Carlos Sainz says he used his final laps in a Ferrari during the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to prepare himself to be able to compare cars once he jumped into the Williams for testing. Ferrari has allowed Sainz to take part in the post-race Pirelli tire …
Carlos Sainz says he used his final laps in a Ferrari during the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to prepare himself to be able to compare cars once he jumped into the Williams for testing.
Ferrari has allowed Sainz to take part in the post-race Pirelli tire test on Tuesday for Williams, and that was preceded by a filming day on Monday where he could complete limited mileage on demonstration tires. Sainz insists the transition into his next chapter is not something he envisages being particularly difficult because he was already thinking about how he could take learnings to Williams.
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“Being very honest with you, I don’t think (it’ll be hard),” Sainz said after Sunday’s race. “I’m not going to lie, my last laps, as much as I was pushing like hell for (Ferrari) and trying, I was already starting to feel things in the car and trying to say, remember how this feels. because (on Monday) and Tuesday I need to remember why is this car quick in this corner and why does it feel good?
“Because I know probably what I’m going to find (on Monday) and Tuesday needs some margin of improvement in the corners that I was feeling the car. So this just sums up that I’m already looking also ahead. I’m extremely motivated for the challenge that I have ahead of me.
“(Sunday) is a day to try and enjoy as much as possible with the team as my last day in red. We still have some days in Maranello coming up, but obviously my competitive mind is already looking forward to Monday and Tuesday and to see how I can make that Williams car faster.”
Sainz followed his filming day with the highest total of any single driver during Tuesday’s Pirelli test, completing 146 laps and setting the second fastest time behind former teammate Charles Leclerc, after spending the majority of the day at the top of the standings.
Charles Leclerc set the pace ahead of former teammate Carlos Sainz as the 2024 Formula 1 season came to a conclusion with testing in Abu Dhabi. All teams were allowed to run two cars at the one-day test, one for a rookie driver who has started no …
Charles Leclerc set the pace ahead of former teammate Carlos Sainz as the 2024 Formula 1 season came to a conclusion with testing in Abu Dhabi.
All teams were allowed to run two cars at the one-day test, one for a rookie driver who has started no more than two grands prix, and one for tire testing purposes for Pirelli. Leclerc was taking part in the entire day for Ferrari and topped the times with a 1m23.510, beating Sainz on his first official outing for Williams by 0.125s.
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Sainz had taken part in a filming day for Williams on Monday at the Yas Marina Circuit, but that took place on demonstration tires and with limited mileage. Tuesday was his first chance to really drive the FW46 in anger, and the Spaniard enjoyed an extremely productive day, completing 146 laps and spending most of it at the top of the timing screens.
Of more importance to Sainz was the opportunity to feel the differences between the Williams and Ferrari cars, and get used to procedures and settings, allowing him to provide feedback for areas to work on over the winter. The same can be said of Nico Hulkenberg on his first appearance for Sauber, with the German fourth fastest with a 1m23.789 and one of multiple drivers to exceed 100 laps.
While Hulkenberg was getting used to a new way of working after leaving Haas, he ended up sandwiched between two drivers in familiar machinery as Mercedes pair George Russell and Kimi Antonelli were third and fifth respectively. Antonelli had been due to drive for the entire day but an illness had ruled him out of the final Formula 2 weekend and he was still recovering, so reserve driver Fred Vesti was behind the wheel for the morning, before Antonelli managed 62 laps after lunch.
Pato O’Ward had another strong outing for McLaren with the seventh fastest time and 116 laps under his belt, at a track where he struggled with his neck on his testing debut back in 2021. O’Ward drove for the entire day while McLaren split running in the tire test car between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
Alpine pair Jack Doohan and Paul Aron also drove for the full day, with Aron making his debut in current machinery just over a week after being confirmed as an Alpine reserve driver for 2025. The Estonian – who was third in this year’s F2 championship – only received the nod to drive on Sunday night but ended up 0.007s off Doohan’s best time and completed 121 laps to his team-mate’s 137.
Rounding out the top ten was the driver Doohan replaced, with Esteban Ocon making his debut for Haas. The Frenchman had to wait 15 minutes before starting his running but managed over 100 laps and posted a best time of 1m24.305.
There were other notable performances from rookies Luke Browning and Ryo Hirakawa in 11th and 12th for Williams and Haas respectively, while Liam Lawson in 13th had the highest lap count with 159 on what could well prove to be his last outing for RB. RACER understands Lawson is set to replace Sergio Perez at Red Bull, once an agreement is reached regarding the latter’s departure.
That news will be a disappointment to Yuki Tsunoda who had his first outing in current Red Bull machinery and managed 127 laps during tire testing, ending up just 0.011s slower than Abu Dhabi Grand Prix winner Norris. The McLaren driver was also responsible for one of the few yellow flags during a remarkably clean day of running, spinning at Turn 14 in the morning session.
