Franco Colapinto has labelled his nine-race Formula 1 cameo as a "dream" despite his tough end to the 2024 season with Williams.
Colapinto was surprisingly drafted in by Williams to replace the underperforming Logan Sargeant after the Dutch Grand Prix, making his debut at Monza in September.
The 21-year-old Argentinian shone on his first couple of races with the team, scoring five points with an eighth-place finish in Baku and 10th in Austin.
Following that honeymoon period, the going got tougher for both Colapinto and Williams as a brace of costly crashes in Brazil and Las Vegas dampened the excitement around his arrival, discouraging Red Bull from making a move for him after considering the youngster for one of its seats in 2025.
But despite its tough ending, with two retirements in Qatar and Abu Dhabi beyond the Williams driver's control, Colapinto pointed to the positives.
"It hasn't been the end of the season I wanted but it's part of Formula 1," he said. "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."
Analysing his own performance, Colapinto rued his avoidable Q2 accident in Las Vegas but said he was otherwise satisfied with what he has achieved so far.
"Since I started in Monza, I had to learn a lot and I had to keep moving forward. I think it's a lot of 'you are as good as your last race', that's how Formula 1 works. But looking at the bigger picture, I think I did a pretty good job. I tried to maximise the opportunity that Williams gave me. It was an incredible chance and I think something I respect a lot.
"The first five rounds were really, really good. And then I think it was another challenge for Brazil with the inters for the first time, the first time in an F1 car in the rain. It was a tough experience, but I had to go through those moments, I think, as a rookie.
"Vegas was quite tough. Being tough on myself, I think it was a pretty big mistake going for it in the last lap, trying to put the car in Q3. That's where I look back and I just think that some mistakes could have been avoided, but I think looking at the overall picture and the experience, it was my dream come true."
