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Red Bull is reported to have the upper hand in its contract negotiations with Williams to sign Franco Colapinto in the 2025 F1 season but is facing competition from another team. Alpine is also understood to be interested in signing the Argentine driver, however, they already have a fixed lineup for the next season.
Colapinto debuted mid-season in Italy, replacing Logan Sargeant, who had been driving for Williams since the 2023 season. But his subpar performance was a disadvantage to the team and hence they replaced him with Colapinto. Since his debut, the 21-year-old has become a favorite amongst teams who are seeking drivers in the future.
While Williams already has secured Colapinto, their lineup is fixed with Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz (departing from Ferrari) for the 2025 season. So it is apparent that they might hold on to Colapinto for at least till 2026, and might send him out as a loan driver in 2025.
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Red Bull, who dropped to third place in the standings seemingly because of Sergio Perez's performance in recent races, are speculated to be looking for a replacement. Reports claimed that they are interested in signing Franco Colapinto, however, they have others in the fray as well.
Alpine is understood to have shown their interest for the driver as well. While it is currently unknown how far they would go to sign the Argentine, the team has a fixed lineup for 2025 with Pierre Gasly and Jack Doohan, the latter being a rookie. Similar to Williams, this means that the French team would sign the driver past 2025.
Red Bull could have an upper hand over Alpine on signing Colapinto
As mentioned, Alpine might consider signing the 21-year-old for the 2026 season. This would give Red Bull the advantage of replacing Sergio Perez with Franco Colapinto in 2025.
Although the Mexican has a contract till the 2026 season, the team might still consider replacing him. A straightforward explanation would be their loss in this season. The team dominated the grid in the past two seasons but is now in third place in the Constructors' standings. While the car might be partly to blame, Max Verstappen is still leading the Drivers' Championship and has a positive chance of winning it in Las Vegas.
Meanwhile, Sergio Perez has been on a downward spiral in terms of performance. He scored the last podium in China this season. Since then, he has had two retirements and four finishes out of points and has been far off from the podium. At the same time, Max Verstappen has won four races, been on the podium on five different occasions, and hasn't finished out of points in any of the races.
There is a clear contrast in the performance of both drivers. It is easy to analyze that Red Bull lost its position at the top partly due to Perez's performance this season. The team might consider this situation and decide to sign Franco Colapinto in 2025 before Williams decides to sign him back as a permanent driver.
