Vowles reveals ‘heart-in-mouth moment’ with Colapinto debut

Williams team principal James Vowles has conceded his heart was in his mouth when rookie Franco Colapinto almost blotted his F1 debut.

Vowles turned to Academy product Colapinto after deciding to axe Logan Sargeant following the Dutch Grand Prix, with his shocking crash at Zandvoort in final practice the straw that effectively broke the camel’s back, along with his general performance in the same specification car as team-mate Alex Albon.

Despite a handful of names linked with the vacancy, Argentinian Colapinto was offered a drive to the end of the season by Vowles given Carlos Sainz will partner Albon in 2025.

It was an opportunity Colapinto grabbed with both hands, although he placed himself under pressure when he almost lost control of his car during his final push lap in Q1, encountering a severe snap as he ran onto the gravel at one stage before making a vital save.

Colapinto started a disappointing 18th although delivered a faultless drive on Sunday to finish 12th, 13 seconds off the points, and a case of what might have been.

“I had him in this office,” said Vowles, speaking to RacingNews365 and referring to his base in the Williams motorhome, “and we had a chat about it [Saturday’s incident].

“I said two things to him – one, this is what I mean by you’re going to want more, and the limit is, if you drive underneath it, it’s the fastest way around because overdriving costs you.

“I also said to him there are not many drivers that would have saved it the way he did because it was a large snap on that kerb. So a heart-in-the-mouth moment there.”

Vowles – Weight of the world off people

From the low of Zandvoort, where Albon was disqualified from qualifying as the new floor breached the technical regulations to add to the woes with Sargeant, Vowles was at least to see light at the end of the tunnel in Monza.

“My biggest reflection is this: what a difference a week makes,” he added. “If you had interviewed me the week previously, it’s not that my head was down, but I knew we had a large set of decisions to make.

“We’re now through that, and what I like to see is, again, I use body language, but if you go in the garage, it feels like the weight of the world has lifted off people, and we can see there’s a pathway forward.

“At Zandvoort, at maximum downforce, and Monza at minimal downforce we were in the top 10, so we’ve plenty of reasons to be optimistic together here.”

Vowles feels Colapinto, throughout the weekend and notably after his qualifying incident, rose to the challenge, and is one of the reasons why he opted to give the 21-year-old a chance.

“Part of the reason why he’s in the car is his ability to cope with immense amounts of pressure is enormous,” said Vowles. “It’s a huge part of it.

“He has the natural ability to drive quickly, but he’s not really flapable. We loaded him up with more information than a human being can take. If you ask him now, he’ll say that was definitely too much.

“But it didn’t cause him to go into any other state than, ‘This is how I do things, and this is how I perform the best’.”