Like Sargeant before him, Colapinto’s bid for an F1 superlicence was a close call · RaceFans

Logan Sargeant, who has lost his Formula 1 drive halfway through his second season, only narrowly qualified for the FIA superlicence which allowed him to compete in the series to begin with.

In selecting Franco Colapinto as his replacement, Williams have opted for another driver who only narrowly cleared the threshold to claim a place on the F1 grid.

When Williams announced Sargeant as their intended driver for the 2023 season, then-team principal Jost Capito acknowledged he did not yet meet the FIA’s criteria to hold an F1 superlicence. “We feel he’s ready to race,” said Capito in October 2022, “under the condition that he has enough superlicence points after Abu Dhabi, he will be our second driver next year.”

At that point, Sargeant needed to add at least 13 FIA superlicence points on top of the 27 he had from the previous two seasons to reach the threshold of 40 to qualify. These points came from his finishing positions in Formula 3.

Williams, risking nothing, gave Sargeant a series of runs in free practice sessions, each worth one extra point if he logged more than 100 kilometres. He gained three points this way, but the plan hit a snag in Mexico where he only covered 22 laps, leaving him 5km short of another precious point.

Sargeant couldn’t relax until after the final race of the F2 season. Although he ended up clearing the 40 point threshold comfortably, it could easily have turned out differently.

He took fourth place in the F2 standings, good for another 30 superlicence points. However he went into the final round with a margin of just 12 championship points over seventh place in the standings. He was overhauled by Liam Lawson during the final weekend, and could consider himself fortunate that two of his closest rivals failed to finish either race in the points.

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Although the points situation turned out favourably for Sargeant, the drama he went through securing it was largely unprecedented. Ordinarily, when F1 teams announce new drivers, they have already comfortably met the superlicence points threshold.

That is certainly not the case for the driver who will replace Sargeant this weekend. Indeed, Colapinto qualifies partly due to an exception made for seasons affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, which will not apply after this year.

Ordinarily, drivers may only count superlicence points scored over three consecutive years towards their tally of 40. However, as the 2020 and 2021 seasons were disrupted by the pandemic, the FIA International Sporting Code adds the following exception: “Should the three-year calendar period… include the calendar year 2021, the FIA will consider the highest number of points accumulated in any three of the four calendar years immediately preceding the year of the date of the application.”

This is fortunate for Colapinto, as 2022 was a low-scoring year for him. Although he impressed by taking pole position on his debut in the FIA Formula 3 series that year, he ended the season ninth in the standings, worth just three points. He took 15 points for fourth place last year, and in 2021 finished sixth in the Formula Regional European Championship, worth 10 points, giving him a total of 28.

However, due to the pandemic dispensation, Colapinto can count his more successful 2020 season instead of 2022. That year he finished third in the Toyota Racing Series, worth five points, and the same in FREC’s predecessor Formula Renault Eurocup, worth 12. He can therefore count 42 points, tipping him over the threshold.

Williams have surprised many by opting for a rookie instead of a driver with existing F1 experience such as Lawson or Mick Schumacher (notwithstanding the fact the latter’s two seasons at Haas featured several costly crashes not unlike those which have cost Sargeant his drive). The fact Colapinto only narrowly made the grade underlines the risk they are taking.

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At the same time, teams place more store in what they see of a driver’s ability in an F1 car than how they perform in junior categories. This is why Bearman’s poor season in F2 this year hasn’t stopped Haas signing him up for next year, and why Mercedes aren’t getting hung up over Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s form in F2, where he lies one place and nine points behind Colapinto.

Once Colapinto ticked the box of achieving the required number of superlicence points, the question of how well he could drive an F1 car was all that remained. And Colapinto appeared to answer that more than satisfactorily with his practice run in damp, tricky conditions at Silverstone last month.

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