Matty Writes Sports

Williams began the 2024 Formula 1 season with the same lineup as the previous year, with the British-Thai Alexander Albon and the American Logan Sargeant making up the Williams driver lineup for the second consecutive season. This appeared to be the plan all along; despite the fact that Albon was routinely quicker than Sargeant in the previous season, the American was kept on by the British team, who still believed he had more to show.

However, Sargeant’s second season in Formula 1 was nothing short of a disaster. His highest finish was 11th, which he achieved at Silverstone, but, ths ultimately led to zero points finishes across the season. Add onto this his penchant for a crash, and Williams felt they were forced to act.

The 2024 Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort would prove to be Sargeant’s last with the Williams team, and, after a fiery crash in qualifying, rumours around the paddock began to swirl, that Williams Team President James Vowles had finally seen enough. After a season and a half of backing the American, the Williams Principal had to accept the inevitable.

From the next week at Monza, Sargeant was out, and Argentina’s Franco Colapinto was promoted to the seat for the rest of the season. Colapinto, who, at the time of his promotion was racing in Formula 2 for MP Motorsport, had merely 4 days to prepare for his first Formula 1 race, and there was little to no expectations on the young Argentinian’s shoulders.

Colapinto was born and raised in Pilar, a city in the Argentinian province of Buenos Aires, not far from the city of the same name. The young Colapinto began karting at the age of nine, and, soon after began winning regional series’ in his home country and beyond, moving to Italy at 14 to pursue his dream.

The 2018 season saw Colapinto’s first foray into single seaters, entering the final round of the Spanish Formula 4 Championship with Drivex Racing School, a seat he would retain for the following season in the same championship. Colapinto immediately proved why, winning the Championship in his first full season, with 11 victories over the course of the season, which included 6 of the last 7 races, and all three races at Catalunya, and 2 at Portimao.

The following season, in the Covid impacted 2020, Colapinto graduated to the Formula Renault Eurocup, driving for MP Motorsport for the first time in his career. Colapinto showed his talents in front of a strong grid and finished 3rd behind future Formula 2 opponents Victor Martins and Caio Collet. Colapinto collected 2 victories over the course of the season, at Monza and at Spa Francorchamps.

However a disappointing 6th in the Formula Regional European the year after put a dent in Colapinto’s hopes and, as a result, he also dipped his toes into endurance racing for the first time: competing in 6 races in the European Le Mans Series with G-Drive Racing. However, for 2022, his focus became single seaters again, as Van Amersfoort Racing knocked on the door and gave him his first Formula 3 seat for the 2022 season.

He began the season with a bang, taking pole position in both his and the team’s first race in the series at Sakhir. Despite only a 5th placed finish in the feature race, Colapinto once again showed what he was all about, getting his first taste of Formula 3 victory in Imola next time around. Over the course of the season, the Argentinian proved why he was so highly rated, achieving another victory on Italian soil, this time at the end of the season, and at Monza. His first Formula 3 season concluded that same weekend, as Colapinto finished a respectable ninth position in the championship, comfortably ahead of both of his teammates, Reece Ushijima and Rafael Villagomez.

Prior to the 2023 Formula 3 season, for which he reunited with MP Motorsport, Colapinto’s talents were recognised by a Formula 1 team for the first time. Williams had come calling and offered the Argentine a spot in their driver academy, With this backing, Colapinto would improve upon his ninth place finish with fourth the following season, adding another two victories to his resume, and scoring only nine points less than second placed Zak O’Sullivan, another member of Williams’ driver academy.

After a season like this, Colapinto moved up again, sticking with MP Motorsport in Formula 2. After another 3 podium finishes in the early parts of the season, Colapinto’s Formula 1 dream was soon proving it could be possible.

Maybe not in the fashion he had expected though.

With Colapinto sixth in the Formula 2 standings, Williams promoted him to replace Sargeant. Argentina had it’s first Formula 1 driver since Gaston Mazzacane was turning out for Prost in the teams ill-fated 2001 season.

For many, all Colapinto had to do was keep the car out of the barriers and show some kind of promise, the promise that Sargeant had failed to show in his 37 Grand Prix entries. Almost immediately however, Colapinto proved he had more than Sargeant. Despite qualifying 18th for his first race, Colapinto managed to move up to 12th by the time the chequered flag was waved, achieving praise for his performance, especially after such short notice.

Two weeks later and the Formula 1 circus travelled to the Black Sea and the city streets of Baku in Azerbaijan. With another 2 weeks of preparation, and following his promising display at Monza, many were excited to see what the Argentine could do on the city streets.

He certainly did not disappoint.

In only his second weekend in the sport, Colapinto managed to reach Q3, and place his car in 9th, beating out his teammate Albon, who, albeit had a pretty monumental error where Williams somehow didn’t spot the fluorescent green airbox on the top of the car, denying the Thai driver the chance at beating his teammate. Nevertheless, the Argentinian, in only his second race achieved something that his predecessor, Sargeant never did.

In 37 races of his career, Logan Sargeant had a qualifying record of 0-37 against Alexander Albon. In 2 races of his Formula 1 career, Colapinto had a qualifying record of 1-1.

