Argentine driver Franco Colapinto will race for Williams for the rest of the 2024 F1 season, the staff introduced on Tuesday. The 21-year-old driver will turn out to be the primary Argentine motorist to race in an F1 race in over 20 years.
“It’s an honor to be making my Components 1 debut with Williams. That is what goals are product of,” Colapinto instructed the staff’s official media channel on the announcement. “The staff has such a tremendous historical past and a mission to get again to the entrance, which I can’t wait to be a part of.”
The Argentine driver will change U.S. driver Logan Sargeant, one among solely three drivers who’re but to attain some extent within the 2024 season, and drive alongside the staff’s lead driver Alex Albon.
“Coming into F1 mid-season can be an infinite studying curve however I’m up for the problem, and I’m absolutely centered on working as arduous as I can with Alex and the staff to make it successful,” he added.
Colapinto made historical past in Could, when he turned the primary Argentine since Gastón Mazzacane in 2001 to partake in a Components 1 Grand Prix, when he ran in Free Observe 1 on the 2024 British Grand Prix. That was the second time the Pilar native had sat behind the wheel of a Components 1 automobile, after collaborating within the “Rookie Take a look at” at Abu Dhabi’s Yas Marina circuit in November.
Crew principal James Vowles stated the choice was made with the target of giving the staff “one of the best likelihood to compete for factors over the rest of the season.”
“I do know that Franco has nice velocity and large potential, and we stay up for seeing what he can do in Components 1,” he stated, including that the staff was eager on “investing on younger drivers within the Williams Racing Driver Academy,” of which Colapinto has been part of since January 2023.
The 21-year-old, who stands sixth within the Components 2 championship with 96 factors, will turn out to be the second-ever Argentine to drive for Williams. The primary was Carlos Reutemann, who drove for them between 1980 and 1982 and was even title runner-up in 1981.
The final Argentine to take the wheel of an F1 automobile was Gastón Mazzacane, who took half in 4 races within the 2001 season with Prost Acer. To this point, 25 Argentine drivers have raced in Components 1. Essentially the most profitable was Juan Manuel Fangio, who received the F1 championship 5 instances.
Who’s Franco Colapinto?
The Argentine race driver has loved a meteoric rise via the ranks, however his ardour for vehicles began a very long time in the past. When he was 4, his father gave him a quad bike. “I stored shopping for greater and larger quads after which I began go kart racing once I was 10,” he instructed Argentine media outlet Todo Noticias.
In 2013 he moved to Italy to race in European karting collection. Then, in 2018, he had his large breakthrough, attaining a runners-up end and a win in his Spanish Components 4 debut.
4 years later he reached Components 3, step one within the F1 improvement path, racing for Van Amersfoort Racing, scoring his maiden victory and ending ninth within the championship. The next 12 months, racing for MP Motorsport, he went on to win two races and end fourth within the championship, incomes a spot on the staff’s Components 2 outfit for 2024.
Colapinto’s rise has been backed by loads of essential Argentine manufacturers. YPF, the nation’s largest power firm, was one of many first to belief within the younger driver’s expertise. Tech firm Globant introduced their sponsorship deal in 2023.
Maybe probably the most curious endorsement was that of famend music producer Bizarrap. The connection goes past easy sponsorship: the motive force has worn a helmet designed by Biza, and the 2 have turn out to be pals.
“I feel it was one of many nicest collaborations I’ve had in my sports activities profession, and possibly one of the best,” Colapinto stated. “He’s primary in music and I wish to be primary in motorsport. He represents Argentina in the easiest way.”
How one can watch Franco Colapinto’s F1 debut
Colapinto will debut within the Italian Grand Prix, on the Autodromo Nacional in Monza. The racing begins with the primary two free follow periods on Friday, beginning at 8:30 a.m. Argentina time.
The final of the free follow stints is on Saturday at 7:30 a.m., adopted by the qualification at 11 a.m. Sunday’s race is ready to start out at 10 a.m. The Grand Prix can be broadcast by sports activities channel ESPN and the streaming platform Disney+.