Williams team principal James Vowles has clarified that he rejected Red Bull's conditions for a 'loan' deal involving Liam Lawson.
Vowles' patience with the underperforming Logan Sargeant finally wore out after the Zandvoort race. "There were three options on the table which many of you already know about," he informed reporters at Monza.
The options were Liam Lawson, Mick Schumacher, and Franco Colapinto.
"With Lawson, his contractual position at Red Bull wouldn't have worked out for me," Vowles explained.
Indeed, although Red Bull was open to a loan agreement, Dr Helmut Marko admitted that the arrangement would come with numerous stipulations.
"What I can say is that in principle we were prepared to loan him," Red Bull's senior F1 consultant told Sky Deutschland. "But we wanted to have the guarantee that we could bring him back if necessary, because he is the official reserve driver of both Red Bull teams."
"And we couldn't say exactly how many races he would be available for," Marko added. "Based on this, it is understandable that Williams did not agree to this deal."
However, speculation suggests that Williams always intended to place their own junior driver, Colapinto, 21, in the seat, with Lawson and Schumacher merely being used to elevate the asking price from the Argentine's substantial backers.
Reports indicate Williams is set to receive $500,000 from Colapinto's sponsors per race, with on-car sponsorship deals from Globant and Mercado Libre already confirmed.
"It's not as if he took over this seat because of sponsors," Vowles insists. "Actually, it worked the other way around."
"We announced that he would be driving for us, and since then the lines have been running hot from Argentina, with enormous interest from his country," the team principal added.
