Williams saw ‘massive spikes’ on social media after making Silverstone announcement

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Williams are yet to finalise their driver lineup for the 2025 Formula 1 season. The team have tied Alex Albon down to a new contract, but need to settle on a teammate.

The incumbent Logan Sargeant seems to be at the bottom of the list. James Vowles has even hinted that Sargeant could lose his seat midseason after an underwhelming 18 months in F1.

With offers unlikely to come from rival teams, he may now pursue his racing career elsewhere. Sargeant could announce a move to IndyCar prior to the summer break after recent talks.

Until recently, Carlos Sainz was the leading contender to replace him. Williams were ready to announce Sainz at the Spanish GP until he hesitated last minute.

Vowles is now growing impatient with the Spaniard’s hesitation and could turn to an alternative. Valtteri Bottas is reportedly the favourite for the vacancy.

He has a pre-existing relationship with the team principal, who was chief strategist during his time at Mercedes. Silver Arrows junior driver Kimi Antonelli is a contender too, but Vowles won’t want his team to be used solely as a training school.

Sven Smeets shares huge interest in Williams junior Franco Colapinto

Williams have a driver academy of their own, of course, and perhaps their leading talent at the moment is Franco Colapinto. The 25-year-old currently sits fifth in the Formula 2 standings.

He bagged his first F2 win in the Imola Sprint race in May and has taken three podiums overall. That form earned him an FP1 outing at the British Grand Prix in place of Sargeant.

Colapinto became the first Argentine to drive in any F1 session since Gaston Mazzacane in 2001. Speaking to The Race, Williams sporting director and academy chief Sven Smeets says they delayed the announcement to limit the pressure.

When they did eventually confirm his participation, it led to a ‘massive’ surge of engagement on their social media platform. This was a sign of his popularity in his homeland.

“It seems that, as you say, in certain countries, you are a little bit more having the country on your shoulders,” Smeets said. “And we saw massive, massive spikes on social media.

“It’s maybe one of the reasons why we didn’t announce it four weeks upfront, because then that pressure is [reduced] announcing it just a week off. We probably also helped a little bit the situation for him.”

Jenson Button drops 2025 hint about Franco Colapinto

Colapinto delivered a commendable performance in the session. While he was only 18th fastest, he lapped just five-tenths slower than the highly-rated Albon.

A few other young drivers featured, offering something of a reference. Jack Doohan was more than seven-tenths off Esteban Ocon at Alpine, while Oliver Bearman was around half a second slower than Nico Hulkenberg, the driver he’s set to replace at Haas.

Williams were ‘really impressed’ with the feedback Colapinto offered, and it remains to be seen whether he gets any more FP1 chances later in the year. Teams are obliged to field young talent twice over the course of the season, but they do also have another F2 driver on their books in Zak O’Sullivan.

Jenson Button has hinted that Colapinto is in the running for a seat at Grove in the near future. Significantly, this isn’t just the word of a pundit – Button has worked as an advisor to the team since 2021.