Franco Colapinto
Argentinian Formula 1 driver

Franco Colapinto

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Argentinian Formula 1 driver
A.K.A.
Franco Alejandro Colapinto, Fran Colapinto
Gender:
Male
Work field:
Birth:
27 May 2003(Pilar, Pilar Partido, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina)
Star sign:
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The details
Biography

Introduction

Franco Alejandro Colapinto (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈfɾan.ko aleˈxandɾo ko.laˈpin.to]; born 27 May 2003) is an Argentine racing driver who is currently competing in Formula One for Williams Racing. Colapinto previously competed in the 2024 Formula 2 Championship with MP Motorsport, before earning a promotion to Formula One mid-season with Williams, replacing Logan Sargeant. Colapinto will run the last nine races of the 2024 season, having made his debut at the Italian Grand Prix. He will then be replaced by Carlos Sainz Jr. for the 2025 Formula One World Championship. Colapinto won the 2019 F4 Spanish championship and is a race winner in the European Le Mans Series. He has been a member of the Williams Driver Academy since 2023, and is the first Argentine to compete in Formula One since Gastón Mazzacane in 2001.

Career

Karting

Colapinto started karting at the age of nine. He won the Argentine Championship in 2016 (Pre-Junior class) and 2018 (Sudam class), as well as the Buenos Aires Regional Championship in 2016 (Pre-Junior class) and 2017 (Junior class). Colapinto won the gold medal at the 2018 Youth Summer Olympics in partnership with María García Puig.

F4 Spanish Championship

Colapinto made his car racing debut in 2018, participating in the final round of the F4 Spanish Championship, driving for Drivex School. In 2019 Colapinto signed with FA Racing by Drivex for a full campaign in the F4 Spanish Championship. He took the title by winning all three races in the season finale bringing his debut car racing season tally to eleven victories, 13 podiums and 14 pole positions.

Euroformula Open

During the 2019 season, Colapinto drove for Drivex as a guest driver in the 2019 round at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.

Formula Renault Eurocup

Franco Colapinto
Colapinto during the 2021 Formula Regional European Championship at the Red Bull Ring.

Drivex also ran Colapinto during the 2019 season at Spa and Catalunya. In July 2020, Colapinto joined the championship full-time with Dutch outfit MP Motorsport.

Toyota Racing Series

In January 2020, Colapinto joined Kiwi Motorsport for the 2020 championship. The season saw him claim a race win in Hampton Downs and further 7 podiums and end the championship third overall, clinching the rookie championship win.

European and Asian Le Mans Series

For 2021, Colapinto took part in the European and Asian Le Mans Series driving an Aurus 01 for G-Drive Racing. In Asia the season saw him claim 3 podiums in 4 races and end the championship third overall with his co-drivers Rui Andrade and John Falb; in Europe he partnered with Nyck de Vries and Roman Rusinov and finished fourth overall.

FIA Formula 3 Championship

2022

Franco Colapinto
Colapinto driving the Dallara F3 2019 during the 2022 Spielberg Formula 3 round

In October 2020, Colapinto joined MP Motorsport for the first day of post-season testing at Catalunya. He did likewise the following year at Valencia, but ended up signing for Van Amersfoort Racing instead for the 2022 season, partnering Rafael Villagómez and Reece Ushijima. Colapinto started his F3 career with a pole position on his and his team's debut in the series at Sakhir. He went on to win the Sprint Race at the following round in Imola, scoring his and VAR's maiden victory in the series. Throughout the season Colapinto took three more podium finishes at the Spielberg, Budapest and Zandvoort rounds and a second Sprint Race win at the final round in Monza to finish ninth in the drivers' standings.

2023

Franco Colapinto
Colapinto driving for MP Motorsport during the 2023 Spielberg Formula 3 round

In September, Colapinto partook in the 2022 post-season test, again with MP Motorsport. On January 9, 2023, he was announced as MP Motorsport's driver for the 2023 season.

At the season-opening Sakhir round, Colapinto qualified 12th and consequently claimed pole position for the Sprint Race, where he crossed the line in second place behind Pepe Martí. He finished 10th in the Feature Race on Sunday, scoring one more point.

