Colapinto reveals how Las Vegas crash erased his stunning F1 breakthrough

Franco Colapinto has described the Las Vegas Grand Prix qualifying crash that ended his breakthrough 2024 Williams season as the toughest moment of his Formula 1 career, admitting the 50G impact wiped out the goodwill he had built across his first handful of races.

Colapinto was handed his F1 debut on 27 August 2024 after Logan Sargeant was dropped following a heavy crash in third free practice at Zandvoort that set his Williams ablaze. The Argentine had been racing for MP Motorsport in Formula 2 and had completed just one post-season test in Abu Dhabi and a single free practice outing at Silverstone before being thrown into a race seat for the remainder of the season.

His debut at Monza yielded a 12th-place finish, but it was the two street circuits that followed — Baku and Singapore — that announced him to the paddock. He scored points in Azerbaijan and came close again in Singapore, then added another points finish in Austin.

“I started my F1 career and in my second race I immediately got into Q3 and scored points,” Colapinto said in an interview. “The third race was on a super difficult track in Singapore and I almost scored points again. Then I scored points in Austin, so it was an amazing start.”

That run of results generated significant excitement in Argentina and raised his profile at a critical time — Williams had already confirmed Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz for 2025, meaning Colapinto needed to impress other teams.

The momentum stalled sharply in Las Vegas. While team-mate Albon was eliminated in Q1, Colapinto advanced to Q2 before clipping the inside barrier at Turn 15 and slamming into the wall at 50G.

“Afterwards I had this crash in Las Vegas and suddenly everything was a disaster,” he said. “Everyone suddenly forgot about everything.”

Colapinto was reflective rather than bitter about the incident, acknowledging his own inexperience as a factor. “I do believe that you are as good as your last race, but it was annoying that all the effort and good things suddenly came to an end because of just a rookie mistake. At the end of the day I was still learning. I had never driven an F1 car before, apart from half a day in Abu Dhabi. It’s not an excuse, but it showed me how quickly things can change in F1.”

Colapinto has since moved to Alpine for the 2025 season, giving him the full-time seat he was unable to secure at Williams.