Williams junior driver 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, has already pushed the group’s FW46 having taken half within the first apply session on the British Grand Prix for Williams at Silverstone. He additionally 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,” mentioned Colapinto. “That is what goals 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 unlimited studying curve” making his debut in the midst of the season. “However I’m up for the problem, and I’m totally centered on working as onerous as I can with Alex and the group to make it a hit.”
Colapinto will vacate his seat in MP Motorsport’s System 2 group at Monza as a way to make his F1 debut. They’re but to announce who his alternative might 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 so far within the partial-reverse-grid race at Imola. His finest end in a characteristic race is second place, on the Crimson Bull Ring, and he lies sixth within the championship standings, second-highest among the many rookies.
Sargeant already knew his days at Williams had been numbered because the group introduced through the summer season break that Carlos Sainz Jnr will exchange 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 apply for the Dutch Grand Prix final weekend.
Willliams group principal James Vowles mentioned Sargeant’s newest crash got here on the worst attainable time after the group made an enormous replace to carry sufficient examples of its newest upgrades for each drivers final weekend. The group suffered a scarcity of components 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.
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