]Williams’ Franco Colapinto must “prove his worth” to Formula 1 suitors like Red Bull after a “foolish” crash in qualifying for the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
Colapinto’s F1 future is far from certain with the Argentine competing in the penultimate GP of his 2024 stand-in stint with Williams.
The Williams Academy driver has impressed since making his F1 debut, replacing Logan Sargeant, at the Italian Grand Prix scoring five points.
But an unforced error that resulted in a totalled Williams FW46 machine during qualifying in Las Vegas has given him work to do.
“[The crash in Vegas] is on him, and it was a foolish one,” Colapinto’s manager Jamie Campbell-Walter told Motorsport Magazine.com.
“And it’s the pressure of not knowing what your future is, which is sometimes much worse than knowing what it is.
“And you never know what happens to these drivers in those pressure situations.
“We’ve got to bounce back, and just carry on and do the job. And he’s got two more weekends to prove his worth.”
‘A good chance’ Franco Colapinto will land a 2025 F1 seat
With Williams having already secured the long-term services of Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz for 2025 and beyond, Colapinto must convince the likes of Red Bull and Alpine to commit to contractual trickery to get himself on the grid next year.
Both teams have reportedly expressed an interest in Colapinto’s services.
With Red Bull, Colapinto’s future hangs on if the likes of Sergio Perez or Liam Lawson miss out on staying on the grid next year.
Regarding Alpine, the Anglo-French outfit would have to mercilessly cut ties with Jack Doohan before his pre-arranged F1 debut next year.
Campbell-Walter expressed positive regarding Colapinto’s future but implied the Vegas crash has complicated matters.
“As it stands we have a long-term contract with Williams,” he said. “There’s interest. I would say that before the qualifying crash, everything was looking good.
“There is a good chance that we’ll see him on the grid next year, but I think some people want to see how he does in the next few races, which is fair enough.
“They’ve got plenty of drivers, so there is no rush…”
Campbell-Walter went onto suggest Colapinto is worth taking a risk on given how he has been able to push team-mate Albon and even referenced Max Verstappen’s meteoric rise in the sport.
“Max was a star in the making when he was a young kid at Toro Rosso, and he made lots of mistakes,” he said.
“Franco’s made two mistakes. And I think people can see what he’s done against a very good, experienced team-mate.
“Sargeant never was seven-tenths ahead of Albon. Franco was [in Vegas], and it’s not the first time he’s done that.
“So I think people can see through the fact that he’s limited in experience, he’s a rookie.
“Is he going to be given a joker card for the odd crash here or there in his first few races?
“Probably yes, I would hope so. I hope people can see through that, and see the value in him as a human being, because he’s a great kid.”
READ MORE – Could Franco Colapinto be the answer to Red Bull’s second driver conundrum?
