Franco Colapinto will start the Las Vegas Grand Prix from the pit lane after being cleared to race despite a 50G crash in qualifying. The Williams driver hit the inside wall at Turn 16 late in Q2, damaging the front left corner and sending his car …
Franco Colapinto will start the Las Vegas Grand Prix from the pit lane after being cleared to race despite a 50G crash in qualifying.
The Williams driver hit the inside wall at Turn 16 late in Q2, damaging the front left corner and sending his car across the track into the outside concrete barrier at high speed. The impact was so big it moved the barrier back, and caused a delay of over 20m while repairs took place and the significant debris was cleared up.
Colapinto was checked in the medical center after the incident and returned to his hotel to rest, with a further assessment on Saturday seeing him cleared to take part in the race.
“Following Franco’s incident in qualifying yesterday, he has undergone a thorough follow-up evaluation from the event medical team today and has been cleared to race in this evening’s Las Vegas Grand Prix,” Williams said in a statement.
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“Franco’s health is our main priority, and we are relieved that he is well enough to race following such a significant incident. We thank the medical staff for prioritizing Franco’s health and wellbeing and for the excellent care he received.
“We are extremely thankful to our incredible garage team for their hard work overnight to repair Franco’s car and our fans and partners for their continued support. We have taken the opportunity to make some setup changes during the repair and, as a result, Franco will start the race from the pit lane.”
Colapinto originally was 14th on the grid, so all drivers behind him — Liam Lawson, Sergio Perez, Fernando Alonso, Alex Albon, Lance Stroll and Valtteri Bottas — will move up a spot.
Williams has managed to repair Colapinto’s heavily damaged car without breaking curfew at the track.
Franco Colapinto’s crash in qualifying for the Las Vegas Grand Prix registered at over 50G, with his participation in Saturday’s race in doubt. The Argentine was on his final flying lap of Q2 and trying to reach the top-10 shootout when he clipped …
Franco Colapinto’s crash in qualifying for the Las Vegas Grand Prix registered at over 50G, with his participation in Saturday’s race in doubt.
The Argentine was on his final flying lap of Q2 and trying to reach the top-10 shootout when he clipped the wall on the inside of Turn 16, sending his Williams across the track and into the outside concrete barrier at high speed. The huge impact moved the wall back significantly, while Colapinto’s car suffered major damage.
Williams has now confirmed that the 21-year-old will have to be assessed on Saturday to see if he is fit to race, while it will also be analyzing the car’s status following a number of heavy crashes in Brazil.
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“During qualifying Franco sustained a significant impact of over 50G, requiring a medical check-up,” Williams said in a statement. “An impact of this magnitude is obviously significant and severe and he will need to be evaluated again tomorrow before we will know whether he is clear to race.
“Franco’s health is all that matters and we are glad he is otherwise okay. We will provide further updates when we can.”
Colapinto climbed out of the car under his own power following the crash, that delayed qualifying by a little over 20 minutes while barrier repairs took place and the debris was cleared.
Franco Colapinto is ignoring speculation that he could secure a race seat elsewhere in 2025 amid strong praise of his performance at Williams from Lewis Hamilton at a media conference (pictured above) ahead of this weekend’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix. …
Franco Colapinto is ignoring speculation that he could secure a race seat elsewhere in 2025 amid strong praise of his performance at Williams from Lewis Hamilton at a media conference (pictured above) ahead of this weekend’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Williams promoted Colapinto in place of Logan Sargeant shortly after the summer break, and the rookie has been extremely impressive in scoring points in two of his five races so far. Finishing no lower than 12th to date, Colapinto has been linked with a move to RB or Stake in 2025, but he says he is unaware of whether Williams would allow him to leave.
“I think I shouldn’t be the person asked about that,” Colapinto said. “Of course, I don’t know the answer, and I guess yes, I think if Williams cannot give me a race seat, I think the normal thing is that they allow me to go somewhere else and that they find the best opportunity for me for the future. But I’m not the right person to be asked. I should be the last one.
