Franco Colapinto declares points finish ‘a dream come true’ as Williams celebrate double success in Baku

In just his second race for Williams, rookie driver Franco Colapinto turned his weekend around from crashing out in FP1 to scoring points at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Building on a strong qualifying performance that saw him benefit from other drivers’ demotions to start the race in P8, Colapinto managed to cross the line in the same position despite dropping out of the top 10 during the race.

Combined with team mate Alex Albon’s seventh-place finish, the result is Williams’ first double points haul since the 2023 United States Grand Prix. To add to their success, Colapinto also became the first Argentine driver to finish in the top 10 since Carlos Reutemann in 1982.

From suffering a low-key crash in FP1 to making Q3 and finishing the weekend with four points at a tricky street circuit, he demonstrated his confidence and speed in the car in just his third week of being a Formula 1 driver.

BAKU, AZERBAIJAN - SEPTEMBER 15: Franco Colapinto of Argentina driving the (43) Williams FW46 Mercedes on track during the F1 Grand Prix of Azerbaijan at Baku City Circuit. (Photo by Joe Portlock - Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images) — Colapinto kept pace with Albon across the weekend

“It feels fantastic to be honest,” he said after the race. “I am very happy, very proud of the team. What we have achieved together is incredible and I am delighted for the job and the work we have been doing.

“A lot of effort goes into these points and we already climbed one position in the constructors’ championship and it’s only my second race together and we scored a lot of points together with Alex so it’s just an amazing result for the team. I am very happy for them, they deserve it so yeah, let’s keep going this way.

“It is very special, a dream come true. It is a long season still and we have many races left together but it is a great start. Very motivating for the next race.”

Williams have struggled amid a tight midfield battle this season, often coming close to claiming points but losing out to teams such as Haas and RB. Going into Baku, they were on six points courtesy of Albon’s three P9 finishes in Monaco, Silverstone and Monza.

BAKU, AZERBAIJAN - SEPTEMBER 13: Franco Colapinto of Argentina and Williams and Alexander Albon of Thailand and Williams walk in the Paddock prior to practice ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Azerbaijan. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images) — Colapinto was promoted to replace Logan Sargeant ahead of the Italian Grand Prix

Now leaving Azerbaijan with an additional 10 points, they have leapfrogged Alpine into eighth place in the constructors’ standings with seven races remaining. Albon also matched his best race finish with Williams, briefly running in P3 around Baku before he boxed to change tyres.

“It was actually unexpected for us to be in that kind of awkward position where we were in the mix with the leaders,” he said. “Obviously we didn’t pit yet but we were losing a lot of race time because of all the fighting that was going on around me.

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“I didn’t expect it, we didn’t expect it, we thought we would have quite a simple race. I didn’t really know where my race was, I didn’t know where I was going to come out, it was all a little bit unknown. Honestly, we were okay in the second stint, I thought I could get Fernando [Alonso] but he had a great end to his race, he was quick at the end so didn’t quite get him.”

Albon added that the team found their impressive performance to be “a genuine surprise” but it demonstrated that “the package is working well” going into the final part of the season.