I was the first to be surprised by the Colapinto choice as he doesn’t have a standout junior record, but thinking about it as a statement makes it make more sense. Vowles is signalling that Williams is not going to be a small team doing favours for others and giving free practice to the upcoming stars of Merc et al anymore. They want to become a big, proper team, and to do that they need to show value in their own academy to attract future prospects.
Yes, that is their short term - employing the best two drivers available to them. Giving Colapinto the nod is a signal for the long term. You have to balance both, it’s not like the Williams academy is bursting at the seams with the 5 next Verstappens.
I was the first to be surprised by the Colapinto choice as he doesn’t have a standout junior record, but thinking about it as a statement makes it make more sense. Vowles is signalling that Williams is not going to be a small team doing favours for others and giving free practice to the upcoming stars of Merc et al anymore. They want to become a big, proper team, and to do that they need to show value in their own academy to attract future prospects.
Williams will be running two RB juniors next year, at the expense of two of their own junior drivers.
Neither Albon nor Sainz is an RB junior – they were RB juniors.
Yes, that is their short term - employing the best two drivers available to them. Giving Colapinto the nod is a signal for the long term. You have to balance both, it’s not like the Williams academy is bursting at the seams with the 5 next Verstappens.