“I’m here with Williams this weekend and I’m going to try to do my best here in Brazil. It’s a very exciting race, great atmosphere, and I cannot wait to be driving the Williams around Interlagos. I think for the future, it will be great that it happens. I thought I was not going to be racing in F1 next year, and that’s still my first view, so I don’t really get too excited about whatever they’re talking about.”
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Colapinto’s performance have not gone unnoticed by his peers, with Hamilton effusive in praising the job the Argentine rookie has done so far and urging his management to leave no stone unturned in trying to secure a race seat.
“I think he’s done an incredible job, last-minute to be called upon and thrown into the deep end in this sport,” Hamilton said. “The majority of us, if we’re lucky to get in the sport, we have a bit of a run-up.
“If you look at young Kimi [Antonelli] for example, he’s got a lot of test days before his race, I think he’ll have something like 20 days in the car, which is unprecedented. Whereas for this guy here he didn’t have that — he just jumped straight in and he did a fantastic job. It’s always great to see young people, young talented individuals get the opportunity to come through and shine, and I think he did that in the first race.”
For his part, Colapinto says he’s not paying attention to rumors that Red Bull could be interested in adding him to the team’s driver pool.
“I would like to be in Formula 1. I came very late in the year, and I got an amazing opportunity by Williams, by James [Vowles, team principal]. Sven [Smeets, sporting director], everyone in the team gave me a lot of trust, confidence to put me in that race seat. And I got an amazing chance that I was not expecting to get this year.
“I tried to do my best and have the best results possible to show that I deserve to sit here — that’s what I’m trying to show and to achieve. And if it’s not next year, I hope that it’s in ’26 or ’27.
“I’m not really having much pressure or anything like that. I’m trying to enjoy the moment, enjoy the opportunity that I’ve got. It was my dream since I was very little to drive a Formula 1 car and now to be here doing these last nine races, it’s very special.”
Hamilton was particularly impressed by his own on-track duel with Colapinto.
“We had a great little battle — it was super-safe, hard but fair, and I think he’s earned his right to be here,” Hamilton said. “There’s still a seat available, and he’s saying it’s not for him to decide but my advice would be… I would be pushing on my side, making sure I do absolutely everything.
“At the end of the day he’s got to just continue to focus on doing his job every weekend, as he is. Hopefully he’s got good people behind him who are doing the right job to make sure he’s here racing next year.”
Second-race rookie Franco Colapinto hopes his maiden score in a difficult Azerbaijan Grand Prix is proving that he deserves his shot in Formula 1. Colapinto was parachuted into Logan Sargeant’s seat last time out in Italy, with Williams hoping its …
Second-race rookie Franco Colapinto hopes his maiden score in a difficult Azerbaijan Grand Prix is proving that he deserves his shot in Formula 1.
Colapinto was parachuted into Logan Sargeant’s seat last time out in Italy, with Williams hoping its development driver would boost its odds of scoring points in the final third of the season.
His weekend started badly, with a crash in FP1 that also cost him laps in FP2 due to ongoing repairs, but he was superb thereafter, qualifying ninth in a Williams double Q3 appearance.
The race was set to be far more difficult, with Colapinto having never raced in Baku before, but the Argentine didn’t put a foot wrong on his way to his first points for finishing eighth, just one place and 2s behind teammate Alex Albon. It immediately justified team boss James Vowles’s decision to sub him into the team on short notice, with each place on the title table worth millions of dollars in prize money.
“I think they showed so much confidence and trust in putting me in the seat,” Colapinto said. “It was a very difficult bet and a bet that many didn’t understand. I hope I’m showing what I’m capable of. The opportunity that James gave me is helping me to show that.
“[Now] I’m just doing a lot of work to try to learn quick. I have very little mileage in Formula 1. It’s only two races and one free practice and a few laps in Abu Dhabi last year, but I think, with the little mileage I’ve got, to win points in my second race is something really positive and very good.”