Colapinto went on to qualify 7th in Melbourne. He started the Sprint Race in sixth place and climbed up the order to claim his first victory of the season. However, after post-race inspections found all three MP Motorsport cars to have infringed technical regulations, he was disqualified from the Sprint Race along with his teammates Jonny Edgar and Mari Boya. He then crashed out of the Feature Race, departing Australia without points.

Since then, Colapinto went on to consistently score points on every round of the calendar, aside from the Spielberg Sprint Race where he finished 13th and the season-ending Monza Feature Race in which he retired with a suspension failure after contact in the first lap. He ended the season fourth in the Drivers' Championship, with two wins at the Silverstone and Monza Sprint Races and three podium finishes at Sakhir, Catalunya and Budapest.

Macau Grand Prix

Colapinto was set to race in the 2023 Macau Grand Prix with MP Motorsport. However, he withdrew from the event last-minute due to a broken collarbone he sustained prior to the final F3 round, and was replaced by Dennis Hauger.

FIA Formula 2 Championship

2023

In October 2023, Colapinto was announced to be replacing Jehan Daruvala, moving up to Formula 2 for the final race in Yas Marina and the full 2024 season with MP Motorsport. Ahead of his F2 debut, Colapinto expressed that "it's going to be tough" yet he was "super excited". He finished 19th in the sprint race, but retired from the feature race due to a sensor issue.

2024

Franco Colapinto
Colapinto driving the Dallara F2 2024 during the 2024 Spielberg Formula 2 round

Colapinto remained with MP Motorsport for the 2024 season, driving alongside 2021 FIA Formula 3 champion Dennis Hauger. At the Imola round, Colapinto claimed his first F2 victory in the Sprint Race, additionally setting the fastest lap. With four rounds remaining, Colapinto ended his campaign after a promotion to Formula One.

Formula One

In January 2023, Colapinto joined the Williams Driver Academy.

Colapinto made his debut in a Formula One car with the Williams FW45, during the 2023 post-season test at Yas Marina Circuit. Colapinto set the 22nd fastest time overall, completing 65 laps. This made him the first Argentine to drive an F1 car since Gastón Mazzacane competed in the 2001 San Marino Grand Prix. Colapinto made his Formula One free practice debut at the 2024 British Grand Prix, driving for Williams in the first session in place of Logan Sargeant. Ahead of his free practice debut, Colapinto stated that it was a "historic moment" representing Argentina.

Williams (2024)

Colapinto replaced Logan Sargeant at Williams after the 2024 Dutch Grand Prix and is competing for Williams for the remainder of the 2024 Formula One season, having made his debut at the 2024 Italian Grand Prix. Colapinto is the first Formula One driver from Argentina since Gastón Mazzacane, who last raced in 2001. Colapinto qualified in eighteenth and went on to recover six positions to finish in twelfth.

Personal life

Colapinto is of Italian descent. He names Lewis Hamilton and Ayrton Senna as his favourite drivers and Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps as his favourite track. He is a Boca Juniors supporter.

Karting record

Karting career summary

Season Series Team Position
2013 Rotax Max Buenos Aires — Micro Max NC
2014 Argentine Championship — Promocional 6th
2015 Argentine Championship — Pre-Junior Acosta Kart Division 2nd
2016 Argentine Championship — Sudam Junior 10th
Argentine Championship — Pre-Junior 1st
Buenos Aires Regional Championship — Pre-Junior 1st
SKUSA SuperNationals — X30 Junior 12th
ROK Cup International Final — Junior ROK Baby Race Srl 9th
CIK-FIA European Championship — OKJ Baby Race Srl NC†
2017 Buenos Aires Regional Championship — Junior 1st
South Garda Winter Cup — OKJ 2nd
SKUSA SuperNationals — X30 Junior CRG Nordam 23rd
CIK-FIA World Championship — OKJ Baby Race Srl 35th
2018 Argentine Championship — Sudam Acosta Racing Team 1st
WSK Champions Cup — OK CRG Spa 22nd
South Garda Winter Cup — OK 17th
Trofeo Andrea Margutti — OK 24th
WSK Super Master Series — OK 46th
CIK-FIA European Championship — OK 69th
WSK Open Cup — OK 32nd
CIK-FIA World Championship — OK 45th
Karting at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics 1st

