Franco Colapinto makes Williams strategy criticism three races into F1 career

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In the three races he has completed with Williams so far, Franco Colapinto has impressed the Formula 1 paddock in inferior machinery.

The Argentine scored his first points two races into his Williams debut at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, and outscored Logan Sargeant’s entire career points total, and produced another solid race at the tough Singapore circuit.

At the start of the race, he gained three places from his P12 on the grid after making an opportunistic move into Turn 1 on his rivals. The move drew criticism from his teammate Alex Albon, who exclaimed over team radio: “Franco just divebombed! What’s he doing!?”

Colapinto would later settle into the race and finish in 11th place, blaming Williams when speaking to Autosport for their poor strategy for losing out on a points finish.

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Franco Colapinto blames Williams for poor Singapore strategy

Albon retired from the race with an unexplained cooling problem, while Colapinto dropped down to P11 but was only 1.6s off Sergio Perez in the Red Bull.

He felt Williams could have produced a better strategy on the day, as the undercut proved key to finishing ahead of Perez.

“I just think that we need to defend that a little bit better and not let these mistakes happen again,” said Colapinto.

“Because just by stopping a lap too late, we lost the place in the points. But it is what it is. We win and we lose together.”

Sauber set to make driver announcement that could be bad news for Franco Colapinto

Although Williams will have Carlos Sainz and Albon as their main driver lineup for the 2025 season, there was talk that Colapinto has impressed enough to warrant a seat.

There is currently only one realistic vacancy left at Sauber, however, Colapinto reportedly does not have the budget to be able to fund the drive for next year.

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To make matters worse, Sauber is expected to confirm Valtteri Bottas on a single-year contract for 2025 with McLaren junior Gabriel Bortoleto set to get a drive for 2026.

Colapinto is expected to take up a reserve driver role within Williams for the 2025 season, with a view of seeing what the driver market looks like in the 2026.