The double score took Williams past Alpine and up to eighth in the constructors championship, where it’s now 13 points behind seventh-placed Haas.
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“It’s a great result for the team,” Colapinto said. “Both cars in the points, P8 in the constructors championship, both cars in the top eight. It’s something unexpected and amazing for the team, for Williams. They really deserve it. I’m just very happy — very happy for what we achieved together.
“We need to keep working on the future. We just have to keep working as a team and keep doing what we are doing slowly. I think results will keep coming.”
The top-10 finish came despite an ambitious strategy requiring an early pit stop and a long 41-lap stint to the checkered flag. The Argentine said the tactics exposed his still poor understanding of how to manage the tires just two races into his grand prix career as well as his physical conditioning in the step up from Formula 2 to Formula 1.
“I think we did manage [the tires] very well, but we managed them too much,” he said. “We managed the fronts too much and I didn’t really know what was happening and why my front tire was graining like that. It’s something I found out very late in the race, and I think knowing that maybe could’ve attacked Fernando [Alonso for sixth] a bit more — it’s all part of the process and part of the learning.
“We need to keep working on the physical aspect. There are tough races coming now. This one was tough because between walls you need to keep the focus constantly all the time and be real on it.
“I guess [the next race in] Singapore will be very, very hard, but I felt great today — I felt much better than Monza.”
Franco Colapinto described his exit from Q1 at the Italian Grand Prix as “frustrating” after running slightly wide on his final timed lap of his debut qualifying session. Williams replaced Logan Sargeant with rookie Colapinto for the final nine …
Franco Colapinto described his exit from Q1 at the Italian Grand Prix as “frustrating” after running slightly wide on his final timed lap of his debut qualifying session.
Williams replaced Logan Sargeant with rookie Colapinto for the final nine races of the season, with the Argentinian driver taking part in his first grand prix weekend. Steady progress in practice and a competitive car had left Colapinto eyeing a spot in Q2, but he ran wide at the second Lesmo and bounced through the gravel, ending up 18th on the grid.
“It’s frustrating of course,” Colapinto said. “I was expecting more after FP3; we had really good pace. I had a lot to improve after lap one in Q1, so I think I was expecting Q2 was very possible, and of course that little mistake that I did cost me the lap.
“A lot of things to keep learning, a lot to understand with the tires yet. It’s a lot of things going on. I am getting used to it and adapting quite quick, but I still need to understand … Of course tomorrow is going to be a very special day, my first F1 race, and it’s going to be an important moment of my career.
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“I think my longest stint now was like eight laps, so tomorrow will be a long one, 57 or something, so looking forward to tomorrow and to keep understanding the tires. I think it’s the most difficult part — keep learning about the car, and hopefully [it’ll get] much better in these nine races.”
Alex Albon showed the pace of the Williams — reaching Q3 and securing ninth on the grid — and says he’s primed for a fight with Nico Hulkenberg’s Haas for the lower points positions.
“P9 is great, so I’m very happy,” Albon said. “We were the best of the rest so far this weekend and that’s where we hoped to be, but I don’t think we truly believed we’d be here, so it’s good. When the car continues to deliver in the practice sessions, it does add a bit of extra pressure to make sure we deliver in qualifying, but it all paid off.
“It’s a very different track to Zandvoort and as good as the upgrades have been, we know this track does suit our car, but we also know that if we didn’t have the upgrade, we wouldn’t be in Q3, so that’s a nice takeaway. We were fighting the Haas throughout qualifying and they seem to have slightly stronger race pace for tomorrow. Graining will be our biggest concern, but let’s see how we go.”
Williams team principal James Vowles says he was convinced Logan Sargeant had reached the limit of his performance and revealed what led him to pick Franco Colapinto over more experienced options to replace the American. Sargeant was dropped after …
Williams team principal James Vowles says he was convinced Logan Sargeant had reached the limit of his performance and revealed what led him to pick Franco Colapinto over more experienced options to replace the American.
