Fernando Alonso’s role in Franco Colapinto’s journey to F1, everything you need to know

Aston Martin F1 driver and two-time world champion Fernando Alonso played a notable role in Franco Colapinto's journey to F1. The young Argentine driver is set to make his F1 debut at the Italian Grand Prix this weekend as he replaces the outgoing Logan Sargeant at the Williams F1 team.

The decision to drop the American driver did not surprise many F1 fans as Sargeant's performances over the last 18 months had been unsatisfactory. However, the British team's decision to promote its academy driver Franco Colapinto caught many fans off-guard.

The 2003-born driver was initially supported by former F1 driver Pedro de la Rosa when he signed with the la Rossa's Drivex School team in 2019 to race in Spanish F4. In the F1 pre-season testing, Colapinto persuaded de la Rosa and Fernando Alonso to back his flourishing career.

With Alonso and de la Rosa' supporting the young Argentine, Franco Colapinto dominated the Spanish F4, winning 11 of the 21 races under Fernando Alonso's FA Racing by Drivex team. The two-time world champion's FA Racing is known to promote young drivers in the virtual world as well as compete in several junior categories such as karting and F4.

Colapinto even congratulated the Spanish legend when it was announced that Alonso would return to F1 with Alpine in 2021.

"Come on Champion! Good luck @alo_oficial ! 💪💪 #FernandoAlonso #Alonso #Campeones," the tweet read. (Translated from Spanish).

Franco Colapinto was soon picked up by Williams F1 and joined their Driver Academy in January of 2023 as he competed in the F3 season. In his debut F2 season in 2024, the Argentine is currently P6 in the driver's championship and has notched up a Sprint and a Feature race win.

Ahead of the Italian GP, Franco Colapinto was further promoted to an F1 seat at the Grove-based outfit to replace Sargeant, whose season was plagued with crashes and the driver was able to score just one point in his 18-month-long career.

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Williams F1 team boss gives his take on choosing Franco Colapinto

Williams F1 team principal James Vowles said that the decision to go for Franco Colapinto to replace Logan Sargeant highlighted their belief in the investment of the team's junior driver program.

Via the team's official website, Vowles said:

"We also believe in investing in our young drivers in the Williams Racing Driver Academy, and Franco (Colapinto) is getting a fantastic opportunity to demonstrate what he is capable of across the final nine rounds of the season. I know that Franco has great speed and huge potential, and we look forward to seeing what he can do in Formula 1.”

The F2 driver expressed his excitement to get in an F1 car for the remainder of the season and said,

"It is an honor to be making my Formula 1 debut with Williams – this is what dreams are made of. The team has such amazing history and a mission to get back to the front which I can’t wait to be part of," Colapinto said.

"Coming into F1 mid-season will be an enormous learning curve but I am up for the challenge, and I’m fully focused on working as hard as I can with Alex and the team to make it a success,” he added.

Franco Colapinto will race the FW46 for the nine races and three Sprints in the 2024 season before Carlos Sainz's arrival in 2025.