Franco Colapinto will make his Formula 1 grand prix debut this weekend as a replacement for the struggling Logan Sargeant.
Williams has chosen to drop Sargeant, who has consistently qualified and raced behind team mate Alexander Albon this year.Colapinto, 21, joined Williams’ driver academy last year. He drove the team’s FW46 in the first practice session at the British Grand Prix for Williams at Silverstone and also completed a day of testing for them at Yas Marina at the end of last season.
“It is an honour to be making my Formula 1 debut with Williams,” said Colapinto. “This is what dreams are made of.
He admitted he faces “an enormous learning curve” making his debut in the middle of the season. “But I am up for the challenge, and I’m fully focused on working as hard as I can with Alex and the team to make it a success.”
Colapinto will vacate his seat in MP Motorsport’s Formula 2 team at Monza in order to make his F1 debut. They are yet to announce who his replacement will be.
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He made his debut in Formula 2 this year and scored his only win to date in the partial-reverse-grid race at Imola. His best result in feature races are a pair of second places at the Red Bull Ring and Catalunya, and he lies sixth in the championship standings, second-highest among the rookies.
Sargeant already knew his days at Williams were numbered as the team announced during the summer break that Carlos Sainz Jnr will replace him next year. However the team finally lost patience with their driver, who was involved in a series of incidents earlier this year, after he crashed again in practice for the Dutch Grand Prix last weekend.
Williams team principal James Vowles said Sargeant’s latest crash came at the worst possible time after the team made a huge update to bring enough examples of its latest upgrades for both drivers last weekend. The team suffered a shortage of parts earlier in the season due to the late completion of their FW46, Sargeant’s various incidents and his team mate’s crash in Australia.
“We have just brought a large upgrade to the car and need to maximise every points-scoring opportunity in a remarkably tight midfield battle. We also believe in investing in our young drivers in the Williams Racing Driver Academy, and Franco is getting a fantastic opportunity to demonstrate what he is capable of across the final nine rounds of the season.”
“This is undoubtedly incredibly tough on Logan, who has given his all throughout his time with Williams, and we want to thank him for all his hard work and positive attitude,” Vowles added. “Logan remains a talented driver and we will support him to continue his racing career for the future. I know that Franco has great speed and huge potential, and we look forward to seeing what he can do in Formula 1.”
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Jack
27th August 2024, 17:07
That’ll hurt Toto who was desperate to get Mick in there.
Doh
27th August 2024, 17:25
Weird that they chose this guy over Mick but hey at least he gets a shot. Wonder if it’s just for one race or the whole season
Janith
27th August 2024, 17:35
Mick is a slow PR hypejob.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
27th August 2024, 18:00
Mick aint a rookie and he’s crash prone. Why would they give him a car?
At least use the guy that’d bring sponsorship and is already a member of the academy.
MGus.ai
27th August 2024, 19:05
Plus this as 6month job – as a placeholder for Sainz.
notagrumpyfan
27th August 2024, 18:21
You might be in for a big surprise then when you hear who Mercedes has picked to replace Hamilton ;)
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
27th August 2024, 21:03
Probably not, given that unlike Williams, Mercedes has telegraphed its primary plan for months. The only reason they’ve not announced yet is to take advantage of optimal marketing windows (and it’s largely that long only because of a couple of opportunistic queries on drivers with much better records were made).
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
28th August 2024, 4:35
no, mick is there because merc screwed his dad over.
good for logan tho, he escaped two burning messes with in the week. rip the team who stole sir frank’s name.
amped
28th August 2024, 10:30
It wasn’t so much that he wanted Mick to drive. but so thst he could exert meglomaniac control over Vowles and ham his as a whipping boy like he does Brown.
Icarus
27th August 2024, 17:18
Uhhh…. who?
Dex
27th August 2024, 17:45
He didn’t really deserve this chance on merit yet, but come on, Colapinto is not anonymous, at least if you ever watch F2/F3. I would really dislike this move (and say they haven’t learnt anything from bringing Sargeant in too soon) if it weren’t temporary. This really isn’t such a gamble, since there’s literally nothing to lose, and they give their own young driver a chance (to shine or end his F1 hopes though). At least we’ll have something new to talk about.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
27th August 2024, 21:03
The majority of F1 fans don’t have access to F2 to find out anything from that route.
Imre (@f1mre)
27th August 2024, 20:56
And F2 driver ahead of Antonelli in the standings.
GechiChan (@gechichan)
28th August 2024, 8:48
Antonelli is not confirmed, but Bearman is… and Colapinto is 9 places ahead of him in F2 standings. But still, it’s very surprising they gave a fairly anonymous driver such a chance.
