After being called up by Williams to take the position of the dismissed Logan Sargeant, Colapinto made his Formula 1 debut at the Italian Grand Prix.
The Argentinean driver scored points in just his second race, finishing the FW46 in eighth place in Baku.
He has only finished in the top ten once in his three races, but that was his only points finish. In Singapore, Perez had to use strategy to undercut him for the final point.
“He’s very good, difficult to pass,” the Mexican driver informed Red Bull over the radio after spending nearly thirty laps staring at the Williams’ rear wing.
Although the paddock was taken aback by Colapinto’s skills, Williams signed Carlos Sainz to be Alex Albon’s 2025 teammate two months before Colapinto made his debut, hence Colapinto will not be competing at this time.
Although “interest is rather small,” Williams team manager James Vowles is willing to assist the 21-year-old in obtaining the last available spot on Audi’s grid for the upcoming season.
He can now choose to either return to Formula 2 or sit out the 2025 championship as Williams’ reserve driver.
Perez has cautioned him against doing the latter since a difficult season may damage his standing.
Oliver Bearman has also been drafted in, first by Ferrari and then by Haas, making Colapinto one of two Formula 2 drivers competing in Formula One races this season. He became the first driver in Formula One history to score points for two different teams in his first two races when he scored points in both of them.
Oddly, neither was enjoying a particularly successful season in Formula 2, with Colapinto only achieving one victory for MP Motorsport and Bearman managing two victories despite finishing a pitiful P15 in the Drivers’ Championship.
Perez claims that their problems in the feeder series make it challenging to identify the true elite of Formula 2 drivers.
Regarding Colapinto and Bearman’s Formula One performances, he said, “I think they’ve done a great job.” “In particular, with F2, it seems like they aren’t the guys winning, but they enter and perform incredibly well.
“You have to believe that the guys who are winning now are unreal.” Beyond that, it’s difficult to discern which F2 drivers are good, but overall, I think they’ve done an amazing job.
However, I believe it’s fantastic to see these young drivers enter the scene, exude such confidence, and start producing excellent results right immediately. It’s always fantastic to witness that.”
Asked if he was surprised by that, he replied: “I mean, these are very good drivers, and they’ve been doing that for their whole life. They’ve been with the teams for, I don’t know how many seasons, so they’re really up to speed.
“It’s not like the days when I started where you hardly had any communication with the F1 teams, and you were hardly in the meetings, you hardly drove a car.
“Now these guys, they are on the simulator all the day and they’re up to speed. Obviously it’s one good race, two good races. But it’s the consistency of tomorrow that will make you have a very good career in F1.”