Williams team principal James Vowles has vehemently denied that Franco Colapinto’s promotion to a full-time seat in F1 was facilitated by the team’s signing of lucrative sponsorship deals with Argentinian companies.
Earlier this week, Williams announced that Colapinto, a member of the British outfit’s F1 academy, would replace Logan Sargeant for the remainder of the season.
The Grove-based outfit’s choice to promote Colapinto raised a few eyebrows in the paddock given that many considered that there were better prepared drivers on the market to fill Sargeant’s seat than the 21-year-old rookie.
Furthermore, in the wake of Williams’ subsequent announcement this week of new sponsorship deals with Globant and Mercado Libre, two tech companies originating from Argentina, speculation emerged that the team's commercial interests had played a role in Colapinto’s nomination.
While Vowles admitted that Williams has enjoyed a surge of interest from Argentinian companies following Colapinto's promotion, he insisted that these commercial deals were based on the team's potential and not on the driver's nationality.
“What I’ll make very clear to everyone here is no sponsorship was linked to signing him,” Vowles told the media at Monza on Friday.
“Actually, we signed him at the point of not knowing anything in the future.
What then transpired, and it hasn’t finished yet, the phone is still ringing off the hook, is a number of Argentine companies, of which there are many, are calling."
Vowles emphasized that these companies are contributing fairly, without any influence on the team's decision-making process.
"They’re paying market rate for stickers on the car, fundamentally,” he explained. “So it’s nothing related to Franco. They want to be part of the journey.
"And part of the journey beyond 2024, just to be clear as well. I hope many of them will see where we end up."
Looking ahead, Vowles hinted that fans might see Argentine sponsorship logos on the Williams cars as soon as the race in Baku.
"But you’ll see stickers appearing on the car around Baku time. I’m not sure how many at the moment, because genuinely we are getting huge amounts of interest from Argentina," he added.
“But at the point of choosing Franco, there was no finance involved in it.
“And to be really blunt on it as well, there was finance being offered on the table from other sources. That’s not of interest. This is about investing in our academy and in our future.”
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