Nick T.
28th August 2024, 0:05
Tell me you don’t watch F2 without telling me you don’t watch F2. Often, some of F2’s top 5 competitors get 95% less media attention than a few super hyped drivers not doing as well as them.
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
27th August 2024, 17:22
Goodbye Logan. We will never forget you. For a while.
Welcome new guy. Try not to smash up the car or get in everyone’s way ….OK?
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
27th August 2024, 22:57
And try going faster than your predecessor (sargeant has been incredibly slow for a while on top of being crash prone!
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
27th August 2024, 22:57
)*
@denn (@denn)
27th August 2024, 17:24
guess Logan can get an early start on his IndyCar career now
Asd
27th August 2024, 20:51
He isn’t good enough and he doesn’t have any special marketability value.
Osnola
28th August 2024, 19:38
Almost every b class F1 driver is good enough for indy.
So he could succeed!
Osvaldas31 (@osvaldas31)
27th August 2024, 17:25
This is illogical move. Where are they going to leave Calapinto after these 9 races? They don’t need a driver for next year to evaluate. And he was uninspiring in junior categories as well. They need to score maximum points, so they needed a driver, which is capable of bringing them. There were 2 much better prospects in order to do that: Mick Schumacher and Liam Lawson. Lawson was good substitute last year for Daniel Ricciardo and proved he is capable of delivering results. Schumacher had 1,5 year in Merc as reserve driver, I think he is better driver now. But choose Calapinto who will probably make more crashes (as it is normal for a rookie)? Probably chose him for the money. Kimi would’ve been much more interesting prospect as well.
Janith
27th August 2024, 17:37
Did you know Schumacher was known as Crashmacher while he was in F1? And for good reason. Williams has made a very wise choice trying to get points not repair bills.
SteveP
27th August 2024, 17:54
Possibly a name regularly used over in your PF1 environs, I don’t recall people tagging him with that round here. Now Mazespin we all know, and happily ignore.
anon
27th August 2024, 19:47
SteveP, I suspect that particular poster is trying to push people into using that nickname by claiming that it’s more popular than it really was. Mind you, it’s interesting how some drivers get labelled as “crash happy” when they’re not necessarily having as many accidents as is made out, whilst some other drivers don’t get the label even when they’ve been more accident prone than other supposedly “crash happy” drivers.
If one were to criticise a driver for costing their team a lot in crashes, then Albon arguably should be facing more criticism for his performances given he’s racked up some sizeable bills for Williams.
In 2023, Albon was speculated to have racked up the sixth highest bill for accident damage during that season. As for this year, up until the Dutch GP, Albon had the second highest bill for accident damage – Sargeant might have overtaken Albon now, but Albon has also caused a few financial issues for Williams this year too.
Sham (@sham)
28th August 2024, 11:36
The main difference between Albon and Sargeant isn’t the amount of damage but the amount of points and the fact that he appears to be getting the best from the car. Is Albon really getting the most from the car, or was Sargeants hopelessness flattering him? We’ll see over the next 18 months.
notagrumpyfan
27th August 2024, 22:36
Based on a quick check of this site, this is the first time the reference “Crashmacher” is used on this site (including the comment sections).
check for yourself!
And Janith seemed to be less negative about Mick in this post.
Osvaldas31 (@osvaldas31)
28th August 2024, 8:35
Schumacher did have a couple of heavy crashes. But he wasn’t “Maldonado type” crasher. Not the type of guy, who denies his fault and says he will crash again if needed. With different environent, 1,5 years of development as Mercedes reserve driver and Alpine WEC driver, he had the opportunity to do better.
Sumedh
27th August 2024, 17:51
Problem with Liam Lawson is Red Bull wanted to have flexibility of bringing him back whenever they want. Williams couldn’t afford that.
Problem with Mick is he crashes a lot, especially when he is paired with a fast teammate (like Magnussen in 2022). So, he won’t be an upgrade over Logan in that sense.
And what’s the point of having a young driver programme if you never use that driver in your team.
Osvaldas31 (@osvaldas31)
28th August 2024, 8:36
I didn’t read that it was a condition. I mean, it’s just 9 races and Red Bull seems to be sticking with current drivers at least till the end of the season. Next year Williams already have 2 contracted drivers. So Lawson was available till the end of the season.
SteveP
27th August 2024, 18:00
Lawson would need various negotiated conditions in place – like dropping all contact with Red Bull, totally and utterly.
Schumacher may also have baggage which needed sorting, and Colapinto is basically an in-house promotion.
