James Vowles added: “I realised straight away that he is very fast, he will drive any car he is given the chance to get into.”
After the great debut of Franco Colapinto In Formula 1, Williams team boss James Vowles highlighted the Argentine’s talent, but above all he stressed the effort made not only by him but by his entire family to reach the highest category of motor racing.
“His father sold his house so he could race in a championship, the Formula 4 one, which is where I saw him. Many families sell their possessions, it happens every day. He won with a team that was not at the level to achieve it, but he did it, and that opened a door for him.“Vowles said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.
The head of the British team said that since then he had also been able to see the Argentine in the Asia Le Mans championship, a category of Sports Prototypes. “I immediately realised that he is very fast, he drives any car that they give him the opportunity to get into,” he said.
Regarding his arrival at Williams, the English engineer said: “We put him in a simulator and he did thousands of kilometres, we put him in a Formula 2 car and he started winning races,” he said. He also pointed out that the turning point in Colapinto’s career was last July 5th, when he took part in free practice 1 at Silverstone, where he stood out and was only 4/10 behind his teammate, Alex Albon.
“When we gave him the opportunity at Silverstone, he caught me off guard. I didn’t expect what he did in the car. Which It is not visible that he was at the same pace as Alex (Albon, his partner). That doesn’t happen. It shouldn’t happen.”.
In that sense, he emphasized how extraordinary Colapinto’s rapid growth was: “He went from an F2 car, which is difficult to drive, to an F1 car that is hyper-fast and in which things happen so quickly, and he dealt with that admirably.”
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Colapinto’s future in Formula 1: “He showed the world that he deserves a seat”
Regarding the future of the Argentine pilot in Williams, He assured that he will continue within the team although he explained that they want to find a position for him in Formula 1. The British team is already working to get him a seat in the next season, although the two seats of his own will be occupied by Carlos Sainz and Alexander Albon.
This is why the engineer analyzed the possibility of collaborating with Sauber to secure a place for Colapinto in F1. “In two races he proved to the world that he deserves a seat. I’ve always been a firm believer in letting good drivers race. So we’ll see if we can find a way to work with them. Sauber in that circumstance,” he concluded.
Source: Ambito
