21-year-old Franco Colapinto will replace Logan Sargeant at Williams for the remainder of the 2024 season, following a string of poor performances from the American driver.
Finlay McSporran
Published: 18:02, 27th August 2024
Colapinto will be the first Argentinian to compete in F1 since Gastón Mazzacane drove for Prost in 2001.
Franco has been competing in Formula 2 with MP motorsport in 2024, and currently sits 6th in the standings with one win and a further two podiums to his name as the 3rd highest rookie.
Although no official statement has been released, we can assume that his F2 campaign this year wont continue as he focuses entirely on his F1 career which begins this weekend at Monza, the same track which Nick De Vries scored points at in his maiden F1 race, also with Williams.
As for Sargeant, this marks what will probably be the end of his career in Formula 1, after just 1 and a half years with Williams.
But for many fans this moment was just a matter of ‘when’ rather than ‘if’, as he has cost the team millions of dollars in damage repairs over the last 18 months, including the last race at Zandvoort where he completely destroyed the rear of his car during FP3.
In a statement released today the Williams team took the opportunity to “thank Logan Sargeant for his hard work and contribution over the past two seasons”, adding he will “remain in the Williams family and we will support him to continue his racing career”.
Team Principal James Vowles added “To replace a driver mid-season is not a decision we have taken lightly, but we believe this gives Williams the best chance to compete for points over the remainder of the season”.
It’s a big ask for Colapinto, quitting his F2 career to jump straight into an F1 car mid-season. The good thing for him is that he will be starting in Monza, one of the more relaxed circuits on the F1 calendar, and one which he won at in F3 last year.
However the next 2 circuits, Baku and Singapore, are two off the most formidable in F1 and will be a big test for him, but also an opportunity to showcase his talent to the other teams, and just maybe help him get a full-time F1 seat later down the line.
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