Franco Colapinto will make his Formula 1 grand prix debut this weekend as a replacement for the struggling Logan Sargeant.
Williams has chosen to drop Sargeant, who has consistently qualified and raced behind team mate Alexander Albon this year.
Colapinto, 21, joined Williams’ driver academy last year. He drove the team’s FW46 in the first practice session at the British Grand Prix for Williams at Silverstone and also completed a day of testing for them at Yas Marina at the end of last season.
“It is an honour to be making my Formula 1 debut with Williams,” said Colapinto. “This is what dreams are made of.
“The team has such amazing history and a mission to get back to the front which I can’t wait to be part of.”
He admitted he faces “an enormous learning curve” making his debut in the middle of the season. “But I am up for the challenge, and I’m fully focused on working as hard as I can with Alex and the team to make it a success.”
Colapinto will vacate his seat in MP Motorsport’s Formula 2 team at Monza in order to make his F1 debut. They are yet to announce who his replacement will be.
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The Argentinian driver won the Spanish Formula 4 championship in 2019. He joined Williams’ young driver academy in 2023, when he finished fourth in Formula 3.
He made his debut in Formula 2 this year and scored his only win to date in the partial-reverse-grid race at Imola. His best result in feature races are a pair of second places at the Red Bull Ring and Catalunya, and he lies sixth in the championship standings, second-highest among the rookies.
Sargeant already knew his days at Williams were numbered as the team announced during the summer break that Carlos Sainz Jnr will replace him next year. However the team finally lost patience with their driver, who was involved in a series of incidents earlier this year, after he crashed again in practice for the Dutch Grand Prix last weekend.
Williams team principal James Vowles said Sargeant’s latest crash came at the worst possible time after the team made a huge update to bring enough examples of its latest upgrades for both drivers last weekend. The team suffered a shortage of parts earlier in the season due to the late completion of their FW46, Sargeant’s various incidents and his team mate’s crash in Australia.
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