On September 10, 2022, on the emblematic
Formula 1
podium at the Monza racetrack, the Argentine flag flew and the national anthem was heard.
At the top was
Franco Colapinto
, winner of the last
Formula 3
sprint race , where the Frenchman Victor Martins became champion the next day, now promoted to
Formula 2.
At 19,
the Argentine's plan is to give every step with surgical precision to fulfill the dream of being a Formula 1 driver.
"
I like how those who won everything arrived, Formula 3, Formula 2, like Oscar Piastri, like George Russell, pilots who were very successful in the previous categories. Obviously it is ideal to arrive like this,"
he
tells
Clarín
to hours before the start of the F3 season in Bahrain, which he arrives with a new team -he went from rookie in F3 Van Amersfoort Racing to return to MP Motorsport, fourth last year- and as a member of the Williams
Academy
.
Since January,
the paths of the English F1 team and Colapinto have joined
, although
"there were negotiations with other teams"
.
"They chose Williams because it was the one that provided the most financial support and gave the most support in terms of my sports career.
And I think it was also the one that gave the closest image to Formula 1 in the future
, which is what we are looking for. also
-reinforces the person who left Pilar at the age of 14 to run in Spain-
"I suppose it was the right one, we'll see over time"
.
Colapinto refers to the fact that since 2017 Williams only repeated its pair of drivers in 2020 and 2021, when it fielded Nicholas Latifi and George Russell, so
the rotation is more common than in other teams with multi-year contracts
.
This year, in addition, there will be one of the four new drivers of the F1 season, rookie
Logan Sargeant
.
Still installed in Spain, but without ruling out a move to England if they need him
"more at the factory"
, the Argentine has already been to Grove, where - in addition to seeing the team's historic cars and the helmet worn by Carlos Reutemann - he was able to get on the F1 simulator, which he defines as
"crazy"
.
"
It's very different. A lot of money is invested in a Formula 1 simulator and it's as close to reality as possible because at the end you're testing things that you're testing on a real car. It's really very detailed," he explains
.
And he adds:
"During that day I tried to learn as much as I could. The truth is that I performed very well and I was very happy and happy to have had that chance, to drive in a Formula 1 simulator and see what it felt like. Now, The first dream is to get into the car in practice -he redoubles-.
It would be a dream to drive a Formula 1 car, hopefully at some point I will be given that possibility
. Although I don't know if there will be a chance this year"
.
Racing in F3 backed by a Formula 1 team will allow the young Argentine with the greatest international projection a better preparation before each race.
"It is very positive and I am going to try to maximize it, make the most of all the information that they are going to transmit to me and those days that I am going to be at the factory.
Being at Williams is something incredible, a dream come true, it is what at end is bringing me a little closer to the dream and the objective
", he affirms.
That Franco Colapinto who arrived in Europe in 2018 to race in Spanish F4 with Fernando Alonso
's team
, and of which he was champion the following year after eleven victories,
continues to climb steps five years later
.
"They were difficult years. I left Argentina at a very young age, without my family. But I learned a lot and I think that when I was 14, 15 years old was when I grew the most," he recalls.
Nobody knows what will happen in another five years, although the dream is intact:
"Hopefully in five years I will be in Formula 1, hopefully"
.
The immediate future: Formula 3
The car that Franco Colapinto will use in Formula 3 with the logo and colors of Williams Racing.
-How different are you from the rookie Franco Colapinto of 2022?
-I look different.
All experiences play an important role.
I think that from 2021 to 2022 I made a big leap and then a year in Formula 3 gives you a lot of experience and many moments lived in the race that maybe for a rookie are a little more difficult.
It will surely be good for me to have this year of experience, to have known some of the circuits that I did not know.
Last year was a great year and it was what allowed me to also be at Williams this year and have the chance to continue racing in Formula 3.
It's a great opportunity, I'm super grateful.
-For those who are used to watching Formula 1, although it is a supporting category, F3 is very different, much more competitive.
-There are 30 cars.
Formula 1, being 20 teams and they have to do everything in their factories -the chassis, the engine and its parts- there are quite big differences, in potential and also with the budget that each one has.
