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

Williams driver Alex Albon thinks Franco Colapinto’s robust closing Method 1 races with the squad mustn’t overshadow the wonderful outcomes the Argentinian produced.

Colapinto’s spectacular early races since stepping in for Logan Sargeant in Monza turned heads within the paddock, they usually additionally yielded Williams 5 necessary factors over three race weekends, which regarded 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 Pink 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 Pink Bull’s radar, a spate of pricey crashes in Brazil and Las Vegas had been fast to place Christian Horner and Helmut Marko off once more, with the pair turning in the direction of their very own driver pool as an alternative.

In accordance with Albon, it’s harsh to only choose Colapinto on the harder second half of his nine-race Williams cameo, as its FW46 additionally turned 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 assume he deserves it to be.

“I believe it actually goes in tandem with the efficiency of the automobile, and it turned tough on the finish of the season. It was tough for me. I did not have a unbelievable finish of the season, and I do not all the time simply blame myself, so I believe 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 greatest.

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 the direction of the top of the yr.

“When it comes to timing, I believe it was excellent he got here in when the automobile 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, they usually weren’t straightforward tracks to drive. After which it is simply F1; I believe we have fallen again. You could possibly nonetheless get into Q2 with a median lap whereas later you needed to do a fantastic lap to get into Q2 and all these sort 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 tricky 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 tough observe. After which clearly Vegas was simply tough.

“He is a unbelievable driver. I really feel like he is proved his value in Method 1. Undoubtedly, 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.”