Formula One in 2024 was all about survival for Max Verstappen and his Reds Bull team, and whilst the world champion retained his crown for a fourth time, another driver was also making the headlines. Having finally tired of running a pay driver in their second car, Williams stopped up to the plate and sacked the hapless Logan Sargeant handing a nine race weekend tenure to young Argentinian Franco Colapinto.

Immediately, Colapinto was closer to his experienced team mate than his predecessor scoring points in two of his first outings for the Williams team. His debut in Monza was unremarkable, but his P8 and four points scored for Williams next time out in Baku sent the paddock tongues into frenzied chatter.

With James Vowles having signed both Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz on long term driving contracts, the route into a permanent F1 driver appeared closed to the Argentinian. Yet Italian maverick, Flavio Briatore, who has been tasked with turning around Alpine’s fortunes had young Franco set firmly in his sights.

 

 

 

 

Huge fee demanded by Williams F1

In Baku, Colapinto out qualified Albon as the pair lined up in their Williams cars, P9/P10 for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Franco scored his first points in the shadow of the Ural mountains and next time in Singapore he was one place short of another scoring finish.

Come the start of the final triple headers of the year, Colapinto once again showed his class in Austin. He qualified just 0.01 seconds behind Albon and again completed a top ten finish well ahead of his team mate.

The F1 paddock was on fire with talk of the young Argentinean, with parallels being drawn between him and another South American F1 legend, Ayrton Senna. With Red Bull in the middle of their Sergio Perez crisis, Christian Horner was seen in deep conversation with Williams James Vowles in Sau Paulo, as rumours swirled of a $20m buyout fee required to prise Colapinto away from his Williams team.

This kind of fee is unprecedented for a Formula One driver with just a handful of races under his belt and also for one that has not been offered a season long drive. Yet the fee did not phase Red Bull, it was Franco’s three huge crashes in Brazil and Las Vegas which calmed the ardour for the Argentinian rising star.

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Half price fee for Alpine

Meanwhile Alpine were having a chaotic season. Team boss Bruno Famin humiliated his driver Esteban Ocon live on French TV. Ocon decided to quit the team come the end of the year and Famin was replaced by F1 rookie boss, Oliver Oakes. All this at the hand of the colourful figure of Flavio Briatore who had been appointed to restore the fortunes of the once great Renault team.

Yet before Oakes was in situ, Alpine announced they were promoting Jack Doohan as Ocon’s replacement  for 2025, just one race before Franco Colapinto burst onto the F1 scene. When the idea of recruiting the Argentinian was dropped by Red Bull, it was Falvio who continued to pursue Franco and this week it was finally announced Alpine had secured Colapinto’s services for this season, though initially as a reserve driver.

Given part off Briatore’s remit is to slash costs and improve the focus on how resources are spent within the Alpine team, to spend $20m on a rookie driver wold appear a bridge too far – even for F1’s ‘madman.’ Yet a deal was done and Williams have relinquished all rights to the South American, but the question remains, ‘how much did they have to pay?’

F1-insider now claims to have confidential information over the Alpine/Williams deal and that a cut price fee compared to that discussed with Red Bull was accepted by the British F1 team.
While the report states that ‘the transfer fee has not been disclosed’, it goes on to claim that “rumours say it will be 10 million euros”, which is about $11m.

Of course there may be drag along clauses, where Williams will receive future remuneration as the young asrgentinan hits certain milestones in his F1 career.

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Soth American backers buy Colapinto commercial rights

This is almost a half price deal when compared to the Red Bull consideration, yet with Colapinto set for little more than reserve driver role in Grove this year, James Vowles clearly decided to take the money and run.

Yet even this sum for a struggling Alpine is a huge chunk of budget and as has previously been reported, South American sponsors were the source of the fee. Franco Colapinto could bring as much as $30m to Alpine from his dedicated financial backers, although their interest has been so far to capture the commercial rights to the Argentinian drivers future.

For this kind of money to be forthcoming, Colapinto will need to become a full time race driver for the French owned team.

It is these corporate entities who will have paid the Williams fee and presumably now own a proportion of Colapinto’s earnings potential. Given he has just nine F1 outings, Franco’s commercial value already dwarfs that of his team mate Jack Doohan. Further his fan base has exploded eclipsing other more experience F1 hands on the grids.

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Franco’s following 20 times that of Lawson

Liam Lawson revealed his following back in New Zealand amounts to just 5% of the fan base enjoyed by Colapinto.

Jack Doohan is widely reported to have a limited contract with Alpine, which will extend to a minimum of five or six race weekends. Then performance clauses will kick in and the young Aussie must remain within a certain distance of his team mate in the points standings, to retain his F1 drive.

Alpine already have data on Doohan’s capabilities give he was awarded the entire weekend in the car at the 2024 season finale in Abu Dhabi. It was widely agreed amongst F1 observers Jack’s performances across the weekend were little to write home about.

In six weeks pre-season testing begins in Bahrain, before the curtain raiser which once more has been offered to Melbourne. Doohan will need to make his mark early doors, if he is to resist the pressure from Colapinto who is eager and raring to go.

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Vasseur over-eggs his certainly in Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton is as of new Year’s day a driver for Formula One’s most iconic team, Ferrari. Despite having signed what was presented as a multi-year deal with Mercedes late in 2023, before a wheel turned in anger last season, Hamilton dropped the bombshell he was leaving the team after just one season of his new deal.

Toto Wolff eventually admitted this was a risk he had taken knowingly when putting ink to paper and appeared to suggest his caution over Hamilton’s long term future had been based on the fact that every F1 driver has a “shelf life.”

As details emerged of Lewis’ negotiations with ferrari, it became apparent that his move to Ferrari was not brokered by team principal Fred Vasseur, but the the group Ferrari president John Elkann, who has been a fan of Hamilton throughout his F1 career… READ MORE