Franco Colapinto to drive for Williams for rest of 2024 as Logan Sargeant dropped!

Franco Colapinto (pictured) will be the first Argentinian to race in F1 since 2001. Credit: James Sutton via Getty Images

Argentina will have a Formula 1 racing driver again as Franco Colapinto will race for Williams, for the remainder of the 2024 season, as Logan Sargeant has been dropped - as announced by the team on Tuesday evening.

After rumours had grown of Williams Team Principal James Vowles growing impatient with Sargeant's performance, after his crash in Free Practice 3 at the Dutch Grand Prix, on Saturday morning caused huge amounts of damage to upgrades brought and caused a significant repair.

There was a rumour in the paddock according to Craig Slater from Sky Sports that Mick Schumacher would have been the most likely of replacements for Sargeant.

However, instead Williams have recruited from within and have gone for current Formula 2 driver Franco Colapinto, who is part of their driver academy. Colapinto will become the first Formula 1 racing driver from Argentina since Gaston Mazzacane, who drove for Prost and Minardi between 2000 and 2001. 

It was announced by Williams and Formula 1 on social media on Monday evening.

Williams also put a story up on their website, which opened by saying: "Williams Racing announces that Franco Colapinto will race with the team for the remainder of the 2024 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season and will compete from the Italian Grand Prix alongside Alex Albon. He will use the race number #43."

Outgoing in this change of driver is Logan Sargeant, who has not had the most straight forward of seasons that most drivers would have liked. He came into Williams to partner Alex Albon for 2023, after graduating from Formula 2 at the end of the 2022 season. Sargeant would replace Canadian Nicolas Latifi.

Like Sargeant, Latifi had got into Formula 1 and joined the main team through the Williams Academy but after failing to impress, Sargeant was drafted in to become the first Formula 1 driver from the United States of America since Alexander Rossi, who is now in Indyacr.

In his debut season, Sargeant had a year of learning and struggled with qualifying in comparison to his more experienced teammate Alex Albon. However, he would create American motorsport history, by becoming the first American driver to score a Formula 1 World Championship point since Mario Andretti 30 years prior to Sargeant's only points score in the United States Grand Prix at Austin, Texas.

On his exit, Williams posted this message on X: "We’d like to thank Logan for everything he has done the past two seasons. He will remain a member of the Williams family and we will be supporting him to continue his racing career."

Williams Team Principal James Vowles said: "This is undoubtedly incredibly tough on Logan, who has given his all."

Logan Sargeant leaves his seat at Williams after 36 Grand Prix starts and just one world championship point.

A look at Formula 1's newest racing driver - Franco Colapinto

As Logan Sargeant departs, Williams replace him with another driver who will fill the void for the remaining nine rounds of the season. However, it is not Mick Schumacher or Liam Lawson, two names who had previously linked with replacing Sargeant. Instead, Williams have opted to promote one from within to the role.

For the remaining nine rounds of the season, Argentinian Franco Colapinto will leave his current Formula 2 role, where he drives for MP Motorsport. He will join up to partner Alex Albon, driving the number 43 on his car.

Colapinto will join up to Williams after making his FP1 debut at Silverstone back in July, where then too he took Logan Sargeant's place to partner Albon for the session. This was part of James Vowles' evaluation of a potential route to fill his lineup for 2025.

In the end Vowles went for Sainz, but this opportunity in the next nine races is still a good one for Colapinto, where he could put himself in the window for a seat at another team on the grid for 2025 or even for the future plans of Williams. 

Colapinto, this coming weekend at Monza, will become the first Argentinian to race in the Formula One World Championship since Gaston Mazzacane in 2001. It will be an exciting time for he and his family for the lad who was born in Pilar, a city in the province of Buenos Aires.

On his way to open-wheel racing, Colapinto won the 2016 Pre Junior Argentine Karting Championship and the 2018 Karting at the Summer Youth Olympics .

In his way up the feeder series ranks, Colapinto has only won the Spanish F4 Championship but has managed to finish in the top three of the Formula Renault Eurocup and the Toyota Racing Series.

Colapinto has also competed in the European Le Mans Series and the Asian Le Mans Series in 2021. The newest F1 driver would finish third in the Asian Le Mans. 

In 2022, a new beginning dawned for Colapinto as he had a clear path towards the heights of Formula 2 and Formula 1, when he joined the Van Amersfoort Racing team in the FIA Formula 3 Championship, partnering Mexican driver Rafael Villagomez and American Reece Ushijima. 

In the first season, he would grab his first two victories in the season, taking place both at separate Italian circuits. His maiden win of the two came at Imola, whereas his second came in the final round of the season at Monza. Other podiums came at Austria, Hungary and Zandvoort as he went on to finish ninth in the standards.

For 2023, he would join up with MP Motorsport for the season partnering Mari Boya and Jonny Edgar. Franco Colapinto also, that January, was signed up to the Williams Driver Academy and joined their potential plans for the future.

Like 2022, Colapinto would pick up another two victories at the Silverstone sprint race and just like 2022, the sprint race at Monza. An additional two second place finishes and one third place finish would arise as he would go onto finish fourth in the standings with 110 points.

After the Formula 3 season had concluded in Monza, he would join up with MP Motorsport for the final round of the Formula 2 Championship at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi. He would not have the greatest of Formula 2 debuts by retiring in the feature race and finishing 19th in the sprint race.

That Formula 2 debut would be an important learning curve, as for 2024, it would be announced in October that Colapinto would continue in that MP Motorsport role alongside Dennis Hauger, just like the final round in Abu Dhabi. Colapinto would replace Jehan Daruvala on both occasions and Colapinto was keen to get started.

In the season so far, Colapinto has shone in a lot of areas in his performances, and would claim his maiden and only victory during the sprint race at Imola, in a challenging race. With strong performances in the Spanish and Austrian feature races, he sits sixth in the standings after round 10 of 14 of the 2024 campaign.

He now joins up to Williams, with a chance to show himself to the Formula 1 world in the remaining rounds of the 2024 Formula One World Championship. His Formula 1 debut will commence at the Italian Grand Prix while MP Motorsport search for a replacement for this coming weekend and the rest of the season.

Franco Colapinto will start it all off with free practice 1 on Friday.  

Brandon Whiteside
Writer - F1 Journal