Williams boss offers intriguing Franco Colapinto response after F1 timing questioned

James Vowles does not regret keeping Logan Sargeant in the FW46 as long as he did as he doesn’t think Franco Colapinto would have the success he does today if he’d started the season.

Although Sargeant managed just one point-scoring result in his debut campaign with Williams , outscored by Alex Albon by 27 points to one, Williams kept faith with their junior driver into F1 2024.

James Vowles has no regrets over timing of Sargeant/Colapinto switch

However, it wasn’t long before that decision was again being questioned with Sargeant not able to get off the mark in what was proving to be a difficult start to the year for the Grove team.

The team was adamant the American was improving until such a time as he wasn’t. Vowles explained after dropping him that he had “reached the limit of what he’s able to achieve”, and he felt it would be “almost unfair on him to furthermore continue with him.”

The team called up Formula 2 driver Colapinto to contest the final nine races of the championship with pundits questioning whether he was the right choice. He gave an emphatic reply to that, P12 on his debut before going on to score points in Baku before finishing P11 in Singapore where he held up the Red Bull of Sergio Perez for almost 30 laps.

It begs the question, does Vowles regret not making the call earlier in the year?

“It’s an interesting question,” said the Williams team boss, “because in part a lot of what we were doing with him behind the scenes is developing him ready for this opportunity.

“So Silverstone was one of the first times he got into the car and he’d made a step clearly from where we were in Abu Dhabi the previous year. He made some steps across the winter. He’d made some steps in Formula 2.

“If we’d done this at the beginning of the year, I don’t think you’d see the Franco you have today. And I think there’s quite a bit of preparation that we’ve been doing in the simulator and otherwise to get him to the region where he is now.

“In terms of that regret, I mean, deciding to take a driver out is one of the hardest things you can do in my position. And I had to make sure it was abundantly clear it was the right place.

“For me, at the point where we upgraded the car and we’ve delivered performance with it, where it can score points, that’s the right line in the sand. So from that perspective, I’m content.”

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Williams boss applauds Franco Colapinto’s ‘absolutely outstanding job’

Colapinto won’t, however, be in the car next season as Williams have already confirmed Carlos Sainz as Alex Albon’s F1 2025 team-mate.

He has been linked to Audi, but is said to be an outside bet with Valtteri Bottas and Mick Schumacher leading the running.

Vowles, who has said he’ll help Colapinto find a seat if at all possible, says so far what he’s seen from the 21-year-old has left him very impressed.

“He’s done an absolutely outstanding job,” he said. “Just really jumped straight into it, two feet first, and has been swimming ever since. But he’s doing brilliantly well. And to score points in your second-ever Grand Prix, to be a few seconds behind Alex, is extraordinary.

“We knew he was quick, that’s why we put him in the car, but expected him to take more time to get up to speed.

“In Monza, that was about what I would have hoped for, effectively, but going to a new track that you’ve never been to before and been on the pace, really, in FP1, and even after an accident, coming straight back onto the pace is a challenge, and he’s very, very good at absorbing all the pressure that’s on his shoulders and just delivering.”

“How calm he is under pressure,” he said of the 21-year-old’s standout quality. “There’s a huge amount of… It’s always hard to describe what happens to these elite athletes when you step up into Formula 1. It’s a completely different world and the pressure mounts exponentially and he takes it all in his stride.

“You can hear over the radio, just listen to his voice. He’s just incredibly calm and collected and just wants more information, more information. So it’s a sign of a really good individual that’s able to cope with what’s happening.”

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