From brilliance in Baku to struggles in Sao Paulo – Colapinto’s 9 Grand Prix weekends so far ranked

Franco Colapinto will return to the Formula 1 grid next weekend when he takes over Jack Doohan’s Alpine race seat at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix. Ahead of the Argentinian’s comeback, F1.com revisits his stand-in run for Williams over the second half of the 2024 season to provide a race-by-race ranking of his efforts…

Colapinto burst onto the F1 scene at Monza last year, when Williams opted to promote their academy member and F2 race winner in favour of Logan Sargeant, who was struggling for pace alongside Alex Albon – and struggling to keep his car on the track.

ANALYSIS: Why Alpine chose to promote Colapinto and bench Doohan – concluding a dramatic 12 hours after Oakes' resignation

It was a strong start for the 21-year-old Colapinto, who impressed many paddock observers with his initially cool, calm and collected displays en route to Q3 appearances and points finishes – but there were also some costly mistakes and crashes along the way.

Scroll down for a review of Colapinto’s weekends from worst to best…

#9 – Brazil

Aside from a practice shunt in Azerbaijan, which he brilliantly bounced back from (more on that later), Colapinto kept things relatively clean across his first five Grands Prix at the wheel, but that record was dramatically undone during a severely rain-hit event at Interlagos.

Colapinto crashed in Qualifying and the Grand Prix around the Sao Paulo venue, undoing the hard work of his mechanics between sessions (which were both held on Sunday) and leaving them with a huge amount more to do before the next round in Las Vegas.

#8 – Las Vegas

When it came to Las Vegas, and with Williams desperately low on spares (team mate Albon also crashing in Brazil), matters went from bad to worse when Colapinto suffered a huge Qualifying shunt that came in at 50G and left his car in pieces once more.

Colapinto was ultimately cleared to compete in the Grand Prix after medical checks, with mechanics working overnight to get his car back in shape for a pit lane start, but it went down as another bruising weekend for both the driver and the team.

READ MORE: ‘He can be very proud’ – Piastri voices support for Doohan after fellow Australian’s Alpine demotion

#7 – Abu Dhabi

After successive incidents in Brazil, Las Vegas and Qatar (see below), Colapinto managed to put together a cleaner weekend at the Abu Dhabi season finale, but it was a rather anonymous one – finishing last in Qualifying and suffering an engine failure on race day.

#6 – Qatar

Fresh from those heavy crashes in the Americas, Colapinto admitted when he arrived at Qatar’s Lusail International Circuit that he would not be running the latest specification of parts, and it proved to be a challenging weekend for the F1 newcomer.

He qualified last for the Sprint and started it from the pit lane due to set-up changes, and then qualified 19th for the Grand Prix, where he was eliminated on the first lap in a three-car collision with Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon.

READ MORE: Colapinto blames ‘stupid’ rivals for first lap crash as Albon admits Magnussen collision was his fault

#5 – Mexico City

Mexico City marked the beginning of Colapinto’s more challenging run to the end of the campaign, with the youngster comfortably out-qualified by team mate Albon and coming home a distant 12th via a 10-second penalty for causing a collision with RB’s Liam Lawson.

#4 – Austin

Colapinto faced the added challenge of a Sprint at the United States Grand Prix, but he adapted well to start the weekend as the quickest Williams driver with a run to 10th in Sprint Qualifying and 12th in the 100-kilometre dash itself.

READ MORE: ‘He deserves a place in F1’ – Vowles on his efforts to seal Sauber seat for Colapinto

Albon got back on terms with his new team mate in the main Qualifying session, but after the Thai-British driver’s first-lap dramas, it was left to Colapinto to try and score a point, which he ultimately achieved by coming home 10th at the chequered flag.

#3 – Italy

Colapinto started 2025 in the F2 feeder series but his services were called upon – having impressed during an Free Practice 1 outing at Silverstone and in the simulator – when Williams dropped Sargeant midway through the American’s sophomore F1 season.

While Monza was a track he knew well from his junior career, Colapinto got his head down, edged closer and closer to much more experienced team mate Albon as the weekend progressed, and ended up with a very respectable 12th-place finish.

#2 – Singapore

Singapore is one of the toughest tests on the F1 calendar for any driver, let alone a newcomer, but Colapinto built on impressive performances across his first two weekends to deliver another mature drive in the stifling heat and humidity of Marina Bay.

Having qualified just a few thousandths behind Albon and boldly slid up the inside of the sister Williams at Turn 1, he battled valiantly for a point and only just missed out to Sergio Perez on strategy – the Red Bull driver commending his effort.

READ MORE: ‘A bit of a shame’ – Albon gives verdict on Colapinto’s Turn 1 move as Williams leave Singapore empty-handed

#1 – Azerbaijan

For the best performance across Colapinto’s nine-round run with Williams, the clear winner was his Q3 and points double on the streets of Baku, where he looked as though he had been competing in the top echelon for several seasons.

As touched on above, Colapinto suffered an early setback with a crash in practice, but he came back fighting to start a stunning eighth on the grid and expertly hold onto the spot through the race – finishing on the tail of Albon’s car.

Colapinto (and fellow super-sub Ollie Bearman) received praise from Lewis Hamilton after going wheel-to-wheel with the seven-time World Champion, with the Argentinian describing their post-race handshake as “one of the most special moments in my life”.

READ MORE: Colapinto declares points finish ‘a dream come true’ as Williams celebrate double success in Baku

DISCOVER MORE...

HIGHLIGHTS: Relive Verstappen's breathtaking first-lap overtake on Piastri en route to stellar Imola victory

Verstappen storms to victory in thrilling Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix ahead of Norris and Piastri

Hamilton hails ‘really great feeling’ of fightback to P4 at Imola as Leclerc reflects on ‘frustrating day’

Alpine chief Briatore opens up on decision to drop Doohan for Colapinto as he clarifies ‘five races’ stance

F1 EXPLAINS: What happens inside an F1 garage during a race - with Haas