Williams Formula 1 rookie Franco Colapinto says he only learned on Monday that he would be replacing Logan Sargeant from this weekend’s Italian GP.
The Argentine driver was preparing for the Monza F2 race in the simulator when the call came through.
The formal announcement of his promotion was made by the team the following day.
“On Monday I was in the F2 sim with MP preparing with my team for F2 here in Monza,” he said when asked by formu1a.uno about the timing.
“So you can imagine how late it was. And I don’t know when they were thinking about it, but it’s an opportunity that I’ve been always ready for, and that I’ve been waiting for so, so long.
“Since I was a young kid, I was always dreaming of this coming through and happening, and today to have the opportunity to be here speaking to all of you, it’s a pleasure, and I am just extremely grateful with Williams for the opportunity.
“It came very late, of course, but I’m always ready. I was not expecting it, to be honest. But I cannot explain you how happy I am to be here with Williams. They have been very supportive, and the opportunity that they have given me is insane.”
Colapinto indicated that his FP1 appearance at the British GP, where he was four-tenths off Williams regular Alex Albon, helped his case.
“I’m always ready, I’ve been the driver in the background for them for a while,” he said. “Of course, I did the FP1 in Silverstone. I did a good job there. They were very happy about the performance.
“And I think I was probably already in their minds from before. I was fully focused on my F2 season. It was my job before, and I was trying to do the best possible. I had four races left. I was preparing with the team as best as possible. And this opportunity came.”
Colapinto admits that he has a lot to learn in the coming races. Seven of the upcoming venues are new to him, of which three are tricky street tracks, while three others are sprint weekends with only an FP1 session in which to learn the track.
“It is going to be hard, I think,” he said. “I did get up to speed quite quickly in Silverstone in only a couple of laps.
“So I’m not too worried about it, I’m just thinking now on this weekend, that everything happened very quickly, and I didn’t have much time to think on the rest.
“But I’m sure that we will have a very good prep in the simulator. It’s going to be very important, and we are going to be up to speed hopefully in those sprint races.”
Regarding his goals he said: “I think my main focus is focusing on myself, trying to do the best job I can.
“The team has very clear targets which we are focusing on. So I am focusing on that too, and trying to learn as quick as possible, as I said before, they are very supportive.
“Everyone has been giving me a very warm welcome, and I am happy to be there with Williams.”
