The United States lost its only representative among the drivers on the Formula 1 grid on Tuesday, with Williams opting for Formula 2 driver Franco Colapinto, leaving Logan Sargeant out until the end of the season. (picture above). It was a clinical decision, as a serious crash in FP3 at Zandvoort cost Williams a huge amount of money and damaged several upgraded components, which were delayed in their introduction earlier this year when Williams 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 this year. Alex Albon scrapped his chassis in Melbourne when Williams had no spare car, and the American was subsequently handed Sargeant’s car when he withdrew all weekend. But the demands on Sargeant were laid out by team principal James Vowles, who wanted to see the 23-year-old approach Albon’s level of performance on a regular basis. Not crashing too hard was seen as a given.
A year ago, Sargeant crashed twice during the Zandvoort weekend, once in qualifying, then again in the race after qualifying for the first time in Q3. If he could have fast-forwarded 12 months, you would have expected his performances to have been a little more consistent and his car less prone to damage.
So the decision wasn’t based solely on performance potential, because Sargeant had shown a few moments of what he could do, but with no points this season, it was deemed time to roll the dice to see if he could find a safe hand that would also increase his scoring potential.
For that reason, Colapinto wasn’t top of my list of potential replacements. In fact, given the uncertainty over his super license status and the fact that he’s only in his first year in F2, I largely dismissed his name as being in Williams’ driver pool for the weekend at Zandvoort. But the 21-year-old Argentine has clearly impressed the team and is seen as a better option than taking Sargeant to finish the season, both of whom know Carlos Sainz will arrive in 2025.
In that sense, there is no pressure on Colapinto. This is not an audition for a racing spot, and he has nothing to lose. But his racing record suggests he would not have gone beyond his means to make an impression either way.
Colapinto has won four Super Licence points by completing the FIA Championship without receiving penalty points. He has continued this trend in F2 this year. He has also brought the car home in all but two races this season, both due to reliability issues.
Colapinto’s familiarisation session with the Williams FW46 means he won’t be coming in completely cold. Zak Mauger/Motorsport Images
Williams have been able to confirm Colapinto’s potential with two starts in the current machine. He completed his young driver test in Abu Dhabi last year and made his FP1 debut at Silverstone in July. In the latter, he finished 0.4s behind Albon but passed the 100km mark without a penalty after 24 laps and earned another Super Licence point.
The other major candidates who have been on the radar in recent weeks are all with other teams, with Liam Lawson as the reserve driver for Red Bull and RB, Jack Doohan at Alpine and Mick Schumacher occasionally doing reserve duty for Mercedes. In theory, all three could be called back to their parent teams at short notice if needed, with Williams floundering. Instead, Colapinto has brought assurance that he can finish the season.
Williams is also following its own path by backing young drivers who have come through the academy. It signed Sargent to F2 and promoted him in 2023, and is now doing the same with his replacement.
It’s a tall order for Colapinto to perform well, but he has won several junior titles at Monza and will be racing at a track he knows well, even if it’s not in an F1 machine, this weekend.
While a costly mistake in terms of results or lap times will allow a rookie to get into the car at late notice, one thing Williams and Boles will tell Colapinto to avoid is a costly mistake that causes major damage to the car.
If he does so in the next nine races, Colapinto will likely return to F2 next year as a talent as Kimi Antonelli and Oliver Bearman. Failing that, Williams will have learned a lot from one of the best young prospects, but given Sargeant’s lack of results and the stability of the future line-up that Sainz brings alongside Albon, they will have missed little.
The team has little to lose, but Colapinto potentially has a lot to gain.
