer break, Marko spent time scouting go-karters to potentially add to Red Bull’s growing roster.

However, Helmut Marko and Christian Horner face a much more timely driver decision after the Singapore Grand Prix.

With a seat at RB still to fill for 2025, it appears as though Daniel Ricciardo is set to make way for Liam Lawson to give the young Kiwi a chance to prove he deserves a full-time seat next year.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Red Bull Racing from engine to Ford links

Martin Brundle believes Ricciardo’s time is up in Formula 1 but Red Bull can’t afford to stand still and will already be looking at drivers who could potentially join the team’s setup going forward.

Speaking on the F1 Nation Podcast, journalist Lawrence Barretto and pundit Sam Power were discussing a driver who could end up on Marko’s radar.

With so few seats left for next year plenty of drivers still without a drive, Franco Colapinto’s name suddenly came up.

Colapinto’s first three races for Williams have been sensational having already outscored Logan Sargeant.

Power suggested that Colapinto might be a good fit for Red Bull and Barretto admitted that he’s the sort of driver that Marko wouldn’t want to miss out on.

Red Bull chief Helmut Marko won’t want to miss out on Williams star Franco Colapinto

Power pondered the idea of Colapinto going to Red Bull and said: “I’m just going to throw this out there, but would Franco be a good fit for Red Bull?

“I mean, if Christian is going out and saying, hey, I’d consider George Russell, why also wouldn’t you look at Franco in many ways?”

Power explained that Colapinto has done a fantastic job deputising for Logan Sargeant and would open up a whole new market for Red Bull in Argentina, with Colapinto’s fans already proving how passionate they are.

Barretto responded to this claim and said: “That’s a great curveball to throw! Let’s talk about Helmut Marko bringing in Nyck De Vries and not being so worried about going outside the pool but bringing young talent in.

READ MORE: Everything to know about Williams driver Franco Colapinto with praise to stats

“Why not do that? Why not if Liam Lawson is coming in, then Liam Lawson is good enough to step up to Red Bull? You need to fill a seat.

“Look, Hadjar’s doing a great job in F2, but Helmut Marko is not afraid of making the tough decisions, is he

“And I think he will not want to miss out on a talent like Colapinto.

“Who knows? That’s a really interesting take that I need to go explore.”

Franco Colapinto set to miss out on 2025 Sauber seat leaving him out of options for next year

Colapinto wasn’t at the top of many people’s shortlists when considering who could replace Sargeant midway through the season at Williams.

However, he quickly proved to be a fantastic teammate to Alex Albon and was only out-qualified by the Thai driver by a matter of seven-thousandths of a second.

Unfortunately for the 21-year-old, by the time he reached Formula 1, only two seats were still available for next year.

While he’s exactly the sort of driver Marko would recruit for Red Bull, that pathway looks blocked for next year unless Red Bull decide to drop Sergio Perez.

Sauber was Colapinto’s other option with the team still deciding who to partner Nico Hulkenberg with next year.

However, Sauber look set to make a double-driver announcement that will leave Colapinto without a drive for next year despite his very impressive start to life on the grid.