The Albon-matching elements of Colapinto's maiden F1 grand prix

A surprise call-up to Williams in place of Logan Sargeant threw rookie Franco Colapinto in at the deep end, but he impressed the team with a strong first attempt at Monza. Motorsport.com has dug into his race and lap time data - and why he's perhaps closer to Albon than Sargeant ever was

Franco Colapinto only discovered that he had graduated to Formula 1 on the Tuesday before the Italian Grand Prix. Shuffling the deck and making a mid-season driver switch is bold enough, but to do so between the races of a double-header would usually border upon the audacious.

After Zandvoort, Williams team boss James Vowles figured that Logan Sargeant's time was up. The noted improvement seen at the tail end of 2023 had not carried over through the winter; the American was once again significantly shy of Alex Albon's pace, and had not ever looked like tailing the Anglo-Thai into the points at any race this season.

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Author Jake Boxall-Legge

Jake Boxall-Legge Autosport’s Technical Editor. Having studied Automotive Engineering with Motorsport at the University of Hertfordshire, West Country-born Jake's original ambition was to design racing cars. During a year between studies in which he accidentally rekindled a love of writing, he took up a Master's in Motorsport Engineering at Oxford Brookes. Halfway through his master's year, he was offered a place on the Autosport Academy, conducting occasional freelance duties before becoming the press officer for Formula 2 and GP3 in 2018. Autosport offered him a return to the fold later that year to serve as its Technical Editor. His voice appears on a number of videos and podcasts, and can often be found writing about terrible Formula 1 cars in excruciating detail. In his spare time, Jake enjoys baking and blames his failure to make it past the Great British Bake-Off interviews on his tenuous grasp on choux pastry. His dream is to open a brunch cafe - and his willingness to make outrageous puns in inappropriate situations has earned him the contempt of his colleagues.