The accidents mustn’t overshadow Colapinto's “fantastic” stint with Williams in F1

Williams driver Alex Albon believes Franco Colapinto's difficult final Formula 1 race with the team mustn’t overshadow the Argentine's excellent results.

Impressive early racing for Colapinto since replacing Logan Sargeant Monza turned heads within the paddock and in addition secured five small print for Williams over three race weekends, which seemed crucial when the team was finally left behind by its mid-field rivals.

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Colapinto's form, composed attitude and quick adaptation to the necessities of F1 even succeeded Red Bull is considering making a move for the 21-year-old when considering driver options for 2025.

However, as quickly because the Argentine appeared on Red Bull's radar, a series of costly crashes in Brazil and Las Vegas quickly discouraged Christian Horner and Helmut Marko, with each turning to their very own group of drivers as an alternative.

According to Albon, it’s difficult to evaluate Colapinto solely on the harder second half of his nine-race Williams stint, as his FW46 also became harder to drive and the team needed to fight harder and harder to maintain pace with the competition.

Asked if Colapinto's accidents overshadowed his season, Albon replied: “I hope not. I don't think he deserves it.

“I believe it goes hand in hand with the performance of the automotive and towards the tip of the season it became difficult. For me it was difficult. I didn't have a unbelievable end to the season and I don't at all times do this. I just blame myself, so I believe the band knows how good they’re.

Franco Colapinto, Williams Racing, Alex Albon, Williams Racing within the drivers' parade

Photo: Dom Romney / Motorsport Images

Albon believes the timing of Colapinto's arrival helped him settle in as Williams was at his best around September.

After lightening the chassis, Williams also introduced its only major update package on the Dutch Grand Prix before beginning to fall back again towards the tip of the 12 months.

“In terms of timing, I think his arrival was perfect when the car was at its most competitive and probably easier to drive than it is now, on tracks that were also quite nice to drive,” Albon said.

“To be honest, he did a excellent job in Baku and Singapore, and so they weren't easy tracks to drive. And then it's just F1; I believe we've gone backwards. You can still get into Q2 with a mean lap, whereas then you definitely needed to do an amazing lap to get into Q2 and stuff like that, and it just distorted the flow of the track a little bit bit.

“It's easy to push when it's so tight and there's no margin to decelerate or make a mistake. We each went through a troublesome group of races, so I wouldn't blame him an excessive amount of. Especially Brazil, for the primary time within the season in wet conditions it is just not easy on a difficult track. Plus, Vegas was just hard.

“He's a unbelievable driver. I feel he has proven his value in Formula 1. I definitely underestimated how briskly he could be when he joined and I imagine we are going to see him in Formula 1 in some unspecified time in the future in the long run.”