Colapinto shuts down F1 seat speculation

Franco Colapinto has poured cold water on the belief he was ever truly in the running for the Stake F1 seat that will be occupied by Gabriel Bortoleto next season.

Prior to the F2 points leader’s confirmation, there was heavy speculation the Argentine was also in contention for the drive, along with Sauber junior Theo Pourchaire and current Stake drivers Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu – none of whom will be racing in F1 in 2025.

There remains the possibility Colapinto, who finished P14 in the Las Vegas Grand Prix, will find a new home in the Red Bull family.

If that does come to fruition, it would yield the opportunity to race, most likely along either Liam Lawson or Yuki Tsunoda at RB.

Meanwhile, the 21-year-old has confirmed that partnering Nico Hulkenberg at Stake was never a realistic option for him.

Having thrust himself into the group of highly-touted drivers breaking into F1 with his strong performances at Williams, Colapinto is widely-regarded as someone who will find a full-time drive in the paddock sooner or later.

However, with Carlos Sainz already joining the Grove-based team next term, Colapinto continuing his stand-in stint was also never on the cards, something that makes missing out on Stake seat all the more difficult to stomach.

The former MP Motorsport F2 driver is open going elsewhere in the short term, and has outlined the priority to continue racing with a view to opportunities in F1 down the line.

Nevertheless, Colapinto maintains that Bortoleto “deserves” to be in F1, despite conceding a door closing is “never a nice thing” to experience.

“Yes,” he replied when asked by RacingNews365 if he was disappointed by missing out on the drive. “Always a seat less to get a chance to be driving next year is never a nice thing.

“Gabriel really deserves it as well. He’s a great guy, he’s very quick and he’s obviously there [at Stake].

“We’re going to see what the future has for us… but from what I understood, Stake was done since a while ago and was not an option for us. So yeah, we’ll see what happens.”