Colapinto now has 9 races to showcase his talents, and can probably use this to grab a reserve driver status for 2025
Yaru (@yaru)
27th August 2024, 19:01
It’s logical move because Sargeant sucks. Might as well gamble.
t1redmonkey (@t1redmonkey)
27th August 2024, 19:38
Probably just a 9 race F1 career for him, unless Sainz bails on his Williams move (which doesn’t look likely).
Jere (@jerejj)
27th August 2024, 17:33
A totally unexpected choice even for interim purposes.
I’m also surprised about the ”we will support him to continue his racing career for the future” reference as the fact they already decided to replace him with Sainz shows the investment they made into him pre-F1 proved useless & thus, I fail to see any point in having any link to the F1 world beyond this year’s end, especially since he won’t return to being a full-time driver anyway.
If Williams still believed in him, they might as well let him continue as a full-time driver instead, so that he’d gain experience uninterruptedly & thus could realistically become better over time, as even a single year away from F1 racing is unideal in this regard, let alone more, given Albon & Sainz are both on multi-year deals.
Latifi also used to be in their driver academy & he left the F1 world altogether, so I don’t see why Sargeant’s situation should be any different.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
27th August 2024, 23:02
Yes, it was looking like your prediction would be right about them keeping sargeant till the end of the season, and they didn’t replace him at the summer break, but 1 race after they returned, very unusual; also like others I don’t think he’s the best available driver they could’ve taken.
Nick T.
28th August 2024, 0:11
That comment is something all teams say when dropping a young driver who will be leaving F1. If basically means if there’s something we can to do to help you land a drive in another series that doesn’t cost us money (for some, they will spend some money, but not for Logan) we’ll do that.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
27th August 2024, 17:36
Yes! Go Franco!
A tough position to be in but you are not a F1 hopeful anymore. Go enjoy your (hopefully) first nine races in F1!
Janith
27th August 2024, 17:38
He is only in his first year in F2. And is very young. He hardly is a no hoper. Maybe Audi or Red Bull could sign him for 2025 if they are impressed.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
27th August 2024, 18:05
People are quick to dismiss him for no reason. He’s been silently improving race after race and impressed the team in Silverstone.
Is he the ideal replacement? Probably not. Surely finishing F2 this year and push for a title next year would be better. But that’s theory. What happened to Pouchaire? He did that and was forgotten. Nothing can replace the chance to actually race in F1. It could be his only stint but at least he’s done it. Others can’t say the same.
It’s increasingly difficult to join the grid now. Being able to show what you can do in those cares is invaluable. Maybe in the future another team needs a driver and he’d be there, like De Vries was. That didn’t work in the end but he got another unexpected chance at least…
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
27th August 2024, 23:04
And generally, if you are a top driver, you can show something that will interest other teams even at williams, for example there’s russell.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
27th August 2024, 23:05
And yes, like you said de vries, for some reason he didn’t perform at the level expected at toro rosso, following his one-off race at williams; had he done that he’d still be in f1.
Nick T.
28th August 2024, 0:16
Exactly. Frankly, the most talented drivers don’t even need to do F2 at all. I don’t think JC is one such talent, but he’s been good in F2 (not amazing or anything) and sometimes young drivers actually do better when moving into a higher category. Either way, not sure how anyone can complain when there were zero good options let alone exciting ones. This on the other hand is exciting.
Another reason they rushed this change is because they wanted an easy track for him to debut on.
notagrumpyfan
28th August 2024, 8:21
Maybe they delayed it for that reason.
Nick T.
28th August 2024, 17:32
@grumpy: I agree, I think there’s a good chance that they had hoped to replace him at Monza with someone else, but I think his temporary upswing which ended 2-3 races ago in form had complicated their decision, but how costly and utterly unnecessary his crash in Zandvoort probably made up their minds in a moment.
Janith
27th August 2024, 17:49
Fun fact: Colapinto is ahead of Antonelli and Bearman in F2 as a rookie👀
Mog
27th August 2024, 21:12
Oh that is gold, despite it not being the full story. Prema has struggled this season with the new car.
However, I really do think drivers are hyped into a seat most of the time. There are so many factors beyond raw talent that decide the fate of the drivers in F2.
That Colapinto doesnt have the hype is not a necessarily a reflection on his talent, and for sure he will be a fraction of the cost to bring in than anyone else.
MacLeod (@macleod)
28th August 2024, 8:05
Still Prema is team who is allways on top even if they have a lesser moment they are still in the top.