Sargeant was dropped after last Sunday’s race in Zandvoort, with rookie Colapinto taking over from this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix onwards. The change came after months of speculation regarding Sargeant’s future and a heavy crash in practice, and Vowles (pictured at right, above, with Colapinto, middle) says it was a move he didn’t want to make but felt he had to as he didn’t see any further potential progression on the cards.
“If you speak to every team principal up and down the pit lane, no one wants to change a driver mid-season,” Vowles said. “It’s horrible. It is incredibly tough on the driver, it’s tough on the team, it is disruptive to say the least. The cleanest point to have done it would have been at the beginning of the year.
“Logan at the end of last year was starting to get within a tenth of Alex [Albon] and if that progression continued I think we would have seen a driver in a very strong place this year, and it didn’t feel like the right point to sever ties as a result of it.
“The reason now is straightforward — we’ve had enough experience under our belt to know he’s reached the limit of what he’s able to achieve, and in fact it’s almost unfair on him furthermore to continue with him. If you look at his face when he gets out of the car, he’s given you everything he possibly can, and it’s not enough.
“He absolutely never from a human perspective gave me anything other than 100% of what he’s able to do, but the realization of where he is on his limits now is very clear; it’s clear to everyone, and more than that, the relationship can only become more and more difficult across the last nine races because he knows what his future holds, which is not to be in F1 anymore.
“Actually a clean break at this stage feels like the correct decision for all parties. It feels like it’s fair to Logan — he won’t feel that way today, but I hope he reflects on it in the future that it is fair towards him in that regard.
Sargeant’s heavy crash in practice at Zandvoort was the last straw in convincing Vowles that his progression as an F1 driver had ended. Simon Galloway/Motorsport Images
“Changing between back-to-back races really is an awful thing to do, which hopefully shows you where we are in this. And to be very clear to everyone it wasn’t just based on an accident, it was based on in the race he had all of the parts that Alex had available to him, but the performance wasn’t there, he was lacking in that area, and the gap’s almost as big as it was last year.”
Colapinto was a surprising choice given his lack of experience, with the Argentinian competing in his first season of Formula 2 this year but now stepping up for the final nine races. Vowles says he informed Sargeant of the decision on Tuesday and while he had two more experienced options he didn’t see Mick Schumacher as a strong enough candidate to pick over a Williams Driver Academy member.
“There were three options on the table — one was Liam Lawson, one was Mick, and one was Franco,” Vowles said. “With Liam the contractual situation with Red Bull wouldn’t have worked with me here at Williams. And then it’s a tough choice, it really is. Mick has improved a lot from where he was with Haas, there’s no doubt about it. He’s a competent driver that I know he had his time, but he has done incredible work with Alpine, with Mercedes, and with McLaren in the meantime, and all advocates will speak with you and tell you where he’s adapted and where he’s changed.
“So now the decision is do we put Mick in the car — and I think Mick would have done a good job — or do we invest in an individual that’s a part of our academy, that’s done hundreds of thousands of laps in the simulator, that’s driven our car –the only driver to do so this year in FP1 — and on the data from what we can see and how he’s performing, he’s making significant steps.
“So it becomes a decision, do we invest in the future or do we invest in someone else as a result of it? Both will fall into a category of good, not special, I think we have to be straightforward about this: Mick isn’t special, he just would have been good.”
So far, so good: Franco Colapinto was only 0.192s slower than new Williams teammate Alex Albon in the second practice session at Monza. Simon Galloway/Motorsport Images
Vowles emphasized Colapinto’s place in the team’s academy was key.
“He [Schumacher] would have come with a lot more experience than Franco does, but here’s what I and Williams believe in, the core values: Williams has always invested in new generations of driver and youth, and what I’ve been speaking about all the way through is the future of Williams, and the future of Williams isn’t in investing in the past, it’s investing in talent that allows us to move forward as individuals.
