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Franco Colapinto’s first taste of life as a fully-fledged Formula 1 driver isn’t until tomorrow, but in the Monza paddock on Thursday, he had his first experience of facing the massed ranks of the F1 media in that capacity.
It’s the latest step in a whirlwind week that started with him preparing for the latest round of the Formula 2 Championship and will end with him making his grand prix debut.
Colapinto explained how he found out his F1 debut will be coming a lot earlier than expected, his condensed preparation, what his expectations are and how he feels about taking over Logan Sargeant’s seat – as well as what might come next for him.
He came across as assured, confident, revelling in the opportunity rather than nervous and showed his personality is well-suited to F1. In that regard, the way he spoke wasn't different to how it was when he spoke with a much smaller gathering of media in Brazil in 2023 ahead of his first F1 test, or at Silverstone after his run in FP1. Certainly, he's not overawed or changed by this opportunity.
But he will know how important it is to seize what’s potentially a career-changing opportunity and there’s no doubt he’s determined to do so.
HOW HE FOUND OUT
Colapinto has been on Williams’s books since early last year and already has experience of driving its F1 cars in last year’s post-Abu Dhabi Grand Prix test and FP1 at Silverstone. But while he had a role as a Williams reserve, meaning there was always the possibility of an Oliver Bearman-style call-up, and will have had some hope he might be selected when it became clear Logan Sargeant was being replaced, his promotion to race driver, which was publicly announced late on Tuesday afternoon, has come very quickly.
“Monday, I was in the Formula 2 sim with MP [Motorsport] preparing for the race with the team here in Monza,” said Colapinto.
“You can imagine how late it was [that I knew]. I don’t know when they were [first] thinking about it, but it's an opportunity I was ready for, that I've been waiting for since I was a young kid. I was always dreaming of this coming true and happening.
“Today to be here, speaking to all of you, it's a pleasure and I'm extremely grateful to Williams for the opportunity. It came very late, but I'm always ready. I wasn't expecting it, I cannot explain how happy I am to be here with Williams. They've been very supportive.”
It’s an unexpectedly early promotion for Colapinto, who realistically can’t have expected any chance of getting to F1 before 2026 given the state of the driver market. But his repeated mantra of always being ready reflects his confidence.
“I’m always ready,” he said. “[I’ve] been a driver for them for a while, I did free practice in Silverstone, did a good job there, they were very happy about the performance. I was probably in their mind from before. Of course, it's something maybe I was not waiting for, I was fully focused on my F2 job and I was trying to do the best possible, I had four races left. I was preparing for the team as possible and then this opportunity came.
“Of course, very sad to not continue with them, they [MP] have been my family for so many years, since 2020 we started racing together. I continue [with them] doing step by step, championship by championship. Today I have to leave them, but you cannot choose when you get to Formula 1. It came this time, in this race, it's a very special weekend here in Monza.”
HIS PREPARATION
Colapinto’s preparation for this weekend has been rushed. While he wouldn’t reveal the precise timeline, the fact he was working with MP Motorsport for the Monza F2 round on Monday shows how condensed the lead-up to his F1 debut has been.
“Not a lot,” he said when asked by The Race to outline his preparation for the weekend. “I did a lot of preparation to race in F2 and do a good job.
“We’ve done, in a very short time, a lot of things. Only today and in the very little time and hours we've had, we've prepared well. I've prepared a seat, [and in] the simulator very well. The race engineer, the performance engineer [were] there giving me all the information and details to be quick as soon as possible and make that learning process a bit quicker.
“Luckily, I'm privileged that I was able to be in the simulator for so long in the past, even though I was only racing in F2, because it prepared me a little bit more for F1. To go through all the processes, so many things to do in the car, to be doing laps and laps there [in the sim] helped me to be more comfortable today. I sit in the car and know the wheel and some things that are sometimes difficult.
“Especially with quite a few races to go, [I am] starting more relaxed and trying to go step by step.”
HIS EXPECTATIONS
Colapinto is a racing driver, and as such the expectations he has privately will be sky-high. That's just how they are. Drivers have to set high-standards and you can be certain in quiet moments he’ll have dreams of an eye-catching qualifying performance or a debut point.
Publicly, he’s rightly more taciturn and Williams will likely be telling him to treat this weekend as a way to play his way into a role he has for nine races.
“My main focus is focusing on myself, do the best job I can,” he said when asked about targets. “The team has very clear targets which we're focussing on. [I’m] focussing on them too and trying to learn as quick as possible.
“I am a rookie, a rookie in F2. I'm not expecting much, I just want to go step by step and focus on myself, that's the main thing, to be able to focus on my job, to be able to do what the team expects. To be honest, I'm more than sure I can do that. [I] can’t wait to jump in the car tomorrow.”
Top of the priority list will be to avoid repeating the kind of crash that Sargeant had at Zandvoort, but he’ll also be determined to get up to speed as quickly as possible.
He also has no concerns about his fitness, although it won’t be until he starts to put together race distances that he can properly test that. Like any driver in F2, he has endeavoured to train himself to F1-level fitness to be prepared for a chance – even though he hasn’t had the chance to sharpen that with significant mileage in the car.
“I’ve been training really hard,” said Colapinto. “Also, free practice one [at Silverstone] was a very late call. I was in Austria racing F2 and they told me I was going to be doing FP1 at Silverstone. That’s one of hardest tracks in terms of G[-force].
“I feel very well and very strong. We've had the summer break to keep training a bit. I'm always ready for F1, that’s the goal. I was very good physically in F2, and nowadays I was focussing mostly on F1, trying to do that step forward to be ready in case something happens. I've been working on that since the beginning of the year.”
SYMPATHY FOR SARGEANT
Colapinto knows Sargeant given he’s worked alongside him at Williams, meaning that while he’s delighted to have his big break in F1 he feels sympathy for the driver who has been ousted.
He confirmed that he’s had a conversation with Sargeant about the situation, which rightly will remain private, but also recognises that his job is to take the opportunity that’s been presented with both hands.
“It's very tough,” he said when asked about Sargeant. “It's never easy for the team, for the driver, for the driver coming in to change in the middle of the season. It’s not nice for Logan. He had an amazing opportunity to get into F1, he had some very good performances, he got up to speed in F1 very quick.
“It's an opportunity that I'm going to take whatever happens. I've been working to get to F1 since I was very young. You never know when this opportunity will come, so I'm of course taking the chance, trying to do my best. I understand it's very sad for Logan, he had a great time in F1, he did a very good job. I hope he has a great performance in whatever he does next. He’s a very good driver, I'm sure he’ll do a good job.”
WHAT’S NEXT?
It's unclear what lies in Colapinto’s future beyond this nine-race assignment with Williams, especially given Williams has Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz signed up for 2025.
Unsurprisingly, he’s had no time to contemplate given his sudden promotion, but will know that performing well in this stint could put him high on the list of potential drivers for other teams in the future, and perhaps even Williams should a vacancy arise in the future.
“No, it’s not difficult,” he said when asked if the lack of clarity about his future will make this task more challenging. “I was expecting to race in F2 this weekend, and now I’m in Formula 1. It’s quite easy, I’m happy to be here.
“I’m going race-by-race, step-by-step, corner-by-corner. I have no idea on next year. It’s late news and amazing news to have. I cannot be more grateful to be here doing the nine races left on the calendar. I’m just more than happy for the chance.
“I was of course not expecting to be in F1 in 2025, and suddenly I got the chance to be in 2024. Imagine how happy I am today. I'm going to take this opportunity with both hands and enjoy it as much as possible.”
