In the round-up: James Vowles says Franco Colapinto is worthy of the final seat on the 2025 grid
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In brief
Colapinto “best available option” for final seat
Williams team principal James Vowles believes rookie driver Franco Colapinto deserves the final seat on the 2025 grid based on his performances over his first three grands prix with the team.
Colapinto has impressed since being called up by Williams to replace the struggling Logan Sargeant. Williams had already confirmed their 2025 driver line-up before offering Colapinto a race seat, but Sauber are the last team yet to announce their two driver line-up for next season.
“What Franco brings is to give us this pure performance – no doubt about it, he can drive the socks off this car,” Vowles told the official F1 channel. “What I would say is Franco is deserving of a place in Formula 1.
“I think Franco is, if he is not directly in a seat in 2025, the best option that is available to everyone up and down the field – ourselves included, [given that] you can’t predict what’s going to happen – Our responsibility towards him is making sure we’re doing testing in a historic car, making sure that he’s here working with us, that we keep him as best placed as we possibly can such that, if opportunity arises, he can take it.
Sharp to step up to F3 with Rodin
Rodin has announced that 2023 British F4 champion and reigning GB3 champion Louis Sharp will race with them in next year’s Formula 3 championship.
Sharp took the British F4 title with Rodin last year with six wins before moving to the GB3 championship with the same team for this year. Having secured that title, the 17-year-old will now move up into the Formula 3 championship for 2025.
“Though I’m still coming to terms with what I’ve achieved winning back-to-back titles, I’m already starting to concentrate on what’s ahead,” said Sharp. “I’m really looking forward to be racing alongside grands prix in 2025 and will do everything I can to maintain my current momentum. I’m now looking forward to starting my F3 preparations later this month in Spain and confident both the team and I will be ready when the lights go out in Australia.”
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Links
Johnny Herbert breaks silence on Max Verstappen ‘swearing’ saga at F1 in Singapore (Independent)
”The incident was referred to us as stewards and we had a good open chat with Max for about 20 minutes, half-an-hour, in what was a difficult situation. You could see in his face he was really worked up about it. But when he left, he appeared to be mollified about the process and why it’s there. He did not blame us as stewards.That showed Max’s rebellious streak. I love that side of him, it is what makes Max, Max, his honest and outspoken character. But there is a time and a place. Personally, I think there is too much swearing. I don’t want my five-year-old grandchild listening to that sort of language.”
Christian Mansell on his 2024 season: Achieving the maximum makes for a successful year (F3)
”I think I was a bit timid in (2023), but to be honest, it made me really push hard in the ART car to get on top of it as quick as possible. I put pressure on myself to get it right. It was a healthy amount of pressure, it worked really, really well, I wasn’t overdoing it or over-stressing myself, but I managed get on top of it. I can be proud of myself, because sometimes, the ART car wasn’t the fastest, and sometimes it was the fastest, and I just drove the maximum of the car every single time, and what you saw was what it was. I think that I can be very proud of that.”
How Warren Hughes is helping McLaren guide Alex Dunne (Formula Scout)
”It’s just dipping in and out where I feel it can be of support to him. It might just be somebody for him to sound off to and be a sounding board. ‘What do you think about this? What sort of track position do I need to get a slipstream?,’ for example. Just general guidance. We’re talking about tracks, looking at onboard stuff and the tracks are evolving all the time, whether its resurfacing or the kerbs changing, so it keeps me very current on multiple tracks, how they’ve evolved in the last couple of years.”
McLaren MP4-25A test at Silverstone (Jonathan Hui via YouTube)
‘Hong Kong racing driver Jonathan Hui gets the opportunity to drive a 2010 McLaren F1 car around Silverstone.’
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