Colapinto back to older-spec Williams suspension after Vegas crash

Franco Colapinto will compete in the final two grands prix of the 2024 Formula 1 season with Williams’s old front suspension design, as a result of his Las Vegas qualifying crash.

Colapinto’s heavy shunt in Q2 last weekend means Williams has been forced to replace the damaged front suspension parts of his car with the version it was running before its latest design was unleashed at September’s Singapore Grand Prix.

That front suspension update was originally planned to be added to the FW46 during Williams’ major upgrade package introduced at the Zandvoort round just after the summer break, but the team’s many crashes during the early part of the 2024 campaign meant it had to delay this introduction by three races.

“We are changing the suspension, the front suspension is different,” Colapinto said in Qatar ahead of this weekend’s penultimate race of the season.

“So, that’s the old spec and some other things. But that’s what it is, and we have to deal with that and try to do our best to maximise the car.”

Colapinto explained “there aren’t enough” of the newer parts to replace those lost in Vegas, adding: “It’s part of the crashes we’ve been having the last few races.”

Williams insiders insist that the change in specification will only bring a modest loss on overall performance for the FW46.

Speaking at the Losail track on Thursday, Colapinto also said that when running in Vegas qualifying, “Q2 [there] put me in a situation of having to push the limits a little bit more than [in] other sessions.

“And for my feeling, that’s what put me in that situation of taking a bit more risk. And that was a bit too much risk at the end of the day.

“I was feeling really good in qualifying, putting the laps in and I was doing very good laps. Q1 was very strong, then Q2 was a very strong first lap as well. And I was doing a big step on the last run with the new tyres at the end.

“But at the end these things happen, it’s part of racing. Let’s see how it goes here.”