Academy Report: Winning ways for Williams Racing in F2 and F3

Five race victories, four further podiums, three fastest laps, two pole positions, and 290 points is how the Williams Racing Driver Academy wrapped up its 2024 in Formula 2 and Formula 3.

Franco Colapinto, Zak O'Sullivan, and Luke Browning made some unforgettable memories for themselves and the wider Williams Racing team in an strong season for the Drivery Academy.

Our three longest-serving juniors each fulfilled the potential we've seen in them, stepping up into new cars over the year, and showing why we've backed them for so long.

Here's how each of our F2 and F3 trio fared in 2024.

In a year of change for many in motorsports, Franco Colapinto's season was arguably the most transformational of anyone's 2024.

While junior racing fans would've known about our Argentinian ace for a while, Franco became a national hero and an F1 fan favourite, even winning the Overtake of the Year award, as his season progressed.

Although it ended with nine grands prix in the FW46, Franco's year started with a step up into Formula 2 machinery after two years in Formula 3.

Remaining with MP Motorsport, the team that helped him to P4 in F3's 2023 season, the consistency seemed to assist Franco.

2024 began in Bahrain, and he finished his full-season debut with a P6 classification, nine positions higher than he started.

Though a stall and contact with the wall made for a frustrating Saudi Arabian trip, points came back in Australia, where another storming drive through the order secured P4 around Albert Park in the Sprint Race.

It was F2's return to Europe when Franco's electric 2024 began to energise, though, scoring points in every F2 round bar his surprise finale around Spa-Francorchamps.

His maiden series win came over the Imola weekend, the same circuit he secured his first F3 victory, and it was a grandstand finish for Franco with a last-lap overtake.

Biding his time when chasing down championship contender Paul Aron, Franco waited until the Estonian wouldn't have time to fight back before bravely taking to the outside of Tamburello to earn the winner's champagne.

The third row qualification for F2's Monte Carlo trip helped secure more points in Saturday's Sprint Race around the Principality, but Franco was on the wrong side of pit stops on Sunday for Feature Race fights.

That switched over in Barcelona, though, as a spectacular triple-header of racing kicked off with Sunday success in Spain with a Feature Race P2 podium trip.

Franco doubled up on that in Austria, clinching another P2 trophy in Spielberg's Sunday race, passing a host of cars as his alternate strategy gamble paid off.

Though the Red Bull Ring was his final rostrum trip, we're certain Silverstone was Franco's favourite weekend of the summer's back-to-back-to-back rounds.

Jumping in the FW46's cockpit for FP1 was a deserved reward for Franco's 2024 results, and he didn't miss a beat in F2, storming to two top-five finishes and the Feature Race's Fastest Lap.

Four more points followed in Hungary with a Sprint Race P5 to leave Franco 5th in the standings with 96 points for his efforts over those nine rounds.

He'd leave the Formula 2 championship after Belgium and the summer break, but those performances still helped him to end 2024 P9 in the standings, ahead of 23 other drivers.

Zak O'Sullivan's rookie F2 season ended up as a rollercoaster journey filled with frustration, but also some fantastic finishes.

Early-season hopes were high; Zak's maiden F2 weekend resulted in two point-scoring finishes from a P6 qualification that had him less than a tenth from pole.

Time at the front followed his P7 finish in the Sprint Race, as Zak stormed to reach P2 for several laps in Sunday's Feature Race, eventually settling for P4.

The second Middle Eastern trip would not go as well, however, and Zak would not see the Saudi chequered flag in any Jeddah racing.

Australia's long-haul trip did net a point at the site of Zak's first F3 win, but penalties and collisions meant there was little else to show for this year's Melbourne journey.

Poor qualifying in Imola meant a point-less weekend — but only just, after Zak's surging Sprint Race, where he advanced 10 positions in a single lap.

It looked as though Monaco would see more near misses when Zak didn't make the top-10 positions in Quali at the track where passing is nearly impossible.

And yet Zak claimed one of the most unexpected wins of the 2024 season in any series, driving from P15 to P1 on Monte Carlo's streets.

Pushing in clean air on the alternate strategy had the Briton holding out for an external intervention while extracting every bit of life from his tyres over the 42-lap race.

His patience paid off, with an incident triggering the Virtual Safety Car on Lap 40.

Zak reached the pit lane mere seconds before the steward's announced the slowdown when it would be too late, with F2 rules not allowing for mandatory stops under VSC condition.

