Argentina’s Franco Colapinto announced as Williams F1 driver for the rest of the 2024 season

Argentine driver Franco Colapinto will race for Williams for the remainder of the 2024 F1 season, the team announced on Tuesday. The 21-year-old driver will become the first Argentine motorist to race in an F1 race in over 20 years.

“It is an honor to be making my Formula 1 debut with Williams. This is what dreams are made of,” Colapinto told the team’s official media channel on the announcement. “The team has such an amazing history and a mission to get back to the front, which I can’t wait to be part of.”

The Argentine driver will replace U.S. driver Logan Sargeant, one of only three drivers who are yet to score a point in the 2024 season, and drive alongside the team’s lead driver Alex Albon.

“Coming into F1 mid-season will be an enormous learning curve but I am up for the challenge, and I’m fully focused on working as hard as I can with Alex and the team to make it a success,” he added.

Colapinto made history in May, when he became the first Argentine since Gastón Mazzacane in 2001 to partake in a Formula 1 Grand Prix, when he ran in Free Practice 1 at the 2024 British Grand Prix. That was the second time the Pilar native had sat behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car, after taking part in the “Rookie Test” at Abu Dhabi’s Yas Marina circuit in November. 

Team principal James Vowles said the decision was made with the objective of giving the team “the best chance to compete for points over the remainder of the season.” 

“I know that Franco has great speed and huge potential, and we look forward to seeing what he can do in Formula 1,” he said, adding that the team was keen on “investing on young drivers in the Williams Racing Driver Academy,” of which Colapinto has been a part of since January 2023.

The 21-year-old, who stands sixth in the Formula 2 championship with 96 points, will become the second-ever Argentine to drive for Williams. The first was Carlos Reutemann, who drove for them between 1980 and 1982 and was even title runner-up in 1981.

The last Argentine to take the wheel of an F1 car was Gastón Mazzacane, who took part in four races in the 2001 season with Prost Acer. So far, 25 Argentine drivers have raced in Formula 1. The most successful was Juan Manuel Fangio, who won the F1 championship five times.

Who is Franco Colapinto?

The Argentine race driver has enjoyed a meteoric rise through the ranks, but his passion for cars started a long time ago. When he was four, his father gave him a quad bike. “I kept buying bigger and bigger quads and then I started go kart racing when I was 10,” he told Argentine media outlet Todo Noticias.

In 2013 he moved to Italy to race in European karting series. Then, in 2018, he had his big breakthrough, achieving a runners-up finish and a win in his Spanish Formula 4 debut. 

Four years later he reached Formula 3, the first step in the F1 development path, racing for Van Amersfoort Racing, scoring his maiden victory and finishing ninth in the championship. The following year, racing for MP Motorsport, he went on to win two races and finish fourth in the championship, earning a spot on the team’s Formula 2 outfit for 2024.

Colapinto’s rise has been backed by plenty of important Argentine brands. YPF, the country’s largest energy company, was one of the first to trust in the young driver’s talent. Tech company Globant announced their sponsorship deal in 2023.

Perhaps the most curious endorsement was that of renowned music producer Bizarrap. The relationship goes beyond simple sponsorship: the driver has worn a helmet designed by Biza, and the two have become friends.

“I think it was one of the nicest collaborations I’ve had in my sports career, and maybe the best,” Colapinto said. “He is number one in music and I want to be number one in motorsport. He represents Argentina in the best way.”

How to watch Franco Colapinto’s F1 debut

Colapinto will debut in the Italian Grand Prix, at the Autodromo Nacional in Monza. The racing starts with the first two free practice sessions on Friday, starting at 8:30 a.m. Argentina time.

The last of the free practice stints is on Saturday at 7:30 a.m., followed by the qualification at 11 a.m. Sunday’s race is set to start at 10 a.m. The Grand Prix will be broadcast by sports channel ESPN and the streaming platform Disney+.