Franco Colapinto now emerging as an option for 114-win F1 team in 2027 season

Follow us on Google Discover

Franco Colapinto has impressed since taking over the Williams from Logan Sargeant, scoring points within the first two races of his debut.

The Argentine has managed to stay within a few tenths of Williams teammate Alex Albon in the three races he has done so far, while he outscored the entire career points total of Sargeant in just two rounds.

It has been vindication for team principal James Vowles, who gave Franco Colapinto the chance after a heavy crash for Sargeant during practice for the Dutch GP effectively ended his chances of staying in F1.

Colapinto earned praise from Damon Hill for the move he pulled off at the start of the recent Singapore GP, in which he passed three cars including the Red Bull of Sergio Perez.

READ MORE: Who is Williams Formula 1 driver Franco Colapinto? Age, nationality, stats and more

After spending most of his race ahead of the Mexican, he came over the team radio to applaud Colapinto’s defensive driving and branded him “difficult to pass” over team radio.

It is unlikely that Colapinto will have a seat on the grid for next season but discussing the driver market on The Race podcast, journalist Scott Mitchell believes teams will be keeping an eye on the Argentine for the future.

Franco Colapinto could become a Williams driver again in 2027

With Carlos Sainz set to pair Alex Albon at Williams from 2025, it is likely that driver lineup will remain unchanged through to 2026.

At that stage, Sainz could move to a team further up the grid depending on how he fares against Albon. The Thai-English driver could also be on the shortlist to replace a driver at a top team including Red Bull, having previously raced for them between 2019 and 2020.

Mitchell expects this will be prime opportunity for Colapinto to potentially rejoin Williams, a team which is looking to add to its 117 wins in future, if an opening becomes available.

“Williams is now recognising that Colapinto is a much more serious prospect for it’s F1 team in the future because of the job he’s doing now,” said Mitchell.

“If Carlos Sainz gets snapped up or Alex Albon, Williams might be looking at Colapinto for 2027 and 2028.”

Guenther Steiner picks Franco Colapinto for vacant 2025 Sauber seat

Even though it is looking unlikely that Colapinto will have a seat on the grid next year due to funding issues, former F1 team boss Guenther Steiner said he would take a ‘risk’ on the 21-year-old.

Steiner felt he could ‘keep up with Nico Hulkenberg’ and would have offered him a one-year contract at the team if he was in charge, owing to his recent performances.

Tim Coronel also said that Colapinto would be a better option for Sauber to take up in 2025, given they desperately need to achieve better results on track.

The team will make the transition to Audi for the 2026 season, but so far they are doing little to convince others they will be competitive with the German car-maker.