Fionn McLaughlin may be making a name for himself in the world of F4 but the Northern Irish driver has been caught up in the fallout of the Red Bull F1 driver saga. Liam Lawson was demoted back to the Racing Bulls after just two races in the senior Red Bull team alongside Max Verstappen at the start of the 2025 season. Yuki Tsunoda was announced as his replacement after Lawson failed to score a point in the opening two races in Australia and China. A number of drivers were linked with the car including Franco Colapinto, but Helmut Marko, who is is the head of Red Bull's driver development program and an advisor to the Red Bull Racing F1 team, dismissed talk linking them with a move for Alpine's reserve driver. Rumours spiralled after Marko was spotted in Alpine's hospitality tent during the weekend of the Chinese Grand Prix, but it was come to light that it was in fact Magherafelt teenager McLaughlin who was being talked about. “Yes, I have a good relationship with Ollie Oakes [Alpine Team Principal],” Marko told Motorsport.com. “He has regularly run some of our drivers in his various teams across the junior categories. “One of his drivers is currently racing in the British [F4, Fionn McLaughlin], for example. That was the reason I met with him. Colapinto wasn’t a topic.” What this means for McLaughlin's future remains to be seen but the 17-year-old is clearly highly-regarded throughout the sport. Having started karting at only five-year-old McLaughlin quickly progressed through the ranks winning various championships around Ireland. He finished vice-champion of the 2022 British Karting Championships and vice-champion of the 2022 Iame World Games before finishing sixth in the 2024 FIA Karting World Championship. McLaughlin secured a place on Red Bull’s junior driver programme following in the footsteps of Max Verstappen, Carlos Sainz, and his own racing role model Sebastian Vettel, and is currently racing with Hitech Pulse-Eight for a campaign in ROKiT British F4 in 2025. “My goal in racing is to be a Formula One World Champion and joining Hitech is the next step in my development path,” said McLaughlin. Sign up to our free sports newsletter to get the latest headlines to your inbox