Williams Driver Academy
| Founded | 2016 (as Williams Young Driver Programme) |
|---|---|
| Base | Grove, Oxfordshire, England |
| Team principal(s) | James Vowles |
| Current drivers | FIA Formula 2 Luke Browning Victor Martins FIA Formula 3 Alessandro Giusti Italian F4 Championship Oleksandr Bondarev F1 Academy Lia Block Karting Sara Matsui Dean Hoogendoorn Lucas Palacio Will Green |
The Williams Racing Driver Academy, formerly known as the Williams Young Driver Programme, is a driver development programme by Formula One team Williams. It is meant to promote talent in different racing series by helping them with funds, with the hope of finding drivers who will race for the team in the future. Notable graduates of the scheme are Lance Stroll, Nicholas Latifi, Jack Aitken, Logan Sargeant and Franco Colapinto; all of whom made their F1 debuts with Williams.
Current drivers
| Driver | Began | Current series | Titles as academy member |
|---|---|---|---|
| Luke Browning[1] | 2023 | FIA Formula 2 Championship | FIA F3 World Cup (2023) |
| Oleksandr Bondarev[2] | 2023 | F4 Middle East Championship Italian F4 Championship |
None as Williams Driver Academy member |
| Lia Block[3] | 2023 | Eurocup-4 Spanish Winter Championship F1 Academy |
None as Williams Driver Academy member |
| Alessandro Giusti[4] | 2024 | FIA Formula 3 Championship | None as Williams Driver Academy member |
| Sara Matsui[4] | 2024 | Karting (OKJ) | None as Williams Driver Academy member |
| Dean Hoogendoorn[5] | 2024 | Karting (OKJ) | None as Williams Driver Academy member |
| Lucas Palacio[6] | 2024 | Karting | None as Williams Driver Academy member |
| Will Green[7] | 2025 | Karting | None as Williams Driver Academy member |
| Victor Martins[8] | 2025 | FIA Formula 2 Championship | None as Williams Driver Academy member |
Graduates to Formula 1
This list contains the drivers that have graduated to Formula 1 with Williams support. Therefore, drivers who have had support in the past and entered Formula 1 through other means are not included.
| Driver | Academy experience | F1 experience with Williams | F1 experience with other teams | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Years | Former series | |||
| Lance Stroll | 2016 | FIA Formula 3 European Championship (2016) | 2017–2018 | Racing Point (2019–2020) Aston Martin (2021–) |
| Nicholas Latifi | 2019 | FIA Formula 2 Championship (2019) | 2020–2022 | — |
| Jack Aitken[9] | 2020–2021 | FIA Formula 2 Championship (2020–2021) GT World Challenge Europe (2021) |
2020 | — |
| Logan Sargeant | 2021–2022 | FIA Formula 2 Championship (2022) | 2023–2024 | — |
| Franco Colapinto[10] | 2023–2024 | FIA Formula 3 Championship (2023) FIA Formula 2 Championship (2023–2024) |
2024 | Alpine (2025–) |
Former drivers
| Driver | Years | Series competed | F1 Team(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oliver Rowland[11] | 2018 | Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup (2018) Formula E (2018–19) |
None |
| Jamie Chadwick[12][13] | 2019–2023 | W Series (2019, 2021–2022) Formula Regional European Championship (2020) Indy NXT (2023) |
None |
| Dan Ticktum[14][15] | 2020–2021 | FIA Formula 2 Championship (2020–2021) | None |
| Roy Nissany[16] | 2020–2022 | FIA Formula 2 Championship (2020–2022) F3 Asian Championship (2021) |
None |
| Oliver Gray | 2022–2023 | F4 British Championship (2022) FIA Formula 3 Championship (2023) |
None |
| Zak O'Sullivan[17] | 2022–2024 | FIA Formula 3 Championship (2022–2023) FIA Formula 2 Championship (2024) |
None |
- Championship titles highlighted in bold.
See also
References
- ^ "Luke Browning joins the Williams Racing Driver Academy".
- ^ "Oleksandr Bondarev joins the Williams Racing Driver Academy".
- ^ "Lia Block to drive for Williams Racing in F1 Academy". Williams Racing. 14 November 2023. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
- ^ a b "Alessandro Giusti and Sara Matsui join the Williams Racing Driver Academy". Williams Racing. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
- ^ "Dean Hoogendoorn joins Williams Racing Driver Academy". Williams Racing. Retrieved 23 August 2024.
- ^ "Karting prodigy Lucas Palacio joins Williams Racing Driver Academy". Williams Racing. 18 October 2024. Retrieved 18 October 2024.
- ^ "British Karting Star Will Green Joins Williams Racing Driver Academy". Williams Racing. 17 December 2024. Retrieved 17 December 2024.
- ^ "Victor Martins Joins the Williams Racing Driver Academy". Williams Racing. 31 March 2025. Retrieved 31 March 2025.
- ^ Barretto, Lawrence (8 April 2020). "The Williams Driver Academy: A pursuit of talent with a commercial upside". F1 - The Official Home of Formula 1® Racing. Retrieved 15 January 2025.
- ^ "Franco Colapinto joins Williams Racing Driver Academy". Williams Racing. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
- ^ "Oliver Rowland gets Williams Formula 1 role for 2018". www.autosport.com. 23 February 2018. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
- ^ "Jamie Chadwick joins Williams Racing Driver Academy". Williams F1. 20 May 2019. Archived from the original on 11 June 2020. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
- ^ "Jamie Chadwick continues in the Williams Racing Driver Academy". www.williamsf1.com. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
- ^ "Dan Ticktum joins Williams Racing Driver Academy". Williams F1. 17 December 2019. Archived from the original on 10 January 2021. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
- ^ "Williams release development driver Dan Ticktum | Formula 1®". www.formula1.com. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
- ^ "Roy Nissany is confirmed as Official Test Driver". Williams F1. 15 January 2020. Archived from the original on 10 June 2020. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
- ^ "British teen racer Zak O'Sullivan joins Williams Driver Academy | Formula 1®". www.formula1.com. Retrieved 4 February 2022.