Williams Racing Driver Academy prospect Franco Colapinto has praised “extremely professional” team principal James Vowles for his impact on both the team and his career. The 20-year-old completed his first-ever F1 outing driving for the Grove-based team in the Abu Dhabi post-season test.
Ahead of Vowles’ arrival from Mercedes over the winter of 2022, Williams Racing finished bottom of the Constructors’ Championship standings with a mere eight points. However, 12 months on, the mood within the team has been bolstered significantly off the back of a seventh-place finish in the standings.
Speaking to Express Sport about his experience with Vowles, Colapinto explained: “It’s incredible. I think he’s extremely professional. He has a lot of experience in Formula One and you can see that very clearly… all the knowledge and all the experience that he brings when you have only a few minutes to talk with him [or] you exchange a few words.
“It’s incredible what he did with Williams Racing already in only less than one year. And I think the future is bright for Williams Racing. I think it was one of the key things, that James joined the team. It’s amazing how he’s helping us as drivers in F3 and in F2 also in F1.”
Vowles also played a role in securing Colapinto’s place at the post-season test. The four-time F3 race winner completed 65 laps – the most of any of Williams’ four drivers over the course of the test – as he impressed on the tarmac of the Yas Marina Circuit.
“Well it was insane,” he said when quizzed on the experience. “Since I was very little I was just dreaming one day of jumping in a Formula One car and since I started racing that was my goal and my dream. And when you start to get closer to that dream it starts to become something slightly different, more like a target or a goal instead of a dream, but [it still] feels very far away.
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“When you arrive in Formula 3 and you have good results, you see it a bit closer that time, and that’s very motivating. And to have this opportunity of jumping, for the first time, in an F1 [car] – also for my country, for Argentina after so many years without an F1 driver there, someone driving an F1 car – it’s really incredible.
“And it was just an amazing opportunity that Williams Racing gave me. I think it’s a great way to finish the year together after a great first season for me and Williams Racing. Yeah, it was just insane. I don’t have many words to explain how it feels – a Formula One car – because it’s really, really different to anything you can ever drive. The power, the braking efficiency… it’s something from another planet.”
Colapinto wasn’t the only Williams Racing Driver Academy prospect to sample F1 machinery for the first time in Abu Dhabi. Reigning F3 vice-champion Zak O’Sullivan also took part in the post-season test, as well as making his first-ever Grand Prix weekend appearance when he replaced Alex Albon in FP1.
Asked about the possibility of an FP1 appearance of his own in 2024, Colapinto replied: “Yeah well I mean this year of course I was doing the Formula 2 race so it was gonna be really tricky to learn Formula 2 and then jump also in an F1 [car] in between FP (free practice) and quali of F2, so it definitely was the right choice to do that.
“Next year it’s… I’m sure that there’s going to be some chances and I hope I get the chance. I’m going to work really hard to get the results in Formula 2. My job next year is to come and bring the performance there and the FP1s will come with good results. So, my focus is fully on F2.”
With the winter break now well underway and a round in F2 machinery under his belt, preparing for his rookie campaign will now become the priority. The 20-year-old partners up with Dennis Hauger at MP Motorsport next season as the two parties extend their partnership to the next rung of the feeder series ladder.