Complete CIK-FIA Karting European Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Team Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 DC Points
2016 Baby Race Srl OKJ ZUE
QH
65
ZUE
PF
24
ZUE
R
DNQ
ADR
QH
ADR
PF
ADR
R
PRT
QH
PRT
PF
PRT
R
GEN
QH
GEN
PF
GEN
R
NC 0
2018 CRG Spa OK SAR
QH
70
SAR
R
DNQ
PFI
QH
51
PFI
R
DNQ
AMP
QH
AMP
R
ALB
QH
ALB
R
69th 0

Racing record

Racing career summary

Season Series Team Races Wins Poles F/Laps Podiums Points Position
2018 F4 Spanish Championship Drivex School 4 1 2 0 2 49 9th
2019 F4 Spanish Championship Drivex School 21 11 10 10 13 325 1st
Euroformula Open Championship 2 0 0 0 0 0 27th
Formula Renault Eurocup FA Racing by Drivex 4 0 0 0 0 0 NC†
2020 Formula Renault Eurocup MP Motorsport 20 2 0 2 9 213.5 3rd
Toyota Racing Series Kiwi Motorsport 15 1 1 2 8 315 3rd
2021 Formula Regional European Championship MP Motorsport 16 2 3 4 4 140 6th
Asian Le Mans Series G-Drive Racing 4 0 3 3 3 66 3rd
European Le Mans Series 6 1 1 1 2 74 4th
FIA World Endurance Championship - LMP2 2 0 0 0 0 0 NC†
24 Hours of Le Mans - LMP2 1 0 0 0 0 N/A 7th
GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup - Silver ROFGO Racing with Team WRT 1 0 0 0 0 11 27th
Intercontinental GT Challenge Team WRT 1 0 0 0 0 0 NC
2022 FIA Formula 3 Championship Van Amersfoort Racing 18 2 1 0 5 76 9th
2023 FIA Formula 3 Championship MP Motorsport 18 2 0 0 5 110 4th
FIA Formula 2 Championship 2 0 0 0 0 0 25th
2024 FIA Formula 2 Championship MP Motorsport 20 1 0 3 3 96* 7th*
Formula One Williams Racing 1 0 0 0 0 0* 21st*

As Colapinto was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points.
Season still in progress.

Complete F4 Spanish Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 DC Points
2018 Drivex School ARA1 ARA2 ARA3 CRT1 CRT2 CRT3 ALG1 ALG2 ALG3 CAT1 CAT2 JER1 JER2 JER3 NAV1
5
NAV2
5
NAV3
2
NAV4
1
9th 49
2019 Drivex School NAV1
1
NAV2
3
NAV3
6
LEC1
4
LEC2
7
LEC3
4
ARA1
1
ARA2
14
ARA3
11
CRT1
1
CRT2
1
CRT3
1
JER1
4
JER2
3
JER3
1
ALG1
1
ALG2
1
ALG3
4
CAT1
1
CAT2
1
CAT3
1
1st 325

Complete Formula Renault Eurocup results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 DC Points
2019 FA Racing by Drivex MNZ1 MNZ2 SIL1 SIL2 MON1 MON2 LEC1 LEC2 SPA1
12
SPA2
20
NÜR1 NÜR2 HUN1 HUN2 CAT1
11
CAT2
10
HOC1 HOC2 YMC1 YMC2 NC† 0
2020 MP Motorsport MNZ1
1
MNZ2
3
IMO1
6
IMO2
7
NÜR1
7
NÜR2
6
MAG1
13
MAG2
Ret
ZAN1
6
ZAN2
3
CAT1
6
CAT2
3
SPA1
1‡
SPA2
12
IMO1
4
IMO2
2
HOC1
4
HOC2
3
LEC1
3
LEC2
3
3rd 213.5

As Colapinto was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points.
Half points awarded as less than 75% of race distance was completed.

