Crashes should not overshadow “improbable” Colapinto’s Williams F1 stint

Williams driver Alex Albon thinks Franco Colapinto’s robust last Method 1 races with the squad shouldn’t overshadow the superb outcomes the Argentinian produced.

Colapinto’s spectacular early races since stepping in for Logan Sargeant in Monza turned heads within the paddock, and so they additionally yielded Williams 5 vital factors over three race weekends, which appeared essential on the time earlier than the staff was lastly left behind by its midfield rivals.

Colapinto’s type, composed angle and fast adaptation to the calls for of F1 even made Crimson Bull take into account making a transfer for the 21-year-old because it weighed up its driver choices for 2025.

However as swiftly because the Argentine appeared on Crimson Bull’s radar, a spate of expensive crashes in Brazil and Las Vegas had been fast to place Christian Horner and Helmut Marko off once more, with the pair turning in direction of their very own driver pool as a substitute.

In response to Albon, it’s harsh to simply decide Colapinto on the harder second half of his nine-race Williams cameo, as its FW46 additionally grew to become harder to drive and the staff was having to struggle more durable and more durable to maintain up with the competitors.

When requested if Colapinto’s crashes have overshadowed his season, Albon replied: “I hope not. I do not suppose he deserves it to be.

“I feel it actually goes in tandem with the efficiency of the automotive, and it grew to become difficult on the finish of the season. It was difficult for me. I did not have a improbable finish of the season, and I do not all the time simply blame myself, so I feel the staff is aware of how good he’s.”

Albon believes the timing of Colapinto’s arrival helped him settle in as a result of round September Williams was at its finest.

After having taken weight out of its chassis, Williams additionally launched its solely main replace bundle across the Dutch Grand Prix, earlier than it began sliding again once more in direction of the tip of the 12 months.

“When it comes to timing, I feel it was good he got here in when the automotive was at its best and presumably simpler to drive again than it’s now, on tracks that had been additionally fairly good to drive,” stated Albon.

“To be honest he did an excellent job in Baku and Singapore, and so they weren’t straightforward tracks to drive. After which it is simply F1; I feel we have fallen again. You can nonetheless get into Q2 with a mean lap whereas later you needed to do an amazing lap to get into Q2 and all these form of issues. And it simply distorts barely the place it comes.

“It is easy to overpush when it is that tight and there’s no margin to be gradual or to make a mistake. Each of us went by means of a troublesome group of races, so I would not blame him an excessive amount of. Particularly Brazil, first time within the moist, that is not straightforward round a troublesome monitor. After which clearly Vegas was simply difficult.

“He is a improbable driver. I really feel like he is proved his price in Method 1. Positively, when he joined, I underestimated simply how fast he was going to be, and I consider we’ll see him in Method 1 in some unspecified time in the future sooner or later.”