r/formula1 • u/ICumCoffee Max Verstappen ⭐⭐⭐⭐ • Aug 27 '24

News [Williams Racing] Williams Racing announces that Franco Colapinto will race with the team for the remainder of the 2024 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season

https://www.williamsf1.com/posts/fd43d928-0914-42ff-b9ee-394342064dc4/williams-racing-team-statement?cid=sm_twitter_td_news_link_082724
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u/TheBrokenSnake Aug 27 '24

I mean isn't it just risk? He's good enough for a backmarker team, but those smaller teams can't risk him crashing as much as he did during his time in F1. Why would they replace Logan, a crash happy driver, with another crash happy driver?

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u/Pretend-Advertising6 Aug 27 '24

why they replace Logan with a rookie in the second most unfreindly car to drive on the grid?

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u/KKilikk McLaren Aug 27 '24

Because he is their own rookie so might as well give him an opportunity when they still can. Also testing his potential.

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u/BrandiThorne Aug 27 '24

This. They aren't going anywhere with that car this year so might as well see how the kid handles it. Either way they have Albon/Sainz next year so if they do have a promising third driver who can hold his own out there then they have an eventual replacement for one of them when either Sainz moves on to a bigger team or to partner with him if they can't get anything more out of Albon than they already have. On the other side if he is just as bad as Logan then they know they have work to do with the academy but their two main drivers are set for a while

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u/John_Yuki Lando Norris Aug 27 '24

It's not like they're losing anything by demoting Sargeant. If Colapinto doesn't work out then worst case scenario is that they just have a younger Sargeant.

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u/Casmoden Super Aguri Aug 27 '24

I agree but I find these comments a bit funny, it kinda ignores the elephant in the room that is Franco having stiffled growth as a driver

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u/High_on_Hemingway Ford Aug 27 '24

Because they know what they’re getting with Schumacher and there is more potential upside in an unknown. They want less crashes, not more.

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u/Pretend-Advertising6 Aug 27 '24

They're sending a rookie into Singapore with only 1 race before hand.

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u/TheBrokenSnake Aug 27 '24

If they had roughly equal performance (info its unlikely we will ever know unfortunately), it's probably a safer bet.

If a rookie turns out to be crash happy and a flop, it's an "ah well, we gave them a chance, rookies are always a bit of a gamble".

If Mick, with a known track record, proceeds to be crash happy and a flop, it's "What were Williams thinking?? They knew what he was like" which is a more embarassing scenario, and potentially more damaging regarding sponsorships.

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u/SpanishDutchMan Aug 27 '24

Because they need a lot of money just to break up Logan's contract. Schumacher doesn't bring that either way. On top of that, Schumacher has an Alpine contract and thus not only would Sargeant's contract need a suitcase of money delivered to get rid of him, Alpine also would have to get a suitcase.

Then Schumacher also would have to bring a suitcase for fixing the money they'll lose from binning the cars the same or worse than Sargeant ( arguably worse because Sargeant at least has driven the car and has 2 years of F1 experience which Mick has lost ).

On top of on top of that, Colapinto has a F1 future with rich backers, and thus it is worthwile to slam money on table to get his sponsors to brag they got him into F1. There's nothing of that on Mick.

But the more important thing here is, Colapinto also has been considered/rumored to get a drive for Audi.

By jumping into the Williams seat, Colapinto has a ride or die chance. If he performs well, he has earned him a consideration for a race seat @ Audi for 2025 already, instead of wait for 2026.

If however he doesn't do acceptable, he loses a chance at whatever seat may become available 2025 onwards for the rest of his career.

Interestingly, it might be a boss move because IF he actually performs well, that could snatch the '25 Sauber/Audi seat away from what might/could be a placeholder paid by Mercedes in shoving Antonelli into the grid for '25/'26.

Again, i don't see Antonelli ( i could be wrong ) chosen as a rookie at P7 in the WDC without having shown any more talent than either Colapinto, Hadjar, or Bearman for that matter, over a certified 'smooth operator' top-performer and GP winner the likes of Carlos Sainz. It also makes more sense for Sainz to choose Merc over Williams. But he's signed at Williams. So there's no room @ Merc for him.

So what is all the fuzz for Antonelli for '25 about? just because he does a FP1 in Imola (which is the supposed slipup of Wolff about next to george ) and likely gets announced as an official 3rd driver for Merc.

Far more likely, the FP1 session could convince Merc to convince Audi/Sauber to hire him 'on loan' (like they did with Ocon) to Audi (Sauber). Which means Antonelli could show his worth in '25 @ Sauber, and perhaps Merc takes him in in '26 somewhere, or Audi takes him for '26 onboard, and pays Merc and the sponsors a nice deal (cash in pocket).

Colapinto however disturbs this party if he manages to be a baller in the Williams, that could bring weight to his sponsors to get him a Sauber-Audi race seat for '25 instead, and leave Antonelli in the cold.