Ocon was also in the Prema team what do you think if Max was in the prema team instead of a mildfielder team like van Amerfoort racing ….. Ocon had 3 wins while Max had 10 wins and a lot of DNF.
So lets see what Colapinto can do with the remaining races as Williams didn’t had a reserve drive and if he does do a good job the have for next year.
Armchair Expert (@armchairexpert)
27th August 2024, 18:01
Replacing a pay driver with another pay driver… Well, Sainz’s salary has to be paid by someone.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
27th August 2024, 23:29
Pay driver? Are you having a laugh?
He has sponsors like everyone else (Sainz included). But that’s it.
amped
28th August 2024, 10:35
Sargeant isn’t a pay driver*, he was a junior Williams Academy driver that was given an opportunity in the same way Colapinto is.
*All incoming drivers are technically pay drivers these days, they need to bring sponsors & budget.
Nick T.
28th August 2024, 17:34
Not a pay driver.
John Beak (@johnbeak)
27th August 2024, 18:09
Colapinto has often been overlooked as a talent. Happy for him to get the chance. It’s been a while since we’ve had an Argentine driver. Even if it’s for less than half a year.
Harsh on Sargeant but he’s been given more than one chance. Ultimately the spare parts bill surely has to be the consideration here, just as was with Mick Schumacher.
MP should make a move and secure Staněk to replace Colapinto in F2. He’s shown some serious race pace in sub-par machinery and he’s out of a drive for the rest of the season.
RBAlonso (@rbalonso)
27th August 2024, 18:29
The timing is a bit strange but good luck to Franco.
Honestly, Logan should never have been given a second season. Vowles gets a lot of praise due to his Mercedes CV but retaining Logan was a poor choice last year. I think he has improved but would he be better than Perez, De Vries, Lawson or Schumacher? I highly doubt it. I think Vowles wants to separate himself from Mercedes and be his own man on his own two feet, which is commendable. But refusing talent like Vesti, Antonelli and Schumacher because their boss is your old boss is not the way to go motor racing in my opinion.
From what I’ve seen from Colapinto and given we know it’s only for 9 races, I think he’ll do well. I caveat “well” as being closer to Albon than Sargeant after the first 3 or 4 races and possibly scoring a point or two given the upgrade looks good. The practice crash for Logan is doubly bitter given the team look to have improved this weekend. F1 is a tough sport but you get what you deserve.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
27th August 2024, 23:09
Yes, I agree it’s wrong to not take drivers he knew were upgrades just cause of wanting to distance himself from mercedes.
Nick T.
28th August 2024, 17:37
His insistence on just using Williams Academy drivers is a huge mistake. It’d make much more sense to sign someone like Aaron to give a chance to. However, since he had already signed Carlos, there is an upside: it shows drivers that might join the Williams Academy they have a chance of being given a shot and Logan’s failure hasn’t soured them on rookies.
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
27th August 2024, 18:54
What a wasted opportunity – Red Bull could have snuck Perez into the Williams and given Tsunoda or Ricciardo one of the Red Bulls.
Yaru (@yaru)
27th August 2024, 19:02
Red Bull wants Perez in that Red Bull seat for now. Otherwise they would have switched then in the summer break.
Equity.Seeker
27th August 2024, 18:55
It’s a shame that Williams took suco a long while to realize that Sargeant had to be dismissed. Hopefully Colapinto will at least not crash a car every damn weekend.
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
27th August 2024, 19:02
Blimey, he looks just like Russell!
Good to see a change, Sgt was becoming painful to watch and it’ll refresh the line-up a little as Lawson did a year ago.
Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
27th August 2024, 20:41
Congratulations to Franco for getting this opportunity. I hope he is race fit and does lots of homework.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
27th August 2024, 21:04
Seconded. Good luck Franco!
simone
27th August 2024, 21:55
This is going to be interesting and wishing Franco the best of luck, its a heck of an opportunity for him and probably not the easiest race to make his F1 debut on. But lets face it, we’re all going to be judging James V on this decision.
Dusty
27th August 2024, 22:19
Is Albon going to Mercedes next year? What other reason to give this rookie 1 or 9 races of experience in F1?
Red Andy (@red-andy)
27th August 2024, 22:47
Of the two Williams juniors currently in F2, I’d have picked O’Sullivan over Colapinto – he seems to me to have the higher ceiling – but it’s been obvious for a while that Franco has been considered the next cab off the rank for Williams.
The timing is odd though – if Williams were to replace Sargeant you’d have thought the summer break was the logical time to do so. A case of sponsors not paying up, or was the practice crash really the final straw?
Nick T.
