Damon Hill reacts to Williams replacing Logan Sargeant with Franco Colapinto

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After 15 race weekends, Formula 1 has finally witnessed its first mid-season driver change but it’s not the one many would have expected after the Belgian Grand Prix before the summer break.

Williams team principal James Vowles has made the difficult decision to replace Logan Sargeant with Argentinian rookie Franco Colapinto.

Vowles couldn’t guarantee Sargeant’s seat for the rest of the campaign during the summer break despite already replacing the American for 2025.

Carlos Sainz will arrive from Ferrari to join Alex Albon next year, but for now, Colapinto will keep his seat warm for the final nine race weekends of the season.

Vowles has explained why he decided to replace Sargeant but his huge crash during the Dutch Grand Prix weekend did him no favours whatsoever.

All eyes are now on Argentina’s first Formula 1 driver since Gaston Mazzacane who last raced for Prost in 2001.

F1 world champion Damon Hill – who retired the year before Mazzacane’s debut season – reacted on Instagram to the news from his former team.

Sargeant is the only driver outside of the Sauber pair to have not scored a point this year.

Colapinto has nine attempts – plus three Sprint Races – to secure that top-ten finish and justify the team’s decision.

READ MORE: Everything to know about Williams driver Franco Colapinto with praise to stats

Damon Hill reacts to Franco Colapinto replacing Logan Sargeant at Williams

Posting on social media after the news broke, Hill said: “Tough day for Logan,” before following up that message on Instagram by saying, “Big day for Argentina!”

The Italian Grand Prix has witnessed a Williams driver produce a brilliant F1 debut before and Colapinto will be hoping to replicate Nyck de Vries’s exceptional 2022 cameo for the team.

When Albon was ruled out after having appendix surgery, De Vries was given the nod and scored two points – outclassing Nicholas Latifi – and put in a performance that earned him a seat at AlphaTauri in 2023.

That outing didn’t quite go to plan for the Dutchman who was dropped after ten races for Daniel Ricciardo but should be the inspiration for Colapinto.

The only available seat for 2025 that could potentially be available to the Argentinian is at Sauber.

Valtteri Bottas is in pole position to stay at Sauber but their reluctance to hand him a contract suggests that Mattia Binotto is very much assessing his options and with veteran Nico Hulkenberg already signed up, he may not be against bringing in a talented younger driver.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Williams Racing from team principal to Mercedes relationship

Logan Sargeant’s final interview answer seems very ominous now

It could be argued that the writing was on the wall for Sargeant for some time at Williams.

Vowles had waited until the very last moment following his debut season to offer him an extension on his rookie contract.

However, even when he had more experience in the car, he simply wasn’t a match for Albon.

Sargeant’s final interview answer suggested that he was well aware of the pressure he was under but it’s unclear if he already knew his fate.

IndyCar seems like the next logical step for Sargeant with their season set to end next month, giving him plenty of time to prepare for his next step in motorsport.

It now remains to be seen who will be the next American to grace Formula 1.