The only other interruptions were a Virtual Safety Car required to clear debris from Turn 7 mid-afternoon, and a spin for Isack Hadjar at the same corner before a very late red flag briefly interrupted proceedings for a barrier check in the final sector.
From an American perspective, Jak Crawford made his debut in the 2024 Aston Martin as part of the young driver testing and set a 1m24.997, edging out Felipe Drugovich in the sister car by 0.017s.
Carlos Sainz has driven for Williams for the first time as part of a filming day at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi. The Spaniard is joining Williams in 2025 but has been released by Ferrari to take part in the Pirelli tire test for his new team …
Carlos Sainz has driven for Williams for the first time as part of a filming day at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi.
The Spaniard is joining Williams in 2025 but has been released by Ferrari to take part in the Pirelli tire test for his new team this week, with the test itself taking place on Tuesday following this weekend’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
However, to get Sainz more comfortable in the car and to check his seat fit and pedal position, Williams has been able to make use of a filming day it had yet to complete in order for him to drive on Monday.
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Within 24 hours of finishing second for Ferrari in the final race of the season, Sainz was on track in the FW46 on demonstration Pirelli tires. Wearing a plain white helmet but carrying his normal race number of 55, Sainz completed a number of laps late in the afternoon at the Yas Marina Circuit, including a practice start as he familiarized himself with Williams procedures.
Sainz will be one of a number of race drivers testing for their 2025 teams on Tuesday, with Kimi Antonelli at Mercedes, Esteban Ocon at Haas, Jack Doohan at Alpine and Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto at Stake.
Williams also announced a new sponsor on Monday, with Spanish-based banking giant Santander continuing to back Sainz as he makes the move from Ferrari.
Carlos Sainz has been given permission from Ferrari to drive for Williams in the post-season test in Abu Dhabi next month. The Spaniard will race for Williams from 2025 onwards alongside Alex Albon (pictured at left, above, with Sainz), following …
Carlos Sainz has been given permission from Ferrari to drive for Williams in the post-season test in Abu Dhabi next month.
The Spaniard will race for Williams from 2025 onwards alongside Alex Albon (pictured at left, above, with Sainz), following Ferrari’s signing of Lewis Hamilton from Mercedes that was announced at the start of this year. Although under contract until the end of 2024, Sainz has been allowed to begin work with Williams in the one-day test that follows the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, driving this year’s FW46.
“This early opportunity will allow both Carlos and Williams to begin building their relationship,” Williams said in a statement. “The test session will provide a valuable chance for Carlos to begin integrating into his new team environment, and he will drive the FW46 for the first time.”
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Sainz is one of four current drivers who are moving teams in the off-season, with Esteban Ocon joining Haas and Nico Hulkenberg switching to Stake Sauber alongside Hamilton’s move.
Four rookies have also been confirmed as joining the grid full-time in the form of Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Oliver Bearman, Jack Doohan and Gabriel Bortoleto. All four are expected to run in Abu Dhabi, where teams can run one car for drivers who have started no more than two grands prix, and one car for Pirelli tire testing purposes.
Earlier on Friday, Williams also shut down any notion that it was at risk of not having two cars ready for the Las Vegas Grand Prix, with a spokesperson telling RACER it would be “business as usual” next weekend following a major effort from the team and suppliers to overcome the damage sustained in Brazil.
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.
Red Bull “would be open” to loaning Liam Lawson to Williams for the Italian Grand Prix, according to Christian Horner. Williams has sounded out the availability of potential replacements for Logan Sargeant should it make a mid-season change to its …
Red Bull “would be open” to loaning Liam Lawson to Williams for the Italian Grand Prix, according to Christian Horner.
Williams has sounded out the availability of potential replacements for Logan Sargeant should it make a mid-season change to its driver lineup, following an expensive crash for Sargeant during FP3 at the Dutch Grand Prix. Lawson is understood to be one such name on the list, and Horner says he is not against Lawson driving another car on short notice but would want him to still be available to the two Red Bull teams as a reserve driver if required.
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“It would depend on which terms and if we needed him back that we could have him back quite quickly,” Horner said. “But we’d certainly… if they needed a driver next weekend, we’d be open to that. But that’s a Williams question rather than one for us to answer.”
RACER understands it was not just Red Bull that was approached to understand potential driver availability, but Williams refused to be drawn on whether a change could be made as soon as next weekend’s race at Monza.
“We are not going to get into speculation,” a team spokesperson said. “There have been a lot of false rumors about Logan and his seat this year. As James [Vowles] maintains, F1 is a meritocracy but as a team we are focused on delivering the best possible results in the upcoming races.”
Sargeant will stop racing for Williams in 2025 when he is replaced by Carlos Sainz, who has signed a multi-year deal to join Alex Albon at the team.
