A decision taken rather quickly, which will see Franco Colapinto make his debut in Formula 1 at the expense of Logan Sargeant. The Argentine driver will be, with Alex Albon at his side, at the wheel of Williams starting from the Italian Grand Prix, scheduled for this weekend.
Williams chooses Colapinto, driver of its driver academy
There was talk of Liam Lawson, Red Bull driver, and Mick Schumacher, Mercedes driver. Between the two litigants However, to everyone's surprise, Franco Colapinto, an Argentinian driver born in 2003 and already a member of the Williams Driver Academy, came out on top. A targeted choice by the team led by James Vowles, who preferred to give continuity to a driver who was doing quite well in the current Formula 2 season. Colapinto had in fact achieved a victory in Imola and two podiums achieved in Spain and Austria. A haul of 96 points obtained during the season on board the car made available to him by the MP Motorsport team. To these satisfactory results must be added his first participation in a Formula 1 weekend at Silverstone, taking part in FP1 aboard the FW46.
Colapinto will see the latter again starting tomorrow in the garages of the Monza racetrack. Instead, the American Logan Sargeant will say goodbye to him, who in this year and a half of Formula 1 has never convinced the experts and fans. The only meager consolation obtained in his brief parenthesis in the top flight are the points obtained in Austin, his home race, in last year's edition. For the rest, Sargeant has always taken the pay from his teammate Albon, making many mistakes and often running into accidents. The last one, the straw that broke the camel's back, in free practice Zandvoort, in which by destroying the car he was unable to take part in what would have been his last qualifying sessions in Formula 1.
Vowles confident: Franco can show what he is capable of
Franco Colapinto will be the 49th driver to drive for Williams, the first Argentine in Formula 1 after 23 years (the last was Gaston Mazzacane) and the first for the English team after the experience of Carlos Reutemann. “Replacing a driver in the middle of the season It's not a decision to be taken lightly” explains team principal James Vowles. “But we believe this will give Williams a better opportunity to compete for points until the end of the season. We've already made big updates to the car and we need to maximize every opportunity to score points in the battle with the midfield teams".
Replacing Sargeant in the name of greater competitiveness, a clear choice that Vowles hopes will bear fruit in a very complicated season for his team. Colapinto, who has no opportunity to be reconfirmed next year given that his seat is already promised to Carlos Sainz, will have the task of driving cleanly and trying, when possible, to risk enough to get his first points in Formula 1.”Arriving in F1 mid-season it will be a huge learning opportunity for me, but I'm ready for this challenge and I'm already totally focused on the hard work ahead with Alex and the team“, declared an enthusiastic Franco Colapinto, who is about to realize the dream that every driver has had since childhood: driving in Formula 1.
SOURCE: williamsf1.com
