(Reuters) -Argentine Franco Colapinto will replace American Logan Sargeant at Williams from this weekend's Italian Grand Prix and for the rest of the Formula One season, the British team announced on Tuesday.
The 21-year-old Formula Two driver is a member of the Williams academy and made his Friday practice F1 debut with the former champions at the British Grand Prix in July.
He will be the first Argentine Formula One driver in 23 years and just the second to race for Williams after the late Carlos Reutemann, who retired in 1982.
"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," said team boss James Vowles in a statement.
"We have just brought a large upgrade to the car and need to maximise every points-scoring opportunity in a remarkably tight midfield battle."
Sargeant, 23, has failed to score a point in 15 races this season and crashed heavily in final practice at last Saturday's Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort.
The costly accident wrecked his car, forcing him to miss qualifying, and led to immediate speculation that he would be dropped before Monza.
Williams are ninth of the 10 teams with only four points from 15 races — all scored by the experienced Alex Albon, who qualified an encouraging eighth at Zandvoort before his car was disqualified for having too big a floor.
Sargeant was set to leave at the end of the year anyway with Ferrari's Carlos Sainz already announced last month as his replacement.
His departure leaves Formula One without a U.S. driver heading into a period with two U.S. races coming up in Austin and Las Vegas.
Sargeant scored just one point from 36 grands prix, although he was also the first American in 30 years to appear on the scoresheet, and Williams thanked him for his contribution.
Colapinto, who is sixth in the Formula Two standings with a race victory in Imola, will drive with the number 43 on his car.
"It is an honour to be making my Formula One debut with Williams, this is what dreams are made of," he said. "Coming into F1 mid-season will be an enormous learning curve but I am up for the challenge."
The Argentine's appointment dashed hopes of a Mick Schumacher comeback this weekend.
The German lost his seat at Haas at the end of 2022 but has a reserve role at Mercedes, Williams' engine provider. Mercedes boss Toto Wolff told reporters on Sunday he hoped Schumacher might get the seat.
Red Bull had also said there would be no problem if Williams wanted to use New Zealander Liam Lawson, who impressed when he stood in for the injured Daniel Ricciardo at AlphaTauri (now RB) last year.
(Reporting by Pearl Josephine Nazare in Bengaluru/Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Toby Davis)
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