It speaks volumes of both how good Colapinto has been since coming into the seat, and how painfully below average Sargeant was for the entirety of his Formula 1 career.

This great form also continued into the race, where Colapinto ran a one stop strategy, managing to bring the car home in an impressive 8th position, securing double points for Williams for the first time since the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix. Not only this, but it was a historic Grand Prix for Colapinto, as his 8th place made him Argentina’s first points scorer since the late Carlos Reutemann in 1982.

Next time out in Singapore, Colapinto qualified in 12th, only 7 thousandths of a second behind Albon. During the race, the Argentinian finished 11th, also receiving the praise of Red Bull’s Checo Perez, who was stuck behind the Argentinian for a number of laps. Again, Colapinto was receiving heavy plaudits for this display, and, his overall performance was catching the eye of many.

A month later at COTA, Colapinto finished in the top 10 again, snagging another point for Williams in their battle for 8th in the Constructors’ Championship, and it could easily have been two. He held the fastest lap until the final lap of the race, when Alpine’s Esteban Ocon, who was running in 18th snatched it away at the final moment. Although Ocon didn’t get the points benefit, as he was out of the top 10, it denied Williams another point ahead of Alpine. Ocon publicly apologised to Colapinto after the race for this, but Franco seemed a little bit more concerned with Alpine’s environmental impact, suggesting that they wasted tyres which could have been saved. Very eco friendly Franco.

In Mexico, Colapinto finished in 12th again, despite many issues that plagued the car throughout qualifying and the race. Again, he received high praise for this performance and was truly making a case that he should be on the grid in the near future.

So, why isn’t he?

Williams have no open seat for 2025. Even prior to Colapinto replacing Sargeant, it was pretty much an open secret that Sargeant was a dead man walking (or driving I suppose). Williams had been aggressively pursuing current Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz ever since it was announced he was out of Ferrari for 2025, after they poached 7 time world champions Lewis Hamilton from Mercedes. Williams Principal James Vowles has been infatuated with Sainz for a long time and now, he finally had control of who drove for his team. Several meetings took place after various races in the season, and, finally, Sainz’s signature was on the dotted line. At the Belgian Grand Prix, the Spaniard was confirmed for Williams in 2025 and beyond.

As a result, this leaves Colapinto in a rather interesting spot. Both Albon and Sainz are locked up at Williams for the next two seasons at least, but it is pretty universally accepted that Colapinto should be in the sport before that. Williams could never have known what the Argentinian was going to show in Formula 1; it is pretty difficult to know until you’ve seen these kinds of things. For example, Sargeant had been very quick in his sole Formula 2 season with Carlin, however this pace never translated to the pinnacle of motorsport. Maybe Colapinto would have been the same.

But he isn’t. After a string of stellar performances since replacing the American, Colapinto still has no idea what his future might hold. With only one spot left on the 2025 grid, Colapinto’s options are looking quite slim.

The only open seat on the grid belongs to Sauber. The backmarkers haven’t scored a point with its current line-up of Valterri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu but the team has signed Nico Hulkenberg for the 2025 F1 Season. It is widely expected that Zhou will be released. China’s only Formula 1 driver to date has looked distinctly average in all 3 of his seasons so far, and Sauber finally seem to have clocked on.

However, the second seat is still up for grabs. Mattia Binotto, who joined the team in August has been quite public about Sauber’s options. These have ranged from their academy driver Theo Pourchaire, who is currently competing in Super Formula to current Formula 2 leader Gabriel Bortoleto, who belongs to McLaren and even keeping Bottas. Colapinto’s chances of this seat seem pretty slim however.

But what else is on the cards?

Well, over at Red Bull, Sergio Perez has been floundering, to put it kindly. The Mexican has struggled all season, and in recent races, has been struggling to even finish inside of the points, whilst his teammate, Max Verstappen is leading the championship, despite not winning a race since Spain, in mid June. The rumour mill has been in full spin for a while regarding Perez, the majority of which have not been particularly kind to the Mexican’s future prospects in Formula 1.

Red Bull seem done with their Mexican driver. Add to this the fact that Horner, Red Bull Team Principal said “I would be a bad team boss if I didn’t find out if he [Colapinto] was available.” it seems Red Bull may hold an interest in the Argentinian.

The VCARB Seat has been something o a revolving door these days, with Liam Lawson, Daniel Ricciardo and Nyck De Vries all having partnered Yuki Tsunoda in the past 2 seasons. It would be a bit of a long shot to say that Colapinto would be immediately placed into the Red Bull seat but anything is possible in Formula 1. Reports from Colapinto’s native Argentina have stated that a deal is done for Franco to drive for VCARB next year, with one of Lawson or Tsunoda moving up to partner Verstappen at Red Bull, but nothing is confirmed just yet.

This seems like Colapinto’s best bet for a seat.

This is all reliant on whether Williams want to see Colapinto turning out for VCARB next season, or if they would rather see him in a reserve role with the team. But, it would be a shame to see Colapinto sitting on the sidelines in 2025.