Fernando Romero Nuñez Argentine race driver Franco Colapinto is a Formula 1 driver once again, after it was confirmed he will race in the upcoming Emilia Romagna Grand Prix for the Alpine F1 team.
He will partner Frenchman Pierre Gasly in Italy, returning to an F1 grid for a first appearance since the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in December 2024.
The announcement ends months of speculation linking the former Williams driver with the seat occupied by Australian Jack Doohan. The man from the Gold Coast failed to score a point in his seven grand prix outings for the team, and now for the upcoming race at Imola, it will be Argentina’s Colapinto who takes the wheel for Alpine.
Colapinto’s F2 performances and F1 debut season
The racing driver from Pilar, Buenos Aires Province, first broke through into the F1 world when he raced a Williams car in F1 Rookie Test in Abu Dhabi in November 2023.
For the 2024 season, Colapinto started competing in Formula 2, a feeder series for young drivers to progress to Formula 1. He scored three podiums, including a win at the Imola Sprint race in May, the track where he will make his Alpine debut. He would go on to claim 96 points in the F2 Drivers’ Championship, enough for sixth place in the standings.
Later that year in August 2024, it was announced that Colapinto would race for Williams for the remainder of the 2024 F1 season, replacing U.S. driver Logan Sargeant, who only scored one point for the team in 36 attempts. He became the first Argentine to compete in the sport since Gastón Mazzacane, who drove for the Prost team at Imola in 2001.
He produced a solid debut at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza, finishing outside the points in 12th place, but ending the race without being lapped and only 14 seconds away from new teammate Alexander Albon.
However, it was the following race in Azerbaijan that Colapinto made the headlines. He began the weekend by expertly qualifying his car in ninth place, just behind former world champion Fernando Alonso, and crucially in front of teammate Albon. In Sunday’s race, the Thai driver took the bragging rights by finishing ahead in seventh, but this was the man from Pilar’s time to shine, a mere two seconds behind in eighth. He finished just ahead of seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton who took ninth. On only his second race start in Formula 1, he became the first Argentine racing driver to score points in a Formula 1 race since Carlos “Lole” Reutemann in 1982.
Despite finishing just outside the points at the Singapore Grand Prix in September 2024, he became the talk of the paddock after executing a quick launch off the line and passing several cars with a dive into the first corner. This was to the frustration at the time of teammate Albon, who claimed initially over a radio message that “Franco just dive-bombed” before later analysing the footage and saying there was “nothing really to criticise” about the move.
Interest in Colapinto stood at an all time high, with the Argentine reportedly linked with drives at several F1 teams for 2025. But retirements at Brazil, Qatar and Abu Dhabi slowed down the young star’s rising stock. Williams had already opted for experience for the 2025 season, choosing the outgoing Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz to line-up next to Albon.
However, in January 2025, Alpine F1 announced he was joining as a reserve driver on a multi-year deal. The news sparked talk across the country of a future race seat, with Argentine fans impatiently waiting to see their motorsport hero compete with the world’s fastest drivers once again.
Colapinto-mania in Argentina and beyond
The 21-year-old’s likable personality and tendency to often speak his mind quickly made him a fan favorite in his homeland and around the world.
On Colapinto’s debut in Monza, an abundance of fans surrounded Willams’ boxes chanting his name after the running was complete, and the racer uploaded videos to his Instagram to salute them. This scene repeated itself at the USA Grand Prix in Austin.
“It was crazy,” said Colapinto after the race in Texas. “When we were reviewing the track on a truck, people couldn’t believe how many Argentines there were, and they were all chanting my name. It was incredible, very lovely to see.”
Clips even emerged of Argentine fans asking Williams team principal James Vowles, who was affectionately nicknamed by them as “Tio James” (Uncle James) for photos and autographs.
When F1 reached South America for the Brazilian Grand Prix, over 50,000 fans travelled from Buenos Aires and beyond to Sao Paulo.
But the support hasn’t come only from the fans. Many companies in Argentina helped him in his rise through the ranks. YPF, Mercado Libre and Globant have all provided funds for his teams through sponsorship. Additional backing has come through support of renowned music producer Bizarrap, who reached out to him when he was looking for sponsors and connected him with Globant CEO Martín Migoya.
What can we expect from Colapinto at Alpine?
Ever since joining Alpine, Colapinto has been surrounded by talks of a potential drive for the team. Team advisor Flavio Briatore has made his admiration for the Argentine’s talent clear, something the 21-year-old called “an honor and a motive of pride.”
“He’s the one who found [Michael Schumacher] and [Fernando] Alonso. He’s got a lot of history in F1 and he’s going with his gut; he hasn’t missed so far,” he said when speaking to Argentine news show Telenoche in February.
Colapinto will be replacing Australian rookie Jack Doohan. The 22-year-old, son of motorbike racing legend Mick, has struggled to make an impact since his debut at the Abu Dhabi grand prix in December 2024. Doohan is yet to finish in the point-awarding top-10 positions, and has been outperformed by French teammate Pierre Gasly. Since the turn of the year, Doohan has been asked regularly by journalists about the possibility of being replaced by the Argentine.
Up until now, Colapinto has been working in the team’s virtual racing simulator to help them prepare and set the car for the races to find the best setup. He also took part in a TPC, Testing of Previous Cars, in April, where he drove Alpine’s 2023 car at Monza.
More change arrived at the team earlier this week, with team principal Oliver Oakes departing after only 10 months at the helm. The aforementioned Briatore will take over, at least on a temporary basis, hoping to improve upon what has not been a strong season for Alpine so far. Only Gasly has scored the team’s points this season, managing just seven so far as the team sit in ninth position in the standings. Last season, they finished the championship in a respectable sixth position following a strong end to the season. With a triple-header on the horizon, the perfect opportunity has arrived for Argentina’s star driver Franco Colapinto to turn his team’s misfortunes into some much-needed points.
Additional reporting by Christopher Martin
