boss has revealed ’s 2025 plans in mild of the Argentine driver lacking out on a seat in subsequent yr.
Colapinto, 21, changed Logan Sargeant after August’s Dutch Grand Prix and impressed with a couple of early top-10 finishes in Baku and Austin, in addition to a powerful first-lap overtake in Singapore.
But two pricey crashes in Sao Paulo and Las Vegas resulted in curiosity from Purple Bull and Alpine cooling in current weeks. There isn’t any out there seat for Colapinto at Williams subsequent yr, with Carlos Sainz becoming a member of from Ferrari to companion Alex Albon, whereas Liam Lawson has changed at Purple Bull and Isack Hadjar has at Racing Bulls.
Whereas the state of affairs was unclear at Purple Bull on the subject of Perez’s future, Vowles defined to The Unbiased the plans in place for the favored Argentine ought to he not land an F1 seat for subsequent yr.
“We’ll be certain that he’s working a historic automotive testing programme, TPC [Testing of Previous Cars] we name it,” Vowles stated. “That may maintain him contemporary and trustworthy.
“He’ll do full testing, TPC testing, simulator work. He’ll come right here with us to be a reserve driver on the similar time.”
On his future past that, with Cadillac set to affix the game as an eleventh staff in 2026, Vowles added: “I’m pretty positive he’s properly sufficient revered within the enterprise that he received’t solely be a 3rd driver right here, however the different groups would very very like a possibility to assist Franco as properly.
“We’ve been discussing [seats] with different groups. For transparency, not with Cadillac.
“I wish to be certain that he has a profitable profession. If we are able to’t provide that, then we’ll discover a place for him and see what we are able to provide him sooner or later.”
Vowles held talks with Purple Bull boss Christian Horner about Colapinto becoming a member of his staff subsequent yr in Brazil, although no deal was agreed.
And whereas Colapinto held out hope {that a} seat inside the Purple Bull ecosystem can be attainable – whether or not it’s the primary staff or RB – Lawson’s promotion to Purple Bull and Hadjar’s RB choice means there isn’t a open seat on the grid for the 21-year-old subsequent yr.
In addition to his reserve driver duties with Williams, Colapinto may additionally pursue appearances in different racing collection’, such because the World Endurance Championship or the European Le Mans Sequence.
Colapinto failed to complete in three of the ultimate 4 races of the 2024 season. He was pressured to retire on the season finale in Abu Dhabi attributable to an influence unit challenge.
