Written by Owen Bradley, Carl Hilliard, Meghana Sree
Williams Racing have decided to sign Franco Colapinto for the remainder of the 2024 season, removing Logan Sargeant with immediate effect. Our writers give their thoughts on Williams’ decision, and if Colapinto was the right choice to replace the American driver.
You have the right to remove Sargeant
Owen Bradley
Logan Sargeant has had a difficult and brief F1 career, scoring just one point during his time with Williams. Whilst being an American driver with multiple home Grands Prix was certainly important to Formula One and Sargeant for marketing purposes, similar marketing benefits to that of Sergio Perez and the Mexican Grand Prix - eventually Sargeant’s crashes and mistakes proved to be too expensive for the team.
With Williams already confirming that their 2025 lineup will consist of Alexander Albon and Carlos Sainz, Sargeant’s time in F1 looked like it would reach its conclusion at the end of the year. However, with his crash in FP3 at the Dutch Grand Prix, his fate had been sealed. Therefore, in my view, Williams certainly had the right to remove Sargeant from the team.
With Franco Colapinto joining the team for the remaining nine races, the team don’t really lose much in terms of performance, as Sargeant was always towards the back of the field anyways, and it is certainly better to give another young driver a chance, especially a young driver in their own academy.
However, I can’t help but feel that somebody like Mick Schumacher, could have been a better fit on a number of levels. Schumacher has tested with Mercedes, McLaren and Alpine this year and therefore has accumulated a lot of knowledge of how these cars operate, and he would potentially have entered Williams in the hopes of developing their car for next season as well.
If I were James Vowles, I would have offered the seat to Schumacher. Although, understandably the rush to get a new driver in would not have been helped by Schumacher’s World Endurance Championship duties in America this weekend.
The final thing I would add though, is that it does seem a little bit bizarre not to choose Kimi Antonelli, who will likely race for Mercedes in 2025, as this could have been an opportunity to test his skills on the F1 world stage before potentially entering his first full season next year.
Give the kid a shot.
Carl Hilliard
Podium finishes and race wins across F3 and F2? I think Colapinto could be a surprise to everyone. He’s 21 years old, with quite a bit of experience and merit behind him.
Admittedly, he is only sixth in the current F2 standings, and this stat could throw maybe Ferrari or Red Bull off the young driver, but Williams aren’t exactly a team competing at the top end right now. His resumé checks a lot of boxes that they will be looking for.
More and more F2 drivers seem to be coming into the sport quite quickly, some will sink, others will swim. Colapinto could go in either direction, however I do see talent here, and a committed driver with plenty of ambition is something Williams will fancy.
Four sprint race wins and a fourth place finish in the 2023 F3 standings, isn’t too bad at all. Williams have recruited Colapinto from their very own Driver Academy too, and it could prove to be a really good choice. Give the kid a shot.
The Safest Decision is also the Riskiest One
Meghana Sree
A quick review of Logan Sargeant’s 36 F1 starts shows that the possibility of his drop from Williams was looming over the American ever since mid-2023. 2024 was a second chance at redemption but a series of missed opportunities and messy mistakes confirmed that Sargeant was hanging onto his seat by a thread. His fiery FP3 crash at Zandvoort was the final nail in the coffin.
It’s no doubt that retaining Sargeant would’ve been damaging and expensive for Williams, a team already struggling for funds relative to top teams. Dropping him was the fair and safe decision to make, as gutting as it is for the Florida native.
However, I’m of the opinion that replacing him with Franco Colapinto is a risky call, especially as there is a large pool of more experienced drivers still waiting for a first (or second in some cases) shot at F1.
Liam Lawson, Mick Schumacher, Frederik Vesti, or even Kimi Antonelli come to mind if contracts could have been negotiated. It would’ve especially made sense to bring in Antonelli if he is indeed a serious contender for the 2025 Mercedes seat, in order to truly evaluate him as an F1 driver.
Nevertheless, as risky as it is to sign a complete rookie mid-season, it’s also a massive opportunity for Colapinto, and the Williams F1 team to turn their season around. The Argentinian now has what Lawson and Oliver Bearman have recently had a taste of – a short stint to prove his F1 potential and land himself on the radar of teams still hunting for talented drivers.
It's surprising that Sargeant wasn't dropped earlier; his performance has been consistently lamentable. Given that Williams are nowhere in the Constructor's Championship anyway, it makes reasonable sense to give a newcomer a shot;they will lose nothing if he flops. Personally.I'd have given the seat to Liam Lawson, who, on the face of it, has the more talent. Mick Schumacher - the one young driver whom nobody wanted to see fail- has flubbed in F1 already, and Bearman and Antonelli are already spoken for. But you never know: Colapinto may surprise us all.