by Alex Johnston
Juan Manuel Fangio. Ayrton Senna. Felipe Massa. Pastor Maldonado? All examples of South American racing drivers who won Formula 1 races. At the moment, no South American’s race in racing’s elite series, while F2 and F3 feature just 4 drivers. One of those is Argentina born racer, Franco Colapinto.
Colapinto, 19, is racing in FIA Formula 3 for series debutants Van Amersfoort Racing and is so far catching the eye of many up and down the paddock.
The Argentine has managed one pole position, taken on debut in Bahrain and one win, in round two in Imola.
📸 Colapinto has burst onto the scene in F3 this year,
Colapinto spent the majority of the year before this racing in FRECA - The Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine series, but besides that was adding to his racing experience by racing in 5 other categories including the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Man endurance race, where he finished 12th overall racing alongside world champion Formula E and recent F1 debutant Nyck De Vries and Roman Rusinoff in the No.26 G-Drive Racing car.
📸 Colapinto shared the #26 G-Drive car with a world champion in Nyck De Vries.
Prior to 2021, Colapinto was the 2019 Spanish Formula 4 champion, racing against fellow future F3 drivers Jonny Edgar, backed by Red Bull, and Matteo Nannini who would race in F2 and F3 among some other names known among racing fans including Belen Garcia, who currently races in W Series.
This season, Colapinto has turned into a surprise outsider for the drivers championship title, sitting eighth in the standings behind PREMA’s Ollie Bearman.
His pole position in Bahrain surprised many, especially seeing as no one was sure what the Van Amersfoort team were capable of coming into the new season as rookies.
📸 Colapinto took pole on debut for ‘VAR’.
He took an impressive Sprint Race win Imola one round later, seeing off ART Grand Prix’s Alpine Academy driver Victor Martins to take victory after initially spending the race chasing MP Motorsport’s Caio Collet before a stunning late pass on the Brazilian, who quickly retired from the race after a collision after he was overtaken.
📸 Brazil(Collet) v Argentina on track saw Brazil defeated at Imola, as Colapinto streaked away from Collet’s crash with Hadjar(right).
It remains to be seen what Colapinto can accomplish but at the very least, it appears the Argentine’s consistency and race pace will soon have F1’s top teams watching his progress closely given his impressive start to the year. A top 10 championship finish would signal a successful season and more likely than not, open the door to graduation from F3 up to F2.
📸 Franco Colapinto - destined for the top?
I’m tipping Colapinto for the very top, he’s got an insane talent, and before too long, he should be winning more and more races, and challenging the front runners for this year’s title if he can keep up his impressive start.
I’m excited to see what he can do.
📸 Image credit(s): Formula Motorsport Limited, Van Amersfoort Racing
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