‘He deserves a place in F1’ – James Vowles on his efforts to seal Sauber seat for Franco Colapinto

James Vowles has reiterated his belief that Franco Colapinto is deserving of a full time place in Formula 1, with the Williams boss exploring possible options for the Argentinian driver given there is no seat available at the Grove squad in 2025.

After replacing Logan Sargeant at the team for the remainder of the season from the Italian Grand Prix onwards, Colapinto quickly impressed his team boss and went on to catch the eye further by scoring his debut points in just his second F1 weekend in Azerbaijan.

PALMER: After his first three races Franco Colapinto is looking right at home in F1, so is he the real deal?

Speaking during an appearance on F1's Beyond The Grid podcast, Vowles admitted that while he always expected Colapinto to be quick, he was taken aback by the rate at which the rookie managed to adapt.

“What I didn’t expect to happen is how quickly he’s got up to speed – I thought it would take him another few races to be there, so we’d be in the Americas before he picked up,” Vowles explained.

“Where his strengths are, him personally, he can take all of this pressure, thousands of things that come at you, and just deal with it in his stride. He’s never flustered, he’s never panicked, he’s never overloaded. He’s just, ‘give me more, and I can give you more back’.”

Colapinto’s future beyond the end of the season remains unclear, with Williams having locked in their driver line-up after signing multi-year deals with the incumbent Alex Albon and the arriving Carlos Sainz.

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Pushed on whether he may have considered retaining Colapinto for 2025 if Sainz had still been undecided about his plans by this stage, Vowles responded: “It’s really not a question I can answer directly but I’ll explain why.

“Carlos [brings] with him not just the ability to drive a car quickly, but an ability to lead the team forward. Where we are as Williams today, I need leaders around me that are able to understand what excellence looks like, from in this case Ferrari or McLaren – which [were] his last two experiences – and bring them here so that we can push ourselves forward, because at the rate we’re going we’re doing okay, but we need proper leaps and bounds.

“What Franco brings is to give us this pure performance – no doubt about it, he can drive the socks off this car. But there’s pros and cons to both, which is what we have to be clear about. What I would say is Franco is deserving of a place in Formula 1.”

Given the lack of room at Williams, Colapinto has been linked with the vacant seat at Sauber in 2025 off the back of his impressive performances.

As such, Vowles was quizzed on whether he had spoken with the squad – or RB, who are also yet to confirm one of their spots – about the possibility of signing Colapinto, or whether he would prefer to keep him as a third driver at Williams.

SPA, BELGIUM - JULY 25: James Vowles of Great Britain and Williams Racing during previews ahead of — Vowles is open to looking at different options for Colapinto's future

“First and foremost, he’s worthy of being a Formula 1 driver, so we will do what we have to – to a certain extent – to make it work in that regard,” the Team Principal said. “I’m not sure where Sauber are in their decision making and I’m not sure where VCARB are in their decision making.

“What I do know is this – take the last 12 months and tell me that you managed to predict anything of what’s going to happen, because I didn’t.

“And the point to that is I think Franco is, if he is not directly in a seat in 2025, the best option that is available to everyone up and down the field – ourselves included, [given that] you can’t predict what’s going to happen – so our responsibility towards him is making sure we’re doing testing in a historic car, making sure that he’s here working with us, that we keep him as best placed as we possibly can such that, if opportunity arises, he can take it.”

And on whether he would ensure that Colapinto retained a link to Williams even if driving for another team, Vowles added: “It all depends on whatever deal you can strike, wherever he goes. That’s not necessarily a yes, you need to see what people are offering and what circumstances they’re offering.

“What’s really important to me is that I trusted him and in return he’s trusted me, and that means a huge amount to us as an organisation, so now finding the way forward for him to be a professional racing driver in Formula 1 is key – I just can’t tell you what it looks like because each team is different in how they talk.”