“It’s investing in an academy — you’ll see announcements in the next six weeks or so how we’re filling up that academy — and the amount of finance we’re putting into it, and when you’re putting that amount of finance into your academy you’ve got to put your actions where your words are as well.
“I myself 25 years ago was junior and someone trusted in me and believed in me and invested in me. Franco’s ahead in the F2 championship of [Kimi] Antonelli, he’s ahead of [Oliver] Bearman, and he’s with MP, which with all due respect to MP it’s not Prema or ART, and he’s doing a good job of building up into it.
“Do I think we’ve put someone into the deep end of the swimming pool? Absolutely, 100%, but if you listen to Franco’s own words you’ll hear that he’s up for it, and he knows what’s in front of him, and he’s ready for the challenge.
“So answering your question, I want to demonstrate to the world that investing in a driver that I hope will become a very successful reserve driver for us, simulator driver for us — and other aspects depending on how he performs — is investing in the future of Williams.”
Although he admits his preparations for the Italian Grand Prix have been limited, Franco Colapinto describes the opportunity Williams has given him to race in Formula 1 as “insane” and one he is ready to take. Williams opted to drop Logan Sargeant …
Although he admits his preparations for the Italian Grand Prix have been limited, Franco Colapinto describes the opportunity Williams has given him to race in Formula 1 as “insane” and one he is ready to take.
Williams opted to drop Logan Sargeant following the Dutch Grand Prix, where the American crashed heavily in FP3 and severely damaged an upgraded car, with Formula 2 racer Colapinto chosen as his replacement. The Argentinian rookie says the call came extremely late and was unexpected, but that he feels ready to take on the challenge at Monza.
“For you to imagine, Monday I was in the Formula 2 sim preparing for the race here in Monza with my team, so you can imagine how late it was!” said Colapinto (pictured above walking the track with Williams engineers) said. “I don’t know when they were thinking about but it’s an opportunity that I feel ready for and waiting for for so, so long.
“As a young kid I was always dreaming of this coming through and happening, so today to be here speaking to all of you, it’s a pleasure and I am extremely grateful we have got this opportunity.
“It came very late, of course, but although I am ready I was not expecting it, to be honest. I cannot explain how happy I am to be here with Williams — they have been very supportive and the opportunity they have given me is insane.”
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Colapinto concedes he hasn’t had a lot of time to prepare specifically for this race weekend, but believes his work in the Williams simulator as a member of the team’s young driver academy has helped give him a good chance of adapting quickly.
“Well, not a lot [of preparation]! You can imagine I have a lot of preparation to race in F2 and do a good job. But we have done, in a very short period of time, a lot of things,” he said. “It’s only Thursday and in the very small amount of time we have had, we have worked very well. I prepared a seat, prepared in the simulator very well and the race engineers are giving me information and tips to be quick as soon as possible and to make that learning process a bit quicker.
“Luckily, I have a privilege to be in the simulator so young [as a Williams academy driver], because it prepares me a little bit more for F1, to go through a lot of the process because you have so many things to do in the car. So to do laps and laps and laps in there, it prepares me to be a little bit more comfortable today — I know the [steering] wheel and things that are sometimes a bit difficult.
“I think especially with a few races [completed], I will be a little bit more relaxed and I am trying to go step by step.”
The 21-year-old says he has spoken to Sargeant since the decision and feels for the American, but rejected the notion that his only target would be to bring the car home in one piece over the remaining nine races.
“I am a rookie and a rookie in Formula 2 as well, so I am not expecting much. I want to go step by step and focus on myself,” he said. “To be able to be focused on my job and to do what the team expects, to be honest I am more than sure that I can do it. So I cannot wait to jump in the car tomorrow.”