28th August 2024, 0:06
I’m pretty excited about this. Would prefer it be Aaron, but they chose someone from their Colapinto. Drivers don’t need multiple seasons in F2 to be capable of driving an F1 car.
Frank Chong
28th August 2024, 5:43
Since William didn’t agree with the RB call back option of Liam, not surprise he didn’t get it. But William prefers Mick over Colapinto? This make me think is Mick really overrated. But like Toto said, for someone wining F4,3 and 2, can’t be bad.
An Sionnach
28th August 2024, 9:26
Sargeant seems like a nice young man. It didn’t make sense to keep him on, though. He’s had more than enough of a chance. There are so few teams in F1 now and there’s so little opportunity for outsiders to join the ranks of “the greatest drivers in the world”. When the writing is on the wall for a driver it’s time to give someone else a chance.
With the above in mind, I was pleasantly surprised by Zhou last year. This year he’s been horribly slow on several occasions. Is that worse than crashing trying to go fast? You’ll never be fast unless you try. Yes, the car is rubbish, but surely his time in F1 is over and it could be productive to see what another driver can do with this awful car. Not crashing it and being less horribly slow by the end of the season would be a good result.
Craig
28th August 2024, 9:27
While I’m not overly surprised Sargeant got the boot I do still feel sorry for him. Best of luck to Colapinto, who at least gets a chance to shine unlike a lot of people stuck in junior programs (might mean other Williams Academy drivers can get an opportunity in F2)
MichaelN
28th August 2024, 13:51
A nice enough opportunity for Colapinto, I guess. Not sure who he’s auditioning for though, given that Williams claims to have both its seats filled for next year. Sauber/Audi? Seems a bit uninspired for such a company to have Hülkenberg and a rookie, though.
Anyway, it’s not really a surprise that Sargeant wasn’t retained (nor that Vowles kept claiming the opposite in spite of all the talk). He didn’t show anything last year, and benching him in favour of Albon in Australia, where Albon was to blame for not having a car, showed Williams had zero long-term interest in Sargeant. It’s a bit surprising he kept coming back after that, even when Williams stitched him up with Albon’s refurbished car and then proceeded to provide updates to Albon one or more races in advance.
Poor Sainz to be going to this team.
Nick T.
28th August 2024, 17:40
We’ve how disproportionately teams value a solid performance in an F1 car. So, this is an AMAZING opportunity. If he is close to Albon, don’t be surprised to see a team like Audi try to sign him.
José Lopes da Silva
28th August 2024, 16:08
It’s great to see an unexpected driver to take a chance.
The arguments exposed against Colapinto are so amusing.
“Colapinto is going to crash because that’s what rookies do”. Not all rookies crash.
“Colapinto is not going to be faster”. How can you know? Just because you didn’t watch him?
“Colapinto won’t do better results”. Sargeant has been costing millions in crashes. That had to stop, honestly. If Colapinto doesn’t crash, it’s a plus. We’re not in the Eighties, sorry.
“Mick Schumacher would be better”. If you think Mick Schumacher deserves a chance in Formula 1, you must reconsider the way you analyse the sport. Schumacher beat the worst junior categories driver ever and then got thrashed by Magnussen. For years I’ve been watching every driver and pundit being sympathetic to Mick and almost gasping while saying he deserves a chance because he’s fast. Of course he isn’t. And this is F1. No results, you’re out.
“Liam Lawson would be better”. He’s a Red Bull driver.
“I’d have picked O’Sullivan over Colapinto – he seems to me to have the higher ceiling” – well, this was just trolling, to reinforce Piquet and Alonso’s unfair prejudice against British media and fans.
What I don’t understand he’s the apparent hostility to Colapinto. If you don’t know him, why bother? Why on Earth should F1 not pick F2 drivers to give them a taste and an opportunity? Opportunities are so rare these days, isn’t it good to see a new face?
Sargeant competed in 36 Grand Prix – that would be more than two full seasons in the “16 GP season” days. More than enough to judge his talent. Lasted way longer than Michael Andretti. Sad that the US can’t still produce solid F1 talent. Farewell and good luck!
Mariano (@mariano)
29th August 2024, 10:07
I’m very close to Colapinto’s sponsors. Reading the comments demonstrates me that no one here has a clue about the negotiations between Williams and Colapinto’s managers which of course I’m not going to disclose but such negotiations started 2 months ago. Williams indeed negotiated also with Mick’s manager and others in order to choose Logan’s replacement. Every candidate came with almost the same financial support but Vowles chose Colapinto. Why he did it? Maybe he thinks that Colapinto is more talented than the other options? Time will give the answer.