Franco Colapinto said James Vowles, the Williams team principal, “took a very big risk” by asking him to drive in Formula 1 for the final nine Grands Prix of the season.
After the Dutch Grand Prix in August, Williams released Logan Sargeant. Vowles said Sargeant had “reached the limit of what he’s able to achieve.” The American driver scored one point in 36 races.
“If you speak to every team principal up and down the pit lane, no one wants to change a driver midseason,” Vowles said. “It’s horrible. It is incredibly tough on the driver, it’s tough on the team, and it’s disruptive, to say the least.”
Vowles promoted Colapinto, a Williams driver academy member and Formula 2 driver, this season to the raceseat.
After Colapinto, 21, finished 12th at his debut in Italy, a result bettered only once by Sargeant in his 14 Grands Prix this season, Colapinto was eighth in his next race in Azerbaijan, scoring four points.
In his third race in Singapore, Colapinto finished 11th, one place away from scoring a point. And in his last race, at the United States Grand Prix on Sunday, he scored another point in finishing 10th.
Colapinto, the first driver from Argentina in Formula 1 in 23 years and the first since Carlos Reutemann in 1982 to score points, is grateful to Williams for the chance he has been given.
“Williams is a team that has always given possibilities to young drivers,” Colapinto said. “They are a team known for that. It’s a bit of their legacy.
“James has been very open. He took a very big risk, a big gamble with me. A lot of people were not sure about it, but I hope I’m showing I deserve my seat here, to be in Formula 1 and repaying the trust James has placed in me.”
Vowles said Colapinto was given an opportunity because he had “done thousands of kilometers in the simulator and preparation work in the background.”
“I believe, and we believe, in investing in individuals,” Vowles said. “I was a graduate once, and someone invested in me. And if you invest in the right individuals, who have the right backing, you’ll be surprised what you get back.”
Many people in Formula 1 have been impressed with the performances of Colapinto. Christian Horner, the Red Bull team principal, said his emergence “has been a complete surprise.”
“That’s because he was largely unnoticed in F2,” Horner said. “Nobody was even talking about him, and then he jumped in the Williams [car], and in the races he’s done, he’s been exceptional, really impressive.”
Sergio Pérez, a Red Bull driver, found Colapinto to be a roadblock during the Singapore Grand Prix in September. On team radio during the race, Pérez said: “He’s very good. Difficult to pass.”
Strategy allowed Pérez to beat Colapinto to 10th place. Colapinto “didn’t put a foot wrong,” he said afterward. “He did a fantastic race.”
Colapinto has captured the imagination of his countrymen. On social media, he has been compared with Lionel Messi, the soccer player who captained Argentina to a World Cup title in 2022.
“It is very difficult to feel like Leo Messi, but I sometimes see that fans are comparing me and I am like, ‘You guys are crazy’ as Messi is like a god,” Colapinto said. “You cannot compare me to him.
“But there have been 23 years without an F1 driver from Argentina, so it is making Argentinians very happy because it is special for them and me.”
But a question mark hangs over his future. Before Colapinto was promoted, Williams announced the signing of Carlos Sainz, the driver who will leave Ferrari at the end of the season, as the teammate to Alex Albon for next year. That leaves Colapinto without a seat.
Pérez said “it will be a shame” for Colapinto “that after the job that he’s doing, he doesn’t get a seat for next year.”
Colapinto said it would be a dream come true to stay in Formula 1.
For now, he is “just focusing on the amazing opportunity I got from James, from Williams and to finish this year on a high, to keep learning.”
The post Franco Colapinto Makes an Impression, but He May Not Have a Seat for 2025 appeared first on New York Times.