The United States saw its sole representative among the drivers on the Formula 1 grid lose his seat on Tuesday, as Williams opted to drop Logan Sargeant for the remainder of the season in favor of Formula 2 racer Franco Colapinto (pictured above). …
The United States saw its sole representative among the drivers on the Formula 1 grid lose his seat on Tuesday, as Williams opted to drop Logan Sargeant for the remainder of the season in favor of Formula 2 racer Franco Colapinto (pictured above). It was a clinical decision, made off the back of a heavy crash in FP3 at Zandvoort that cost Williams a huge amount of money, as well as damaged a number of upgraded components. Those components had been delayed in terms of their introduction from much earlier in the year, when Williams also had to deal with a lot of repair work.
To be fair to Sargeant, he wasn’t the only one of the two drivers to crash earlier in the year, with Alex Albon writing off a chassis in Melbourne when Williams didn’t have a spare, and subsequently being given Sargeant’s car as the American was withdrawn from the rest of the weekend. But the demands on Sargeant had been set out by team principal James Vowles, who wanted to see the 23-year-old getting closer to Albon’s level of performance on a regular basis. Not crashing heavily was taken as a given.
A year ago, Sargeant crashed twice during the Zandvoort weekend, once in qualifying — having reached Q3 for the first time — and then again in the race. At the time, if you could have fast-forwarded 12 months you’d have expected to see a little more consistency in his performance, and a lot less propensity to damage the car.
So the decision was not taken solely on performance potential, because Sargeant has shown flashes of what he can do. But with no points this season, it was deemed time to roll the dice to see if it could find a safer pair of hands that could simultaneously increase the chances of scoring.
On that basis, Colapinto did not top my list of expected replacements. In fact, uncertainty over his Super License status and the fact he’s only in his first year of F2 meant I largely dismissed his name’s inclusion in the pool of drivers being considered by Williams over the weekend at Zandvoort. But the 21-year-old Argentinian has clearly impressed the team enough to be deemed a better choice than having Sargeant to complete the season, with both knowing that Carlos Sainz will arrive in 2025.
In that sense, the pressure is off for Colapinto. It’s not an audition for a race seat, and he has nothing to lose. But his racing record would suggest he wouldn’t have pushed beyond his own means in the hope of impressing either way.
Colapinto earned four of his Super License points for completing an FIA championship — each of his two Formula 3 seasons — without receiving any penalty points, a trend he has continued this year in F2. He’s also brought the car home in every race bar two this season, both due to reliability issues.
Colapinto’s get-acquainted sessions with the Williams FW46 mean he won’t be coming in completely cold. Zak Mauger/Motorsport Images
Williams has been able to see Colapinto’s potential through two outings in current machinery, with him completing the Young Driver Test in Abu Dhabi last year and then making his FP1 debut at Silverstone back in July. On the latter occasion, he was 0.4s off Albon, but also managed 24 laps, ensuring he exceeded 100km without penalty and picked up another Super License point.
Of the other main candidates that came across the radar in recent weeks, all are tied to other teams, with Liam Lawson the Red Bull and RB reserve driver, Jack Doohan the same at Alpine and Mick Schumacher also fulfilling reserve duties for Mercedes at times. All three could theoretically have been called back by their parent teams if required at short notice, leaving Williams scrambling. Instead, Colapinto brings a certainty that he will see out the season.
Williams is also following its own mantra by backing a young driver that has come through its academy, having signed Sargeant and placed him in F2 before promoting him in 2023, and now doing exactly the same with his replacement.
It’s a big ask for Colapinto to deliver performances, but he has won at Monza on numerous occasions in the junior categories, and will be racing this weekend on a track that he knows well, even if that isn’t in F1 machinery.
Costly errors in terms of results or lap time will be accepted for a rookie being dropped into the car at late notice, but the one thing Williams and Vowles will be telling Colapinto to avoid is the expensive mistake that heavily damages a car.
Do that over the next nine races and Colapinto will likely return to F2 next year as a talent as closely watched as Kimi Antonelli and Oliver Bearman. Fail, and Williams will have learned a lot about one of its top young prospects, but also missed out on little given Sargeant’s lack of results and the stability to the future lineup that Sainz brings alongside Albon.
The team had little to lose, but Colapinto potentially has a lot to gain.
