When American F1 driver Logan Sargeant lost his seat at Williams last season, a relatively unknown racer from Argentina — Franco Colapinto — made his Formula 1 debut. He made an immediate impression, scoring his first points in only his second F1 race, at the notoriously tricky Baku street circuit, and followed it up with another top-ten finish at the United States Grand Prix in Austin. Despite a few incidents toward the end of the year, the 21-year-old gained a strong following back home in Argentina.
Over the winter, Colapinto was signed by the Alpine F1 team, who named the Buenos Aires native as their Reserve Driver. That move put pressure on lead driver Jack Doohan — and after the Miami Grand Prix, the team decided to promote Colapinto to the race seat, much to the delight of his South American fans.
Franco is the first Argentine driver to compete in F1 since 2001, and there’s hope his success could help bring back the Argentine Grand Prix — the last one was held in 1998. The popular F1 Exhibition is heading to Buenos Aires later this year, so who knows? It might just open the door to a future race there.
