Franco Colapinto, Argentina’s new star attraction, draws fans to F1

For Argentine football fans, 5pm on a Sunday afternoon holds the same hallowed significance as Saturday at 3pm across the ocean in England. 

While in both countries the importance of that time slot has diminished due to the insatiable demands of broadcasters and the need to accommodate midweek competition, it is still considered prime time for the national game and the most prestigious time for kick-offs – for example, the traditional starting point for the Superclásico and any big games.

Last Sunday afternoon, though, millions of viewers were looking elsewhere. Thousands of kilometres north, to be precise, to Mexico City’s giant Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. Expectations were at a fever pitch both for the hundreds of Argentines who made their way to the Mexico GP, including local megastars like Duki, Bizarrap and Niki Nikole, and the millions who watched every turn and pitstop live from their own homes. 

The reason for such furore? An unassuming young man from Pilar who just a few months ago was known only to hardcore race fans and who is now a national sensation.

Franco Colapinto was thrust into the spotlight back at the start of September when he was plucked out of Formula 2 by Williams to drive the historic constructor’s car for the rest of the current race season. His maiden race in Italy made him Argentina’s first Formula 1 driver since Gastón Mazzacane back in 2001, and when he picked up an eighth-placed finish in Baku on his second outing he netted the nation’s first points in the championship for over 10 years.

The 21-year-old’s daring on the track, pin-up good looks and easy manner with the press have made him an instant darling with fans. Early television figures showed F1 ratings tripling following Colapinto’s first race, while last weekend in Mexico FoxSports’ broadcast picked up an estimated 2.6 million viewers, blowing Boca Juniors’ clash with Riestra out of the water; perhaps a bittersweet moment for the youngster, a diehard Xeneize fan who wears No. 12 in tribute to the club’s fans.

As anyone who has ever driven in Buenos Aires or negotiated the monolithic speedway that is the Panamericana highway out of the capital can attest, racing is in Argentina’s blood. The national Touring Car championship attracts a near-religious following in its journey across the length and breadth of the country each year, generating millions in tourist revenue for cities like Rafaela, Viedma, San Luis and others which find themselves on the annual race calendar.

This rough and ready competition has also served as the jumping point for some of the nation’s finest drivers. The great Juan Manuel Fangio – who many consider the equal if not better than Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi in the pantheon of Argentina’s all-time sporting greats – won back-to-back TC titles in the 1940s prior to making the jump to F1 and lifting his five world championships, a record that stood for 46 years until it was eventually broken by Michael Schumacher. 

One of Fangio’s contemporaries was Onofre Marimón, a supremely gifted racer and TC winner at Mar del Plata who was making a name for himself in F1 before tragically losing his life in a 1954 crash. Later, fellow Touring Car graduates José Froilán González and Carlos Reutemann would both emulate Fangio in winning a Grand Prix – the latter of that trio taking 12 victories and finishing four times on the Championship podium before retiring and going into politics, where he was elected governor and senator for Santa Fe Province.

Colapinto does not share that background with his distinguished compatriots. He moved to Italy as a teenager with his family and came up through the world of karting and junior Formula races. But with two points placings in his opening five races in one of the grid’s least competitive cars, he has made an immediate impact both on the sport and his nation of birth. 

The youngster can expect his biggest ‘home’ crowd yet this Sunday, when F1 comes to Brazil, as Interlagos braces for the inevitable sea of celeste y blanca-clad fans to cheer their new hero on.

And after that? F1 is a notoriously cut-throat business, dependent as much on sponsors and the ability to raise cash as on pure racing talent to keep one’s rear end occupying a seat. Colapinto will finish 2024 with Williams, but what comes after that is not so clear, despite the rumours of a move to Red Bull.

One former South American racing ace, though, believes the future is bright for the Argentine, possibly to the detriment of his current Williams team-mate. “Franco Colapinto has done a really good job but at the same time you look at what Alex Albon has done since Colapinto came into the team. What is going to happen when Carlos [Sainz] joins Williams? Is Albon going to be let go?” ex-Williams driver and seven-time GP winner Juan Pablo Montoya told InstantCasino.com.

“If I was Williams, I would not let Colapinto go, especially with Carlos joining the team but it’s hard for Franco. There’s not a lot of opportunities out there.”

There could even be room for Franco at Red Bull. Recent rumours for the racing world state that the giant is interested in seating the Argentine for 2025, alongside no less a figure than three-time world champion (and on his way to his fourth in a row) Max Verstappen. 

The final decision most likely will have to wait until this season comes to a close, but it is testament to the impact that the young man has made in a few short races at the very start of what looks to be a very promising F1 career.