Franco Colapinto is racing his first season in F2 and is focused on the championship. Currently, he is fifth in the standings, but things can change quickly in the series. In addition, the Argentinian is part of Williams Driver Academy, and seems to know an interesting detail about the future of the English F1 team.
Colapinto’s journey: from F4 to the Williams Driver Academy
Franco Colapinto started his racing career in go-karts at 9 years old, winning the Argentinian championship. In 2018, he raced for a few rounds in the Spanish Formula 4 championship. The following year, his career started to take off. In 2019, he won his first complete season in Spanish F4, thanks also to Fernando Alonso’s support. The two-time world champion has a good eye for discovering young drivers with talent.
A14 includes drivers like Pepe Martì and the 2023 Formula 3 champion Gabriel Bortoleto. Lately, Alonso and Colapinto parted ways, but the Argentinian continued his career in single-seaters. He spends two years between Formula Renault, Formula Regional, and Endurance championships (such as WEC and ELMS).
In 2022 Colapinto debuted in Formula 3. The first year, with VAR, he collected two wins and a pole position, finishing ninth in the final standings. In 2023, for the Argentinian came some good news: he became part of the Williams Driver Academy. During the post-season test in Abu Dhabi, he drove his first F1 car.
An incredible experience for Colapinto, who was more than ready to start his second season in Formula 3. More mature and prepared. In 2023, he changed teams and moved to MP Motorsport. The year started with a second place in the Sprint Race in Bahrain, and it ended with a win in the Sprint Race in Monza (together with another win in Silverstone). Colapinto showed his talent and his consistency, ending the season fourth in the championship.
Letting it all sink in 😌@FranColapinto #F2 #ImolaGP pic.twitter.com/xhNeEczazE
— Formula 2 (@Formula2) May 20, 2024
A new challenge in F2 for Franco Colapinto
Colapinto’s first season in F2 did not start in the best way. Two placements outside the points, a DNF, and a disqualification. However, in Imola, things went differently. Colapinto managed to take the victory of the Sprint Race away from Paul Aron, also scoring an additional point for the fastest lap. Imola was an important weekend for the Argentinian driver who, even before getting out on track, was confident of the car’s performance:
“The car is looking very competitive. I need to put everything together for a race. I think we are carrying good momentum from the past races where I was really fast.”
If there is still an aspect on which Colapinto needs to work more in Qualifying, where he needs to push at the maximum to find the perfect lap:
“I need to focus more on qualifying but here in Europe there are the tracks we know a bit better, so I hope we can carry on with our good pace”
Said the Williams driver. In the following race in Monaco, he qualified fifth. His best result of the season so far.
A Future in Williams?
The names of Zak O’Sullivan and Franco Colapinto are not often quoted in the drivers market for the second seat in Williams. Nevertheless, both drivers are part of the academy, and they race in the most famous F1 feeder series. About the future of the English team in F1, Colapinto revealed an interesting detail:
“I don’t know what Mercedes are planning to do. From what I understand in WIlliams they are focused on their academy drivers. Alex has signed a long contract with Williams, so everything is starting to develop regarding what’s gonna happen next year. For me, it depends on how my season goes. For now, my focus is only on Formula 2.”
Williams is not interested in being a “preparation team” for Mercedes. If the Italian driver Kimi Antonelli debuts in Formula 1, as all the rumours seem to suggest, it looks like he will make his debut directly in Mercedes. In the meantime, Colapinto is 100% focused on completing his Formula 2 season in the best way. After all the efforts to reach this goal, the Argentinian seems to be ready to redeem himself in the next races of the championship.
