Dr Helmut Marko has downplayed Franco Colapinto's chances of landing a Red Bull race seat for 2025, favoring in-house talent for the potential vacancy.
Sergio Perez's ongoing struggles have placed his future at Red Bull in doubt, with a post-Abu Dhabi meeting set to decide the Mexican driver's fate. Perez's performance shortfall has drawn repeated criticism within the team.
"We lost the constructors' title this year, unless a huge miracle happens," Marko told Viaplay in Qatar. "The employees only get a bonus if we become constructors' champions. So they miss out on a lot of money.
"It becomes a difficult story for a driver when you lose the support or the faith of the people who work with you," he added ominously.
While Colapinto, 21, has been linked with either a Red Bull or RB seat, Marko indicates that Liam Lawson or Yuki Tsunoda are more likely candidates for a seat.
"I think so," Marko said when asked if Lawson and Tsunoda are the frontrunners to replace Perez. "We need to have the best drivers in our car, but so far the best candidates come from our own talent program. I do not see anyone outside our own program who is available and of a higher level than our own drivers."
Colapinto's recent crashes in his Williams have not helped his case. His manager, Jamie Campbell-Walter, pointed to the pressures the Argentine driver is facing.
"It comes from the pressure of not knowing what your future holds, which is sometimes worse than knowing," Campbell-Walter told motorsport-magazin.com.
He also criticized Williams for their handling of Colapinto's wet-weather struggles in Brazil. "Franco had never driven in the rain, and he asked for rain tyres," Campbell-Walter said. "They told him to survive, survive, survive.
"He also has a whole nation on his shoulders. I can't imagine what that's like. And it's very easy to criticize from the outside."
When asked about the Red Bull rumors by Sky Italia, Colapinto remained optimistic but realistic.
"I don't know, let's hope," he said. "It's difficult. It's something I'm not looking at right now. But obviously for me it's the most important thing."
Despite his recent setbacks, Colapinto told RTBF that his confidence remains intact.
"No. I am confident in what I can do," he said. "In Vegas, I felt good, I was confident, I was doing good times. But I found myself in a situation where I had to drive on the limit and brush the walls a little more and unfortunately I got a little too close.
"But that is part of the learning process."
