County Derry Red Bull Junior driver the topic of conversation in F1 paddock

County Derry’s Fionn McLaughlin was the topic of conversation in the Formula One paddock as Red Bull replaced Liam Lawson with Yuki Tsunoda.

Speculation swirled around the F1 paddock after the Chinese Grand Prix that the Japanese driver would be replacing Lawson as part of the Red Bull driving pair alongside Max Verstappen.

Yet, before the news was confirmed, Franco Colapinto was being linked to the seat, but it was apparently nothing serious.

Speculation intensified after Red Bull’s leadership, Helmut Marko, met with Alpine team principal Oliver Oakes, a former Red Bull junior driver, as reported in Motorsport.com.

However, sources said that the discussions focused on the County Derry Red Bull Junior driver, McLaughlin.

The 17-year-old has impressed since joining the team and impressed many during the Winter Series at F4 level, narrowly missing out on the title despite being a rookie.

This bodes well for the future of the Magherafelt teenager.

Should he continue to impress at this level, before working his way up through F3, then F2, he may be worked into F1 like other Red Bull Junior drivers like Carlos Sainz and Pierre Gasly.

Conversations between important leaderships within the F1 teams are encouraging for the Derry teenager, with a pathway to racing for Red Bull with a deviation through Alpine first.

Attention will turn away from the driver lineup as the teams hope to perform this weekend in Bahrain, with Red Bull hoping they can build on Verstappen’s win in Japan last time out, while Lawson will hope to prove his doubters wrong, while Jack Doohan looks over his shoulder with the ever-growing concern that he will be replaced by Colapinto at Alpine.