If
Franco Colapinto
imagined a good letter of introduction to his new MP Motorsport team at the start of the 2023
Formula 3
season , he will surely be satisfied:
he scored points in both weekend races
at the Bahrain Grand Prix complex.
For everything, there are always nuances, but the Buenos Aires native sealed the first date knowing that he can be excited about a car that, last year, was fourth in the manufacturers' table.
The best of Colapinto, in light of the results, was the sprint race on Saturday
.
There, the 19-year-old from Buenos Aires dominated for a good part of the competition, but had to settle for second place on the Sakhir circuit.
He started in
pole position
(by reverse starting system) and led the classification for the first 13 of the 19 total laps of the competition.
The native of the city of Pilar was later surpassed by the Spanish
Josep María Martí
(Campos Racing), who ended up claiming the victory.
Third place was held by the Brazilian
Caio Collet
(Van Amersfoort), while the Swede of Bosnian origin
Dino Beganovic
(Prema Racing) finished in fourth place.
Franco Colapinto and a good opening weekend in Formula 3.
For the main competition on Sunday, 22 laps away, Colapinto had to start from twelfth position, with Gabriele Mini (Hitech GP) leading the grid.
And the Italian seemed on track to victory, but a penalty and a safety car ruined his chances for Gabriel Bortoleto to inherit victory on the first round of the season.
Colapinto had a hard time finding the rhythm, in fact he fell to 15th, but the end of the race came with a gift: although he finished eleventh on the track, a five-second penalty for Paul Aron allowed him to enter the Top Ten and score a point for the drivers' championship.
F3 will return in Melbourne, Australia from March 31 to April 2.
look too
Franco Colapinto: "The ideal would be to reach Formula 1 like Piastri and Russell, winning everything"
Formula 1, Bahrain GP, LIVE: time, preview, how to watch it and starting grid
Formula 1: everything there is to know about the 2023 season that starts this weekend
