Franco Colapinto will make his System 1 grand prix debut this weekend as a alternative for the struggling Logan Sargeant.
Williams has chosen to drop Sargeant, who has constantly certified and raced behind group mate Alexander Albon this yr.
Colapinto, 21, joined Williams’ driver academy final yr. He drove the group’s FW46 within the first follow session on the British Grand Prix for Williams at Silverstone and in addition accomplished a day of testing for them at Yas Marina on the finish of final season.
“It’s an honour to be making my System 1 debut with Williams,” stated Colapinto. “That is what desires are manufactured from.
“The group has such wonderful historical past and a mission to get again to the entrance which I can’t wait to be a part of.”
He admitted he faces “an infinite studying curve” making his debut in the course of the season. “However I’m up for the problem, and I’m absolutely targeted on working as arduous as I can with Alex and the group to make it successful.”
Colapinto will vacate his seat in MP Motorsport’s System 2 group at Monza with a view to make his F1 debut. They’re but to announce who his alternative will likely be.
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The Argentinian driver received the Spanish System 4 championship in 2019. He joined Williams’ younger driver academy in 2023, when he completed fourth in System 3.
He made his debut in System 2 this yr and scored his solely win up to now within the partial-reverse-grid race at Imola. His greatest lead to characteristic races are a pair of second locations on the Purple Bull Ring and Catalunya, and he lies sixth within the championship standings, second-highest among the many rookies.
Sargeant already knew his days at Williams have been numbered because the group introduced through the summer time break that Carlos Sainz Jnr will change him subsequent yr. Nonetheless the group lastly misplaced endurance with their driver, who was concerned in a collection of incidents earlier this yr, after he crashed once more in follow for the Dutch Grand Prix final weekend.
Williams group principal James Vowles stated Sargeant’s newest crash got here on the worst doable time after the group made an enormous replace to convey sufficient examples of its newest upgrades for each drivers final weekend. The group suffered a scarcity of elements earlier within the season as a result of late completion of their FW46, Sargeant’s numerous incidents and his group mate’s crash in Australia.
Changing Sargeant “shouldn’t be a call we have now taken flippantly,” stated Vowles, “however we imagine this offers Williams the most effective probability to compete for factors over the rest of the season.”
“We’ve got simply introduced a big improve to the automobile and have to maximise each points-scoring alternative in a remarkably tight midfield battle. We additionally imagine in investing in our younger drivers within the Williams Racing Driver Academy, and Franco is getting a incredible alternative to show what he’s able to throughout the ultimate 9 rounds of the season.”
“That is undoubtedly extremely powerful on Logan, who has given his all all through his time with Williams, and we wish to thank him for all his arduous work and optimistic perspective,” Vowles added. “Logan stays a gifted driver and we’ll assist him to proceed his racing profession for the long run. I do know that Franco has nice pace and big potential, and we sit up for seeing what he can do in System 1.”
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2024 Italian Grand Prix
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