Fernando Romero Nuñez Argentine racing driver Franco Colapinto showcased his speed in Formula 1 once again, fighting through the field to finish tenth at the United States Grand Prix. That’s the last position in the rankings that awards points. The 21-year-old, who started 15th at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, scored his fifth point of the season, while teammate Alex Albon from Thailand was 16th.
Colapinto, originally from Pilar in Buenos Aires Province, was coming off a disappointing Saturday. First, he didn’t manage to exploit his tenth-place starting position for the Sprint race, finishing 12th. Then, he ended 17th in Sunday’s race qualifying, before moving up two spots when Mercedes’s George Russell and RB’s Liam Lawson were sanctioned.
Despite a bad launch off the start, Colapinto quickly regained lost ground. He took advantage of seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton crashing out of the race, after which a Safety Car was brought out. After the race relaunched, the Argentine driver overtook Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and then Sauber’s Guanyu Zhou to claim the 13th spot.
His best move of the race, however, came in the 23rd lap. Having started the race on the more durable hard compound tyre, Colapinto came to Spanish two-time world champion Fernando Alonso — who owns the team where the Argentine used to race in Spanish F4 — running quicker but less sturdy medium, and pulled one of the best overtakes of the race. The Williams driver darted on the inside after the longest straight in the track, and then defended against Alonso’s attempted ripost, to claim tenth place.
After the first round of pit stops, Colapinto ran as high as seventh, but he fell to 11th after making his own stop in the 40th lap. Coming out very close to Haas’ Kevin Magnussen, the Argentine driver gave a defensive driving masterclass, as his cold tires put him at a massive disadvantage to the Dane to hold the position.
Just six laps later, he overtook France’s Pierre Gasly to take tenth place, securing another point for Williams. With just a couple laps to the end, Colapinto even held the race’s fastest lap, which awards an additional point. However, France’s Esteban Ocon from Alpine made an extra stop to don soft compound tires, the quickest available for teams, to steal the bonus.
Ocon, who finished 18th, won’t get the extra point on his tally sheet, since it’s only awarded if the driver finishes tenth or better. What’s the reasoning then? Alpine is in a close fight with Williams for eighth place in the Constructors Championship, and stealing the additional point means they’re down against the British team by just four points.
“I’m happy, we did a good job,” said Colapinto after the race. “We took a step forward from yesterday, we could feel the changes we made and the work we did with the team.”
He wasn’t too happy with the shenanigans by Alpine, joking that the French team should “help the planet instead of burning rubber for nothing” and “give back the fastest lap point.”
Colapinto also admitted it was his call to start the race on the hard compound tyres, to go for a longer stint. “They weren’t too keen on it and I convinced them, so maybe next year if I don’t get a racing seat I can become a race engineer,” he joked.
Williams Team Principal James Vowles was elated with Colapinto’s race. “Mega, mega race. That was perfect, really well delivered,” he told the Argentine driver over the radio after the race ended. “The car is quick, that’s what you’ve shown in this race.”
After a stop of nearly a month between events in Singapore and the U.S., the next race for the F1 circus comes in just a week, as the Mexico Grand Prix starts running free practices on October 25. Qualifying on Saturday 26 sets off at 6 p.m. Argentina time and the race on Sunday 27 is set to launch at 5 p.m.