Victory was his against all the odds, and, as Zak said, "The timing of that was kind of one in a million.

“It's Monaco, so it's probably the one race, besides your home race, you really want to win."

However, Zak's Monte Carlo dice roll was a bright spot in an otherwise barren spell.

Two points came from the eight races over the four following rounds, though he might've clinched another win in Spain if not for the 0.026s gap between his qualifying efforts and a reverse grid pole.

P9 finishes across the two Spielberg races meant one point-scoring Sunday, but Zak wouldn't reach the points again in Silverstone or in Budapest.

Another victory was just around the corner, though, and, somewhat like Monaco, that out-the-blue win didn't come from a standard race.

A lengthy rain delay to the Belgian Sprint Race might've unsettled other drivers with a pole position start, but Zak kept his focus and never let anyone pass at the all-important start.

Leaving those behind to fight, Zak kept his head down until a Safety Car intervention morphed into a red flag, ensuring his second F2 triumph was secure.

Galvanised by his Saturday performance, more points followed in the Feature Race, where Zak turned P10 into P4, narrowly missing a double-podium weekend.

F2's next round at Monza became Zak's last 2024 race as the teenager would not complete the year with ART, but the Williams Racing Driver Academy continued to support his next steps.

Luke Browning took the rare honour of driving each car on F1' support series pathway to the top over 2024.

Starting his season in F3 before an F2 graduation and ending his year with an FP1 debut in the FW46 was not the trajectory the 22-year-old would've expected in Bahrain.

Nonetheless, there were signs that Luke's second season in Formula 3 was going to give the growth he and Williams Racing hoped for when he took the first Feature Race win of the year.

Remaining with the Hitech Pulse-Eight team, Luke's maiden series victory was an early sign of intent from the Cheshire-born racer.

His front-row start led to P1 after the pole-sitter stalled on the grid, and Luke began a long run of high-scoring Sunday drives with that Sakhir win.

More points followed as F3 headed Down Under, where Luke delivered a P4 finish in Melbourne to stay at the top of the standings.

Another P4 came at Imola, this time from a P9 start, as his overtaking helped him to remain in the championship hunt.

Despite those strong point-scoring Feature Race finishes, it was only by Round 4 at Monaco when Luke took a top-10 finish in a Sprint Race.

Managing the second-fastest lap time in his Qualifying group has the British hopeful sitting pretty for both races, and he advanced from P10 to P8 on Saturday.

Sunday went even better despite three Safety Car slowdowns and an opening-lap attack from behind.

Any of these could've ended the chance of Monaco silverware, but Luke held his nerve to secure P3 on motorsport's most famous streets.

More high hauls of points from Sunday drives followed in Spain, where Luke secured P5 and the Fastest Lap to remain in the championship hunt.

Yet Austria is where he had his best weekend, taking 27 points for a Feature Race win and pole position around the Red Bull Ring.

A lights-to-flag victory was Luke's reward for his maiden F3 pole position after his storming Friday lap, and that single-lap speed followed him to Silverstone.

Pole position number two came at the Northamptonshire track, but the Great British weather made for two tricky races that didn't represent his home race pace.

Wet tyres proved the right call to start the Feature Race, and Luke led the way, but the drying track meant the grip eventually faded away, though he still scored points with a P8 finish.

There wouldn't be any further podiums or poles in the final three rounds, but Luke's consistency helped him to be one of only two drivers to score at every F3 weekend.

P8 in Budapest's Sprint Race softened the blow of his point-scoring Feature Race streak ending, and P6 in Spa's Sunday helped him head to Monza with a chance of the title.

Qualifying chaos hurt his championship hopes in Italy, though, and P6 in the Sprint proved his final F3 top-10 finish of the year.

Luke ended his season P3 in the standings.

Yet Luke's year was not over, and he graduated to F2 for the Baku weekend one fortnight later, leaving the Azerbaijan capital with a P7 Feature Race finish.

More points came in the Abu Dhabi finale, but his time in the FW46 is what stood out for Luke most at Yas Marina.

He joined the F1 team for Friday's FP1, then jumped back in the cockpit of our 2024 challenger for the Young Driver Test.

"It's fantastic to be able to push it to the edge, and the pace was good," Luke said after his day testing the car.

"A massive thank you to James, to Williams, and to everyone back at Grove."

"I'm living a dream here, and I'm looking forward to hopefully driving the car again soon."