Williams in the News: Investing in youth, Franco’s reflections and 2024 in review

The holiday season is almost upon us — but the media haven’t stopped reporting on Williams as the festive period approaches.

Here’s a round-up of the coverage we’ve been receiving over the last few days…

Williams Racing are committed to investing in youth, both on and off the track.

That became apparent this week when British karter Will Green was added to our Driver Academy, as covered by Formula Scout.

“Investing in the next generation is at the heart of our approach at Williams and we’re thrilled to welcome Will to the Williams Racing Driver Academy,” said Williams Sporting Director Sven Smeets.

“He has demonstrated impressive consistency at this early stage of his career and has shown strong progress in his racing.

“We’re looking forward to supporting Will’s growth as he continues to develop in 2025 and beyond.”

Meanwhile, an article in Motorsport put the Komatsu-Williams Engineering Academy and the team’s various graduate programmes, industrial placements and apprenticeships under the spotlight.

“There's different ways that you can come into the organisation from an early careers’ perspective, and we are really serious about how this is going to grow our talent for the future,” explained Williams Chief HR Officer Ann Perrins.

“It's extremely authentic, this belief in future talent, and we really want those people to stay with us on the journey.

“It's a genuine investment, even from school age and we don't want to lose them to other teams.”

Franco Colapinto enjoyed a whirlwind start to life in Formula 1 — and he has spoken to Autosport about the highs and lows of 2024.

The Argentine driver secured a P8 finish in Baku and placed 10th at the United States GP, before a more challenging end to the year.“It hasn't been the end of the season I wanted but it's part of Formula 1,” he reflected.

“It still was my dream come true and it was an amazing experience. I would like it much more if we would have ended as we started, but it's F1.

“Since I was very young, I was waiting for this opportunity and working towards it and it's just been an extremely good experience and very nice moments with the team. Very grateful for the team.”

Elsewhere, Formula1.com assessed Williams Racing’s overall season — including the fortunes of Franco’s fellow driver Alex Albon — with an in-depth breakdown of our 2024 campaign.