James Vowles hailed Franco Colapinto’s impressive F1 debut, where the Williams rookie finished 13th at Monza, narrowly missing points.
James Vowles, Williams F1 Team Principal, commended Franco Colapinto’s Formula 1 debut performance. Colapinto qualified 18th and finished 13th, later moved up one place due to Daniel Ricciardo’s penalty. Vowles expressed satisfaction with the rookie’s performance.
“Franco did a good job this weekend, considering we pulled him straight from F2 to F1—but with significant backstage preparation,” Vowles stated.
“He executed the race perfectly, making progress and overtaking cars. And I think if qualifying had gone as planned—and to be transparent, he was less than a tenth behind Alex [Albon] at turn seven, so very, very close—he could potentially have had a chance to score points. And that, for his first outing in a car, is fantastic.”
Colapinto shared his relief: “I am very happy with the result, but happy because the pace was a question mark. I had never done more than eight consecutive laps before this race, and suddenly I did 53—and I had never tried the hard tires either.”
“There were a lot of new things, but the weekend was very positive overall. It was obviously a bit frustrating with the mistake [on Saturday], but I paid the team back with a really solid race.”
“I now have a lot of information to take back to the factory, on the simulator, to better understand what I need to work on, because the first race is always tough with many unknowns, but we managed it well, and finishing just a few seconds off the points is decent.”
Reflecting on the rush of his call-up, he explained the challenge of this last-minute summons: “It’s a whole process that has been very short for me so far, while it’s supposed to be long, but my first race happened very quickly.”
“James and the team had the confidence to put me in the seat; it was a very tough decision to make. But I am extremely pleased with my performances and look forward to feeling more comfortable in the car.”
Colapinto confirmed he had suffered physically during the race: “It was a good race, the team was very happy. I’m digesting all the information and I’m sore everywhere—it’s terrible!”
Fernando Alonso indeed told the Formula 1 newcomer to prepare for more physical pain in 2024: “He had a very good race and I told him that in parc fermé. He mentioned that he ended up having a bit of a sore back because of the seat. It was the first time he had stayed in the car for two hours at a sustained pace.”
“But he now needs to properly prepare to adjust that seat because Singapore is not as easy as Monza, where there are plenty of places to rest. In terms of workload for the driver, Monza is one of the easiest circuits. In Baku, and especially in Singapore, it will be completely different.”
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Vowles Lauds Colapinto’s Stellar Monza Debut Vowles Lauds Colapinto’s Stellar Monza Debut
