Guenther Steiner Suggests James Vowles to Free Franco Colapinto for Audi Amid Crisis at Williams

Williams’ decision to bring in Franco Colapinto mid-season to replace Logan Sargeant is now proving to be a bit of a headache for the team. Based on Colapinto’s performances in the three races so far, he has undoubtedly proven that he deserves a seat in Formula 1. However, Williams can’t retain him for 2025 as they are already locked in with the driver pairing of Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz.

Colapinto scored his first points in F1 in Baku (4) which is three more than the amount of points Sargeant could manage in 36 races. But at the moment, Colapinto’s stay in F1 seems to be at the mercy of his team, who can either choose to send him back to F2 or loan him to another team for a few years.

Former Haas team principal Guenther Steiner has supported the idea that Williams should loan out Colapinto to Sauber (soon to become Audi’s works team in 2026). In a recent conversation on ‘The Red Flags Podcast’, Steiner said;

“I would try to give him to Audi. I mean I have no idea if they want him or not but he has shown that he can do it. And if Audi is into a young driver, he’s a young driver but he has shown that he can do it, so why not? Otherwise, I don’t think there’s a lot of options.”

: James Vowles remains “open-minded” about Franco Colapinto’s potential move to Sauber, but admits the interest from the Swiss team is “rather low.” As Audi evaluates its 2025 lineup, Colapinto is an outside contender, though Sauber seems more focused on other options. Vowles… pic.twitter.com/LfMNSETE5v

— F1 Naija (@f1_naija) September 25, 2024

The battle for the remaining Audi seat for 2025

Colapinto is already rumored to be in the run for the Audi seat alongside other contenders like Valtteri Bottas, Gabriel Bortoleto, and Mick Schumacher. Among these, Bottas seems to be the favorite as he is already a part of the Sauber Group and knows all the workings of the team.

Moreover, he is also a proven race winner with 10 victories. However, his desire for a long-term contract could become an issue for Sauber/Audi.

EAUROUGE_PS reports it was said that Mattia Binotto told Mick Schumacher 8 days ago that he IS NOT on the top list for the 2025 Sauber seat! (ORF)

As said, now as the F1 ship has finally sailed, Mick & his fans can close this chapter and move on.#F1 #SingaporeGP #MSC47 pic.twitter.com/Pe25NpIwkF

— M. Schumacher Fans (@MSchumacherFans) September 20, 2024

Another driver that Mattia Binnotto, the Chief Operating Officer at Sauber, has revealed to be on top of his list is Bortoleto (due to his recent form in the Formula 2 championship). However, others like Schumacher are less likely to make it to the team because of the number of crashes he had when he was driving with Haas.