It seemed like a two-horse race for the seat alongside Max Verstappen. However, the Las Vegas Saturday showed a still disappointing Sergio Perez and a Franco Colapinto perhaps too inexperienced to drive for a top team like Red Bull in 2025.
The Mexican was, in fact, eliminated once again in Q1, even finishing behind Guanyu Zhou’s Sauber. The feeling is that even the new millionaire sponsors may not save Checo from a fate that seems to be already sealed. His confirmation for next season would have very few justifications, except for purely financial ones.
At the same time, doubts about Franco Colapinto continue to grow. The Argentine driver, after his mistake under the Safety Car at Interlagos, was involved in another crash during qualifying for the Las Vegas GP.
In his attempt to find the best line, Franco Colapinto made a serious misjudgment, ending up hitting the wall hard in an impact with a 50G deceleration.
An incident that immediately sparked discussions among fans. According to some, the Argentine is still not ready for an important seat like Red Bull’s and needs more experience before making the big leap.
Red Bull, what do you do now?
The question seems more than reasonable. What will Christian Horner and Red Bull decide after the disappointing performances of Perez and Colapinto on Las Vegas Saturday? The best option could be to promote either Yuki Tsunoda or Liam Lawson to partner Max Verstappen, allowing Franco Colapinto to gain experience in VCARB.
Of course, looking at the results Pierre Gasly is achieving with Alpine, one might wonder if Red Bull’s higher-ups are regretting letting go of a driver who is finally showing his talent despite driving a car that is far from top-tier.
Most likely, the decision will be made after the Abu Dhabi race, with Marko and Horner making their evaluations over these last three races of the season. Certainly, the choice is not an easy one, and the performances of the two contenders for the seat do not help.
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