Montoya’s proposal: Sainz to Red Bull and Colapinto to Williams

Although the Formula 1 grid for 2025 is not officially set, unofficially it is because for the missing seat there is no other option than Liam Lawson in the second Racing Bull slot although the team has yet to confirm it.

However the main doubts surround Sergio Pérez. The Mexican has been confirmed by Red Bull, but his performance has left a lot to be desired, both for his bosses and the fans, and a sudden change to seat another driver next to Max Verstappen is not ruled out, but who?

Many are arguing for Franco Colapinto, but former F1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya is very clear about what he would do. “If I were Horner, I would go to Williams and tell them: ‘If you are happy with Colapinto, keep him and give me Carlos Sainz’,” he says in a chat with W Radio in collaboration with AS Colombia, and adds: “Why risk replacing Checo, an experienced driver who has won races, to put a rookie next to Max? Being a rookie against Albon is tough, but if he is under pressure he makes mistakes. Max does not fail.”

“A horrible position” from Checo

That’s why the Colombian says that if he were in charge of decision making at Red Bull he would tell them “to let Colapinto grow” and leaves another case in the air in favor of seeing that move: “Knowing Carlos, he will have told Williams that he has signed for them, but if he doesn’t win or get podiums, he can leave if he receives another offer. (Red Bull) I could tell Williams: ‘You can lose Carlos now or in a year. Now you would have money, in a year you won’t.’ That is the move I would make if I were Red Bull. I wouldn’t go for Colapinto, I would go for Carlos.”

Saying this as a mere opinion and not as information, because “I did know about Bortoleto, but not this,” Montoya sees a main impediment to the transfer becoming a reality beyond Sainz’s new contract, and that is that Pérez will not move from Milton Keynes: “The problem is that Checo insists that he will continue there and I also believe that he will continue on the grid next year, although I think they want to get him out of there, but I don’t think he will just give up. The difference with Ricciardo is that Checo brings money (to the team)

“Checo is being pushed to the limit, it’s not easy for him, he’s in a horrible position because I think everyone wants him out. Whether he deserves it, I don’t know. We don’t know what happens behind closed doors, but a lot of people are trying to get another driver in that car,” says Juan Pablo about the Mexican, putting himself in his place, although he insists that his departure would be “the only chance Colapinto has of being on the grid: he could stay at Williams if Red Bull took Sainz.”