Colapinto: It hasn't been the end of season I wanted

The Argentine was called in by Williams to replace Logan Sargeant, as the team management seemed fed up with the slow and crash-prone American.

The decision to give the drive to Colapinto was a surprise, especially as Williams boss James Vowles overlooked Mick Schumacher, the Mercedes reserve driver promoted by Toto Wolff, Vowles' former boss.

But Colapinto positively surprised Williams and onlookers as he delivered some strong performances, even outqualifying Alex Albon for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, where he scored his first points in F1 after finishing eighth and went on to score points in Austin as well, where he finished tenth.

But then Colapinto suffered from a run of bad form with crashes in Las Vegas in qualifying as well as during the Sao Paulo Grand Prix in the rain.

In Qatar he was taken out following a first-lap crash by Nico Hulkenberg and Esteban Ocon while he retired with engine trouble in the season finale in Abu Dhabi.

Speaking after the race in Abu Dhabi, Colapinto said: "It hasn't been the end of the season I wanted but it's part of Formula 1.

"It still was my dream come true and it was an amazing experience. I would like it much more if we would have ended as we started, but it's F1.

"Since I was very young, I was waiting for this opportunity and working towards it and it's just been an extremely good experience and very nice moments with the team. Very grateful for the team," he maintained.

Reflecting on how his F1 run developed, Colapinto added: "Since I started in Monza, I had to learn a lot and I had to keep moving forward.

"I think it's a lot of 'you are as good as your last race', that's how Formula 1 works. But looking at the bigger picture, I think I did a pretty good job. I tried to maximize the opportunity that Williams gave me. It was an incredible chance and I think something I respect a lot.

"The first five rounds were really, really good," he claimed. "And then I think it was another challenge for Brazil with the inters for the first time, the first time in an F1 car in the rain. It was a tough experience, but I had to go through those moments, I think, as a rookie.

"Vegas was quite tough," he said of his qualifying crash in Las Vegas. "Being tough on myself, I think it was a pretty big mistake going for it in the last lap, trying to put the car in Q3.

"That's where I look back and I just think that some mistakes could have been avoided, but I think looking at the overall picture and the experience, it was my dream come true," the 21-year-old from Buenos Aires concluded.

With the performance he showed on his F1 debut, Colapinto was even linked to a move to Red Bull, who were looking at drivers options to replace Sergio Perez at that time, or one of RB's drivers—Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda—should one of them be chosen to replace the Mexican. That won't be happening now...