Williams team principal James Vowles said Franco Colapinto was fit to race in the Las Vegas Grand Prix after the driver claimed he suffered a concussion in his crash the day before.
Colapinto hit two barriers at turn 15 and 16 when he lost control of his FW46 during qualifying. The second impact delivered a 50G blow and caused extensive damage to his car.Afterwards reports quoted Colapinto saying the crash left him with concussion. Vowles clarified that remark and stated Colapinto was cleared to race before the event.
“I don’t think there was a formal concussion check done as a result of it,” he said in yesterday’s FIA press conference. “What I can say is that we asked the medical team to assess him the following day.
“Once he had a night’s rest they assessed him in a number of different ways and cleared him to race as a result of it.”
Vowles praised the FIA’s efforts to ensure high safety standards for F1 tracks, cars and drivers. “The FIA did a brilliant job because it’s a massive hit. 50G is just enormous.
“What I wanted to make sure is before we put someone back in the car that they were completely clear and fit in that regard. For Franco, it’s probably the largest single accident he’s ever suffered by a long way in his life as a result of it. For me, the more important thing is that he’s healthy and good.”
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Last weekend’s race was Colapinto’s seventh since Vowles promoted him to the team in place of Logan Sargeant. Colapinto crashed three times over the last two grand prix weekends, but Vowles said he drove well once he got back in his car at Las Vegas.
“I think in the race you saw he did a good job. It’s always hard when you start from the back, but he was fighting his way back through the field.
“I don’t think we quite had everything right with the car there and the car wasn’t really the best we’ve ever particularly made. But yeah, that’s pretty much it. The main thing is he was cleared to race by the FIA the following day.”
Vowles said he hasn’t told Colapinto to change his approach to racing despite the extensive damage Williams’ cars have suffered in recent races.
“The only thing I asked both drivers to do, and this was before Las Vegas, is [in] free practice you need to take a level of care.
“But qualifying is qualifying, race is race. Do what you do best. You’re one of the 20 best drivers in the world.”
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Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
30th November 2024, 11:39
F1 is so short term these days that the perception of the people driving change every weekend. I don’t think the situation is helped by Red Bull being such a mess that they are thinking about promoting drivers with less than 10 races in their pocket to the main team.
I bet if they finally decided on Yuki, all 3 of the drivers they are considering (Lawson, Franco and Yuki himself) would race better. Even Perez might be somewhat relieved….