Credits: IMAGO / Eibner and IMAGO / PanoramiC |
L: Franco Colapinto R: James Vowles

Franco Colapinto seemed like a wildcard name in the saga about replacing Logan Sargeant at Williams. However, Colapinto is quite familiar to the Grove-based outfit, having been with their driver academy since 2023. The Argentine driver has shown promise in his F3 and F2 performances. One such performance was his maiden F2 win in the sprint race at Imola this season.

Colapinto’s manager, Maria Catarineu gave an interview to Fox Sports Argentina about the 21-year-old’s promotion to Williams in F1. She revealed that the team boss James Vowles was impressed with Colapinto’s last-lap overtake on Paul Aron in the Imola sprint race.

“Vowles told Franco that his last lap overtake on (Paul) Aron was a key factor on his decision.”, she said.

Colapinto had a slow start in the 25-lap sprint race at Imola, dropping down to P3 in the opening laps. He then steadily got back into second behind the race leader, Aron by the seventh lap. It was on the final lap when Colapinto was about half a second behind the Estonian driver, he decided to send it around the outside at the Tamburello chicane.

While Aron fought hard to keep the lead, he could not keep the Argentine driver behind. Colapinto was elated on the team radio after completing the pass. Vowles would have seen this aggressive mindset of wanting to win at a tricky track like Imola, where it is very difficult to pull off passes like Colapinto did.

The Williams boss would have also seen the 21-year-old’s simulator data, if any, besides his FP1 outing performance at the British GP. However, as Catarineu said, Vowles probably wanted a driver like Colapinto for his winning mindset.

Is this a good opportunity for Colapinto?

There is a lot of chatter about why Williams have chosen Colapinto over experienced youngsters like Liam Lawson and Mick Schumacher. There are multiple reasons and intricacies about the Grove outfit not being able to get either Lawson or Schumacher.

Moreover, Williams also wants to have full autonomy about its drivers and also develop to be an independent winning constructor. This mindset also reflected in their signing of Carlos Sainz for 2025 and beyond.

As for Colapinto, who has scored three podiums including the Imola sprint race victory in F2 this year, this is a great chance to show his mettle at the highest level of motorsport. With nine races, the 21-year-old can show what he can do with an underperforming Williams car besides a solid driver like Alex Albon.

Previously, such mid-season substitute performances have been quite successful in F1. Nico Hulkenberg standing in at Racing Point (now Aston Martin) for a few races in 2020 is one example. Lawson’s 2023 stint with AlphaTauri (now VCARB) is another case in point on how stand-in drivers can do wonders.

The Kiwi driver scored points in an underperforming car at the Singapore GP and impressed many. If Colapinto can emulate that, he will solidify his case for other teams to pick him up in the future, just like Lawson did.