Colapinto: The crash was a rookie mistake

Colapinto was the unexpected choice by Williams team boss James Vowles to replace Logan Sergeant, who had crashed too many Williams's during his time with the team. However, with inexperienced Colapinto, they were always taking a risk with a rookie at this stage of the season.

There will be crashes as every rookie needs time to learn and push the limits, and with tracks like Monza, which Colapinto knows like the back of his hand, having raced there before in various junior formulas, he proved to be a good choice for the drive.

But Baku in an F1 car is totally a different story. A track Colapinto has never raced on. A beast of tarmac to be tamed with its narrow ancient walls and ultra-wide, modern high-speed sections. It's a test for every driver; even Charles Leclerc crashed on Friday but still ended up fastest at the end of the day. There'll probably be a few more prangs during this weekend. It's a tough circuit to take, nevertheless.

In the Williams team report on Friday, Colapinto said: "The crash was a rookie mistake as I was still getting to grips with the track, and everything was new. Taking that away, we had a good second session. It was a small mistake but here it can cost you a lot."

The 21-year-old from Buenos Aires said: "The car is in a good position and I’m feeling more comfortable lap after lap. I need to keep working to understand how the overheating and degradation work. This is still a process as it’s only my second race and it’s a street track. It’s a tough start but I think we’re doing a good job."

Williams rebuilt the car. After all, the mechanics are used to this kind of work with Sargeant. which Colapinto acknowledged: "The heroes of the day are the mechanics. They did an amazing job to repair my car in time for FP2. I’m proud of the team for all their efforts.

"I was really happy to be able to get another session under my belt to help build my confidence up," he added after FP2, thanking his Williams crew by finishing P14 a tad slower than Alex Albon in P13 with the sister car in FP2. A good sign for a driver to recover and hopefully learn from the rookie mistake.

Williams sporting boss, Sven Smeets reported: "In FP1 both drivers weren’t very happy with the car. There was no grip and the tyres were never operating in the right window. Franco made a mistake in his second push lap on the Soft, hit the wall and had to retire from the rest of FP1.

"The team did a brilliant job to get his car ready for FP2," declared Smeets. "Franco was able to run almost the whole session. Also, on Alex’s side the team was very busy, changing many things on the car in order to find a better balance and performance."

"Both the drivers were happier with the behaviour of the car in FP2 but there is still more work to do , going through all the data and finding performance if we want to be fighting for points on Sunday," added Smeets.

Time will tell if, unlike Sargeant, Colapinto does learn from his errors and gets better and better. As standout rookies such as Oscar Piastri, for example, showed with his sensational arrival on the F1 stage. He set the current benchmark for rookies to be measured.

Williams have six points in the 2024 F1 World Championship standings, Albon having scored all half dozen. Sargeant was point-less this year until he was axed. In 36 starts for the team, the American scored one point. Can Colapinto better that in the next seven races in the car.

Next year Carlos Sainz will partner Albon in the team. Hence the opportunity for the Argentine, land of F1 greats Juan Manuel Fangio and Carlos Reutemann, to make a case for himself to team principals.