James Wolves, the team leader at Williams, has been talking to the British media about his plans for Franco Colapinto. Apparently, Wolves is really interested in keeping Colapinto on board for the team’s future plans. When asked about Colapinto’s future, Wolves said, “The important thing is that he’ll be an Alpine pilot for several years” – which kind of answers the question, but also leaves some room for interpretation.
It’s worth noting that Colapinto’s time at Williams has come to an end, at least for now, after the announcement that Carlos Sainz will be joining the team for the 2025 season. Wolves seems pretty chill about it, though, stating that “Your choice, fundamentally, is to choose what you want from this, and after that, I hope I return to Williams” – no specific dates mentioned, but it sounds like he’s hoping for a reunion at some point.
The future of Colapinto in F1
As for Colapinto’s decision to join Alpine, Wolves said, “There’s a period of time where I hope you’re competing for Alpine, and the reason we did is that I really want it to be competing in 2025 or 2026, and this is the best opportunity you have, without being with us.” So, it sounds like Colapinto is in it for the long haul with Alpine, at least for now.
On the other hand, Wolves is pretty confident that Colapinto will return to Williams in the future. When questioned about it, he said, “That’s why I’m there, and I don’t want to say that it’s an attack on Jack (Doohan), I hope Jack has a good time, but ultimately, Franco is my pilot and I want him to return to the car after a while, and he will return to Williams.” Nice to see Wolves being so supportive of his driver, even if he’s not currently driving for the team.
Wolves also mentioned that “That period of time is not written in stone, where can I look in the eye and secure it, but I can say that Williams will return at some point” – which, I guess, is supposed to put our minds at ease about Colapinto’s role with the team. Still, it’s all a bit up in the air, and we’ll just have to wait and see what happens next.