{"id":27425,"date":"2024-12-01T10:04:52","date_gmt":"2024-12-01T15:04:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/?p=27425"},"modified":"2024-12-01T17:21:41","modified_gmt":"2024-12-01T22:21:41","slug":"tsunoda-and-lawson-favourites-over-colapinto-to-join-red-bull","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2024\/12\/01\/tsunoda-and-lawson-favourites-over-colapinto-to-join-red-bull\/","title":{"rendered":"Tsunoda and Lawson favourites over Colapinto to join Red Bull"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Red Bull&#8217;s interest in <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2024\/10\/30\/christian-horner-confirms-red-bull-interest-in-franco-colapinto\/\" target=\"_self\">Franco Colapinto<\/a> has cooled down, reveals Helmut Marko. The 81-year-old explains that Tsunoda and Lawson are now at the top of their considerations for 2025.<\/p>\n<h2>Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson battle to earn Red Bull promotion<\/h2>\n<p>When Lawson made his F1 comeback in COTA, the consensus was that Red Bull were looking to promote him.<\/p>\n<p>Christian Horner even admitted that <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2024\/11\/06\/liam-lawson-receives-boost-in-red-bull-contract-hopes\/\" target=\"_self\">Lawson<\/a> was well-positioned for a promotion with strong performances.<\/p>\n<p>Horner has not sugar-coated Sergio Perez&#8217;s poor results this season &#8211; especially in recent months.<\/p>\n<p>However, there have been important changes to Red Bull&#8217;s driver equation in the last few events.<\/p>\n<p>Yuki Tsunoda has once again imposed himself at VCARB, outperforming Lawson on a consistent basis.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Red Bull began evaluating <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2024\/12\/01\/james-vowles-confirms-several-teams-interested-in-colapinto\/\" target=\"_self\">Franco Colapinto&#8217;s availability<\/a> after his top 10 finishes in Baku and Texas.<\/p>\n<h4>Colapinto&#8217;s market value declines<\/h4>\n<p>Until last week&#8217;s race in Las Vegas, there was a three-horse race to become Verstappen&#8217;s teammate.<\/p>\n<p>Over the last few days, however, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2024\/11\/30\/franco-colapinto-alpine-still-in-negotiations-with-the-argentine\/\" target=\"_self\">Alpine have emerged<\/a> as the most enthusiastic team about securing Colapinto&#8217;s signature.<\/p>\n<p>Red Bull no longer see the 21-year-old as a leading candidate, according to Helmut Marko.<\/p>\n<p>When asked if Tsunoda and Lawson are most likely to be promoted, Marko replied said &#8211; <em>&#8220;I think so.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;We need to have the best drivers in our car,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/motorsport.nextgen-auto.com\/en\/formula-1\/marko-plays-down-colapinto-s-red-bull-chances,195939.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">he told the media<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;But so far, the best candidates come from our own talent program.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;I do not see anyone outside our own program who is available and of a higher level than our own drivers.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a id=\"lC60zw32R4VaNJIB-d3xVg\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2187194423\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'lC60zw32R4VaNJIB-d3xVg',sig:'5QLUbqXcsuD-6ghGnB6tYlsyHrMzsvoANvcjYYzCIvQ=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'2187194423',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<h4>Red Bull to look at their own driver pool<\/h4>\n<p>Over the last few seasons, Red Bull have been reluctant to promote their academy drivers.<\/p>\n<p>Tsunoda has been overlooked for several years now, whilst Liam Lawson only made his F1 debut in 2023 after Ricciardo&#8217;s injury in Zandvoort.<\/p>\n<p>Even after performing impressively during his mid-season stint, Lawson was still made to spend a year on the sidelines.<\/p>\n<p>As <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2024\/11\/29\/jenson-button-delivers-verdict-on-sergio-perezs-future\/\" target=\"_self\">Sergio Perez<\/a> continues to occupy Red Bull&#8217;s second seat, scepticism has naturally grown about their academy programme.<\/p>\n<p>Once known for regularly giving youngsters opportunities, Red Bull have searched for any reason to maintain the status quo.<\/p>\n<p>With that said, these comments from <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2024\/11\/30\/helmut-marko-for-us-its-all-about-max\/\" target=\"_self\">Helmut Marko<\/a> seem to indicate a shift.<\/p>\n<p>As Tsunoda continues to perform at a high level, the team is under mounting pressure to make a change.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"_R01guoZQtlIGrZ-Sife7w\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2187574911\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'_R01guoZQtlIGrZ-Sife7w',sig:'RHHPyPTJ2A8on6GP8UF4QrtrgjjkYXw3NAV6B9vd-aM=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'2187574911',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Despite all of Red Bull&#8217;s reservations about the Japanese driver, even they are becoming open to promoting him.<\/p>\n<p>Considering that keeping Perez has ultimately cost them this year&#8217;s constructors title, it is difficult to imagine a scenario where the 34-year-old continues at Milton Keynes.<\/p>\n<p>The question is whether <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2024\/11\/21\/tsunoda-ill-keep-destroying-teammates-until-i-get-red-bull-seat\/\" target=\"_self\">Tsunoda or Lawson<\/a> have the edge within the Austrian outfit&#8217;s hierarchy.<\/p>\n<p>Although Red Bull should already have enough data to make a decision, the final two rounds of the year could be decisive.<\/p>\n<p>Because of this, there is more pressure than ever before for Tsunoda and Lawson to deliver strong performances.<\/p>\n<p>Only time will tell if they do enough to tip the scales in their favour.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Red Bull&#8217;s interest in Franco Colapinto has cooled down, reveals Helmut Marko. The 81-year-old explains that Tsunoda and Lawson are now at the top of their considerations for 2025. Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson battle to earn Red Bull promotion When Lawson made his F1 comeback in COTA, the consensus was that Red Bull were [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4927,"featured_media":27427,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[2220,465,78,2246],"class_list":["post-27425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-formula-1","category-news","tag-2024-formula-1-season","tag-f1-news","tag-red-bull-racing","tag-vcarb"],"modified_by":"Jaden Diaz-Ndisang","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4927"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27425"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27425\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}