Franco Colapinto

Franco Alejandro Colapinto (born 27 May 2003) is an Argentine racing driver who is currently competing in the 2024 Formula 2 Championship with MP Motorsport. He previously competed in the FIA Formula 3 for the same team, finishing fourth in that year. He is the 2019 F4 Spanish champion and a race winner in the European Le Mans Series. He is a member of the Williams Driver Academy.

Karting
Colapinto started karting at the age of nine. He won the Argentine Championship in 2016 and again in 2018, alongside a victory in the 2018 Youth Summer Olympics.

Lower formulas
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 FARacing 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
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.

2022
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. The Argentinian 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
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 part 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.

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
Colapinto partners 2021 FIA Formula 3 champion Dennis Hauger for the 2024 season. He takes his first Formula 2 win at the 2024 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix during the Sprint race.

Asian Le Mans Series
In February 2021, Colapinto joined G-Drive Racing #25 for the 2021 season. 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.

Formula One
In January 2023, Colapinto was announced to be joining the Williams Driver Academy.

Colapinto made his debut in a Formula One car with the Williams FW45, during the 2023 F1 post-season test at Yas Marina. Colapinto set the 22nd fastest time overall, completing 65 laps, to be the first Argentine to drive an F1 car since Gastón Mazzacane, who last competed in the 2001 San Marino Grand Prix.

Colapinto made his debut in a Formula One race weekend for the 2024 British Grand Prix, driving for Williams in the first practice session (FP1) in place of Logan Sargeant. Ahead of his FP1 debut, Colapinto stated that it was a "historic moment" representing Argentina.

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 circuit. He is a Boca Juniors supporter.

Complete CIK-FIA Karting European Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Racing career summary
† 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)

Complete Formula Renault Eurocup results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) † 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)

Complete Asian Le Mans Series results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Formula Regional European Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) † Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as they completed more than 90% of the race distance.

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)

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)

Complete Formula One participations
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
 * Season still in progress.