Complete Toyota Racing Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 DC Points
2020 Kiwi Motorsport HIG1
9
HIG2
6
HIG3
2
TER1
4
TER2
5
TER3
8
HMP1
5
HMP2
1
HMP3
8
PUK1
3
PUK2
3
PUK3
2
MAN1
3
MAN2
2
MAN3
2
3rd 315

Complete Asian Le Mans Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Team Class Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 Pos. Points
2021 G-Drive Racing LMP2 Aurus 01 Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 DUB1
4
DUB2
2
ABU1
3
ABU2
2
3rd 66

Complete Formula Regional European Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 DC Points
2021 MP Motorsport IMO1
WD
IMO2
WD
CAT1
28†
CAT2
Ret
MCO1
WD
MCO2
WD
LEC1
12
LEC2
12
ZAN1
5
ZAN2
2
SPA1
Ret
SPA2
6
RBR1
1
RBR2
4
VAL1
1
VAL2
2
MUG1
Ret
MUG2
5
MNZ1
7
MNZ2
6
6th 140

Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as they completed more than 90% of the race distance.

Complete European Le Mans Series results

Year Entrant Class Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 Rank Points
2021 G-Drive Racing LMP2 Aurus 01 Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 CAT
4
RBR
2
LEC
1
MNZ
8
SPA
NC
ALG
5
4th 74

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps Pos. Class
Pos.
2021 G-Drive Racing Roman Rusinov
Nyck de Vries
Aurus 01-Gibson LMP2 358 12th 7th

Complete FIA Formula 3 Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate points for the fastest lap of top ten finishers)

Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 DC Points
2022 Van Amersfoort Racing BHRSPR
25
BHRFEA
5
IMOSPR
1
IMOFEA
22
CATSPR
Ret
CATFEA
8
SILSPR
13
SILFEA
Ret
RBRSPR
3
RBRFEA
6
HUNSPR
2
HUNFEA
15
SPASPR
15
SPAFEA
12
ZANSPR
13
ZANFEA
3
MNZSPR
1
MNZFEA
15
9th 76
2023 MP Motorsport BHRSPR
2
BHRFEA
10
MELSPR
DSQ
MELFEA
Ret
MONSPR
4
MONFEA
6
CATSPR
6
CATFEA
2
RBRSPR
13
RBRFEA
4
SILSPR
1
SILFEA
8
HUNSPR
7
HUNFEA
3
SPASPR
5
SPAFEA
10
MNZSPR
1
MNZFEA
Ret
4th 110

Complete FIA Formula 2 Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate points for the fastest lap of top ten finishers)

Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 DC Points
2023 MP Motorsport BHRSPR BHRFEA JEDSPR JEDFEA MELSPR MELFEA BAKSPR BAKFEA MCOSPR MCOFEA CATSPR CATFEA RBRSPR RBRFEA SILSPR SILFEA HUNSPR HUNFEA SPASPR SPAFEA ZANSPR ZANFEA MNZSPR MNZFEA YMCSPR
19
YMCFEA
Ret
25th 0
2024 MP Motorsport BHRSPR
18
BHRFEA
6
JEDSPR
11
JEDFEA
Ret
MELSPR
4
MELFEA
DSQ
IMOSPR
1
IMOFEA
5
MONSPR
5
MONFEA
13
CATSPR
18
CATFEA
2
RBRSPR
11
RBRFEA
2
SILSPR
5
SILFEA
4
HUNSPR
5
HUNFEA
13
SPASPR
8
SPAFEA
Ret
MNZSPR
MNZFEA
BAKSPR
BAKFEA
LSLSPR
LSLFEA
YMCSPR
YMCFEA
7th* 96*

Complete Formula One results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 WDC Points
2024 Williams Racing Williams FW46 Mercedes-AMG F1 M15 V6 t BHR SAU AUS JPN CHN MIA EMI MON CAN ESP AUT GBR
TD
HUN BEL NED ITA
12
AZE SIN USA MXC SAP LVG QAT ABU 21st* 0*

Season still in progress.