Franco Colapinto's manager claims that Red Bull was interested in the Argentine driver for one of its teams.

Eventually snapped up by Alpine as a test and reserve driver after failing to secure a race seat, the Argentine is understood to have been of interest to Red Bull.

With Carlos Sainz partnering Alex Albon, Williams was keen to secure a berth for the youngster, but unable to do so eventually released him to its French rival.

In Brazil, Christian Horner was spotted talking to James Vowles, sparking rumours of a potential seat, and this has now been confirmed by Colapinto's manager.

"Christian wanted to know what the situation is with Williams and have a chat with James," explained Maria Catarineu, commercial director at Bullet Sports Management which looks after the youngster.

"Eventually, the Red Bull route, for different reasons, could not be," she admitted. "First, because Red Bull has many parts, it has a very powerful academy with drivers who were already waiting and, well, it didn't work out.

"Clearly, Christian had an interest in Franco," she told Corazon de F1. "It could have been for Red Bull as Max's teammate or for the second Red Bull team. There were other teams too."

The Austrian team subsequently parted ways with Sergio Perez, replacing him with Liam Lawson, while Isack Hadjar will partner Yuki Tsunoda at RB.

And that was where Flavio Briatore, never one to pass up an opportunity, stepped in.

"Flavio said, 'I want him, and I want him like this and like this'," she said. "But it was very complicated because there is Franco as a driver, his management company, there is Williams as Franco's team, there are the interested other teams.

"But that's where it started. And Flavio never lost his interest.

"He is super, super happy," she said of Colapinto. "You have to realise that just a few months ago, we didn't know if we were ever going to be in Formula 1.

"And then the nine races with Williams happened. But then again, there was uncertainty and his anguish, because there is no place at Williams. And now he is happy. Very happy."

While the Argentine's presence puts obvious pressure on Jack Doohan, it should not be forgotten that the French team, admittedly under previous management, allowed the likes of Oscar Piastri to slip through its hands after failing to make good use of him.