There is much less of that in Formula 3: the cars are all the same and the engines too, which makes everything much more even.
In Formula 3, capable, 20th is five tenths away and in Formula 1 20th is two and a half seconds away;
that makes it difficult to draw differences as well.
Of course, there are also good teams like Prema, Trident or Hitech, which make a bit of a difference in Formula 3, but with the people who now work at MP we
can find the way forward and the way to close the gap with the best
.
-There are only ten dates in six months of a very even championship. What are you waiting for?
-Go race by race, step by step and then we'll see how everything goes.
I think we have good potential and it could be a very good year.
The most important thing is to do all the steps, do the basics well and then go from less to more.
The team has very good potential and the important thing is going to be getting the most out of it without despairing and trying to do what is convenient with as few mistakes as possible because it is a very even championship and in which consistency wins out in the end.
Hopefully we start off in the best way.
Franco Colapinto will race for the second consecutive year in F3 but with a new team.
Photo Courtesy Dutch Photo Agency
-Williams imposed some performance on you in F3?
-By contract there are always clauses.
But I don't have a goal in mind before the first race starts.
- Likewise, used to the pressure of having to get a budget, winning must be the most beautiful pressure.
-I am very used to pressure, not knowing if I get to run the next race or not have a seat in any team a week before the season starts.
This is the first season that I have confirmed almost one hundred percent.
And it relaxes me to be in a team where I am comfortable, I know the people and I am happy and grateful.
Hopefully it will be a good year.
If we do things right and go step by step, we will have good results.
I really want to start racing, it's been a long time since the last race in Monza and I want to get over it.
I want the whole truth to begin to be seen and see how we are with the team.
Franco Colapinto, at the top of the podium, in Monza on September 10.
-Precisely, that victory in Monza was celebrated a lot by the Argentines. How does that support make you feel?
-For Argentines it is so difficult to reach the top in any sport or in anything, I think... It is always more complicated than for Europeans.
So, when you get to the top of everything or are climbing the stairs like me, trying to get to Formula 1, everything gives you much more happiness, you enjoy everything twice as much, because everything costs so much.
There were years that I hardly even ran in Europe because we were very complicated with the budget
.
For this reason, when things start to go well and the balance begins to turn, it is very gratifying and I try to enjoy it as if it were the last because you don't know when you can win again.
And that happens to all Argentine fans.
How long have we not had a driver in Formula 1?
The same in Formula 3 or Formula 2. There is so much desire for an Argentine to reach Formula 1, to the top of motorsport, that you feel a lot that energy and that emotion of the country so that I or some driver can reach the highest.
I love that, it gives me a lot of strength, it is a big difference with all the other countries in the world because with any other Formula 3, Formula 2 or Formula 1 driver there is not even half the support that they are giving me.
I thank them because it is a source of pride for me and these good energies give me the strength to continue working, to bring joy to them.
Hopefully this year I can give you many more joys.
I work every day for that and I do my best to have many more of those podiums this year.
-How do you handle the fact of being the Argentine with the greatest projection to reach F1 after 22 years have passed since Gastón Mazzacane was there?
-It is a pity that with such a quality of drivers and such a level in Argentina I am the closest in Formula 3, with so many drivers from other countries who have several drivers in Formula 3 and Formula 2. I have to be the only one Argentinian in one of those categories and I try to do the best I can for myself and for the country,
trying to fulfill the goal that I set myself as a child
and to continue on this path that has many ups and downs but the important thing is always to push and believe that it can be done.
Hopefully it will be so and in the future I will have an opportunity.
It's a long, long road but it's the process
.
I am very proud of what we are doing with my management team, with the people who supported me, with my family.
And now with all the Argentines who are joining the train to continue writing this story in Formula 3 and if God wants to go up a step.
F3 date 1 schedule
Saturday
6.15 - sprint race
Sunday
5.50 - race
Televised on
Star+
.
look also
Formula 1: everything there is to know about the 2023 season that starts this weekend
With Franco Colapinto, Williams Racing presented its car for the 2023 Formula 1 season
Formula 1 chose Franco Colapinto among "the 20 most exciting emerging talents"