Hamilton offers ‘incredible’ Colapinto key F1 advice

Lewis Hamilton his imparted some words of wisdom to Franco Colapinto, as the young Argentine driver looks to shore-up his F1 future.

The seven-time drivers' champion believes the 21-year-old has "earned his right" to be in F1, having left an immediate impression on the paddock.

After stepping into the replace Logan Sargeant at Williams mid-way through his rookie F2 season, Colapinto has scored five points across six rounds - five times more than the American managed in 36.

"I think he's earned his right to be here," Hamilton told media including RacingNews365, whilst sat alongside Colapinto in the FIA press conference ahead of the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

"There still is a seat available and he's saying it's not for him to decide. My advice would be to make sure that it is."

The seat Hamilton was referring to at Stake has since been claimed by Gabriel Bortoleto, but the 39-year-old's advice rings true nevertheless.

Red Bull has yet to finalise its driver situation for 2025, with Colapinto closely linked to a seat at RB in the event the Milton Keynes squad decides to move off Sergio Perez early.

If that does come to fruition, it is widely believed the fight to partner Max Verstappen will come down to the Argentine and RB's current line-up of Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson.

"I'd be pushing on my side to make sure I was doing absolutely everything… and at the end of the day he's got to just focus continue to focus on doing his job every weekend as he is," Hamilton added.

"Hopefully he's got good people behind him who are doing the right job to make sure that he's here racing next year."

Colapinto swam after being 'thrown in at the deep end'

Hamilton feels Colapinto has been particularly impressive, given his lack of F1 experience ahead of his debut at the Italian Grand Prix.

Despite being the most senior driver in the Williams academy at the time, besting Zak O'Sullivan by virtue of his FP1 outing at Silverstone earlier in the season, Colapinto's promotion to F1 came as a surprise.

"He's done an incredible job to, last minute, be called upon and thrown into the deep end in this sport," mused Hamilton, who went on to draw comparisons with the preparation afforded Kimi Antonelli, who will take over his Mercedes seat next season.

"The majority of us, if we're lucky to get in the sport, we have a bit of a run-up.

"If you look at young Kimi [Antonelli], for example, he's got a lot of test days before his first race. I think he will have over 20 days or something in the car, which is unprecedented.

"And as for this guy here [Colapinto], he didn't have that. So he just jumped straight in and he did a fantastic job... it's always great to see young people and young talented individuals get the opportunity to come through and shine.

"He did that in the first race. We had a great little battle and it was super safe. It was hard but fair."