Franco Colapinto had to start from the pit lane in Las Vegas. (Image: Getty)
Franco Colapinto’s hopes of sealing a seat on the F1 grid next year may have been dashed by his latest crash in Las Vegas. The Argentinean driver, 21, after swerving too early into Turn 16, with his Williams car then careering into the wall.
The British team later confirmed that the driver had suffered a 50G impact, with onboard replays showing how his head worryingly bounced from side to side during the incident.
It meant he had to start the night race in ‘Sin City’ from the pit lane, eventually finishing in 14th.
It’s now been three race weekends in a row that Colapinto has suffered a crash, costing his team a small fortune in the process. At the Mexican Grand Prix, he was given a 10-second penalty and had two points added to his professional driver’s licence having been deemed responsible for a collision with driver Liam Lawson.
A week later in Brazil, he spun out in Q1 and then prompted a red flag in the race itself, after crashing out under safety car conditions. And yet, his previous four races had seen him make an apparently seamless transition to the F1 grid, leading to speculation he could join for 2025.
Colapinto notched four top-12 finishes, and scored points in both Azerbaijan and the US. His predecessor meanwhile failed to win points in any of his 15 races with the team this season .
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Franco Colapinto replaced Logan Sergeant midway through the 2024 season. (Image: Getty)
Despite being handed a contract extension this year, the poor form of has seemingly left the Mexican at risk of being released early by . Colapinto’s initial form had led to reports .
There were also suggestions he would drive for , with Lawson instead driving alongside Verstappen. But according to Planet F1, ’s team have now changed their views on rookie Colapinto following his string of errors.
Jnr is coming to Williams for the 2026 campaign, and will drive alongside . And it means Colapinto now seems destined to return to the team’s academy set-up to continue his development.
Indeed, he was left indebted to the Williams mechanics for even being able to compete in Vegas on Saturday night. Team members were forced to work until the early hours following qualifying to ensure his car was repaired accordingly.
And after his high-speed crash, the team confirmed they had only permitted the youngster to race after thorough health checks. “Following Franco’s incident in qualifying yesterday, he has undergone a thorough follow-up evaluation from the event medical team today and has been cleared to race in this evening’s Las Vegas Grand Prix,” read a team statement.