Colapinto: No idea what I'm going to do next year

Williams Racing team principal James Vowles surprised the F1 community when he chose Colapinto to replace the underperforming Logan Sargeant from the 2024 Italian Grand Prix.

At the time, Vowles opted not to go for names like Mick Schumacher, a driver Mercedes boss Toto Wolff was keen on placing at Williams, and his choice seems to have paid off as Colapinto was fast out of the box, always close to highly rated teammate Alex Albon, and even scoring points in his second race in the top flight, the 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

And while the Argentine took F1 by surprise, he insisted he was confident of his speed and, like Oliver Bearman and Kimi Antonelli, showed Formula 2 drivers can hit the ground running in F1.

Speaking to Motorsport.com, Colapinto said: "I know what I can do, and I was expecting to be quick.

"Even though I didn't have a lot of experience with the car, that was the idea of the team and why they put me in the car, so I'm happy to be helping the team."

"I think we are doing a good job together as a team," he added, explaining how he and the team have worked on getting him up to speed.

""It's tough. There are a lot of things you can do in the car with the tools and so much stuff that you can change. But I am learning every time I'm going out, and I'm just getting a bit more used to the car, a bit more used to how I can extract the maximum performance of the car, and that's going well," he explained.

Colapinto, a member in the Williams Racing Driver Academy Program since 2023, was pulled out of the 2024 F2 season in order to replace Sargeant, which was an acceleration to his plans to join F1.

"Yeah, it changed a lot," he said of his life when the call from Williams came. "The day before I was still racing in F2. It was a big step forward, of course, a dream come true.

"I am enjoying a lot the opportunity, and I know it is going to be tough, but we are doing a great job as a team to make me go through that learning process quickly. We already scored points in only my second race together. It's a dream come true to be working this well together as a team.

"Alex [Albon] has helped me so much since I arrived in Formula 1," said of his teammate. "To have a reference that, in my opinion, is one of the best of the grid, it's really positive and has helped me to do all these steps so much quicker since I arrived in Monza. It's a great way to start to have a teammate like that."

However, and despite how rosy his life is right now, Colapinto admits there is a big question mark around his future as Sainz arrives at Williams in 2025, coming from Ferrari.

"I have no idea what I'm going to do next year," he professed. "Of course, it's very exciting that James [Vowles] wants to keep me in F1, and something that I'm grateful for.

"There are many things in F1 you need to be aware of, and many details that are tough. And he's been helping me to be on top of all those. He was the one who helped me to make that dream come true.

"I want to stay in Williams, I love this team, and I love how they work. I think you need to be grateful, and they are the first ones to give me the opportunity to be in an F1 car.

"I would love to get an opportunity in the future with this team. If not, I have no idea about options, but my plan A is to stay in the team.

"They invested a lot in me since I was in the younger categories, and I'm grateful for all of that," the 21-year-old from Buenos Aires concluded.