Franco Colapinto, born 27 May 2003 in Pilar, Argentina, became the F1 grid’s newest addition in 2024, as he replaced Logan Sargeant at Williams ahead of the Italian GP. In doing so, he became the first Argentine driver to take part in a world championship race since Gaston Mazzancane in 2001 and duly impressed with a 12th place finish at Monza.
He had previously never done more than eight consecutive laps behind the wheel of an F1 car and had had less than a week to prepare for his grand prix debut.
Colapinto’s rise through the racing ranks hasn’t been meteoric, but his resume of results speaks for itself. Two national karting titles in Argentina in 2016 and 2018 were quickly followed by title-success in Spanish Formula 4 in 2019 — a feat which set him on a path toward impressive campaigns in Formula Renault (2020), the Castrol Toyota Racing Series (2020), and in sportscars in the Asian and European Le Mans Series (2021).
A return to single-seaters in 2022 put Colapinto’s F1 ambitions back on track, as he picked up pole positions and race wins in Formula 3 before being signed to the Williams Racing Driver Academy Programme in 2023. Under the watchful eye of the Grove outfit, Colapinto has gone from strength to strength, first finishing fourth in the 2023 F3 standings before earning a move to F2 with MP Motorsport in 2024 where his ability continued to grow in the form of race wins and podium finishes.
Then came the call from James Vowles.
At the 2024 Italian Grand Prix, Colapinto was thrust into a Williams F1 seat in place of Logan Sargeant and instantly impressed, qualifying 18th and finishing 12th. At the following round in Azerbaijan, he was even more spectacular, as he qualified ninth — ahead of team-mate Alex Albon — and finished eighth. Another point-scoring finish would follow at COTA, causing interest in the young Argentine to soar.
For a time, he was reportedly being considered for full-time race seats at Alpine and even Red Bull, but after he failed to finish three out of his final four races, interest cooled and Colapinto was placed back on the sidelines for 2025.
But with six rookies on the grid this year, could Colapinto get back into the F1 frame?
