Over the past 12 months, four fiercely talented young drivers have made a quick but fleeting impact in F1.
First, when Daniel Ricciardo broke his wrist in the fall of 2023, Liam Lawson increased the RB team’s racing seats, producing a series of stable and consistent drivers that impressed most observers and ultimately is an antipode that led to a recent promotion on behalf of a colleague.
Olly Bearman then shone with two standout performances of his own as a substitute, making his F1 debut with Ferrari in Saudi Arabia in the spring and scoring points, before producing another quick performance for Haas in Azerbaijan, earning him a full appearance. I will do it. The year is 2024.
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Two other young people attracted attention in Italy in September. The first was teenage sensation Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who lost control of his car and crashed into a wall after showing some incredible speed on a hot lap during a Mercedes practice session.
During the same race weekend, Franco Colapinto raced for the first time for Williams as a short-notice replacement for the ousted Logan Sargent, and since then the Argentine has enjoyed a strong performance in qualifying and a strong performance in competition with his more experienced teammate Alex. He has received many accolades for his abilities. Albon.
The first three will be on the grid full-time in 2025, but Colapinto is a candidate to compete with Sauber for the vacant seat at RB. But the arrival of an exciting bunch of precocious juniors spells bad news for the old guard, who know full well that their top-tier careers are in jeopardy.
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Currently, only two seats remain in 2025. Given that one of them is at RB, if the Kiwi is deemed suitable to replace the ill Sergio Perez at Red Bull, that driver will be given to Lawson or another young driver, but the veteran The only driver the driver can hope for will be alongside Nico. Sauber’s Hulkenberg.
The Swiss team may be last in this year’s standings, far off the pace and meaningless in name, but it’s still an attractive seat. First and foremost, it will allow the drivers to continue in F1, but more importantly it will allow the team to be fully operational as Audi’s works team by the start of F1’s new regulatory era in 2026. This project is certainly fascinating.
Colapinto and current F2 championship leader Gabriel Bortleto are heavily involved in this seat. Both drivers are clearly very talented, Colapinto has already proven himself in F1 and has an attractive number of South American sponsors with him, so the logic of pairing the young man with the 37-year-old Hulkenberg is clear. .
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If Sauber chooses either Colapinto or Bortolet, the decision will be a huge blow to some F1 heavyweights. In fact, it would almost certainly end four careers at once.
The first two will be the team’s current pairing, Valtteri Bottas and Guanyu Chou. While the former insists he is still optimistic about keeping his seat, the latter is desperate to leave and his mediocre performances over the past two seasons almost certainly mean he will not return to F1. It is believed that
The third person is Mick Schumacher. The 25-year-old has already been out of F1 for two seasons and the door to F1 could be closed to him if a German manufacturer launching a new project is not interested in hiring him. Almost certainly. good.
This decision will be the final nail in the coffin for Ricciardo in F1 as well. The 35-year-old was randomly dropped by RB after the match against Singapore and has not been seriously linked with a Sauber seat.
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What does it mean for Audi?
Franco Colapinto fights for Sauber seat
Bottas has long proven that he is a capable and reliable Grand Prix driver, capable of truly beating Lewis Hamilton at times with raw pace. He is also clearly keen to renew and would be a relatively safe pairing alongside Hulkenberg for one more season.
However, the driver line-up, with an average age of 36, is not representative of how Audi is building its future, and Bottas does not seem to be driving at the same level as he was at Mercedes and Williams earlier in his career.
As a matter of fact, Colapinto’s surprisingly impressive performances combined with the sponsorship revenue he can bring to the team should make him the preferred candidate. But if he is the chosen one, the flare-up of his full-time F1 career will be matched with the demise of the careers of four others whenever that decision is made.
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