Franco Colapinto is an Argentine racing driver, born in Pilar, Buenos Aires, on 27 May 2003, currently contracted to Alpine.

Driving along nicely in Formula 2, opportunity knocked in a major way for Colapinto when, following the 2024 Dutch Grand Prix, Williams sacked Logan Sargeant and named Colapinto as his replacement to see out the season.

Colapinto's debut made him the first Argentine to race in Formula 1 since Gastón Mazzacane at the 2001 San Marino Grand Prix, his signing triggering a flood of Argentine firms contacting Williams looking to begin partnerships.

Carriera

Colapinto had made his F1 race weekend debut with Williams in FP1 at the 2024 British Grand Prix, satisfying one of the required rookie outings, but far better was soon to come.

When Sargeant wrecked his upgraded Williams in final practice at Zandvoort three rounds later, the rumours of a mid-season axe strengthened and became reality after the race weekend, leaving Williams with the task of replacing Sargeant for the final nine rounds of the season, before Carlos Sainz arrived from Ferrari.

And Williams looked within their own ranks to replace Sargeant, calling-up Driver Academy member Colapinto from Formula 2, who made his F1 debut at Monza, a solid one at that.

Colapinto qualified a respectable P18 at the 'Temple of Speed' and delivered a solid drive to P12 on Italian Grand Prix Sunday, a smooth introduction to F1 life.

The Argentine saw his stock rise dramatically from there, scoring five points across his opening four grands prix as a Williams driver, and with the team already set on a Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon driver line-up from 2025, the likes of Alpine, Red Bull and Racing Bulls began being speculated as potential new homes for Colapinto.

However, interest began to cool in Colapinto after a pair of big shunts in Brazil, followed by a 50G crash in Las Vegas GP qualifying, with the Williams reserve driver role coming his way for 2025.

That was until Alpine came calling with a wheelbarrow full of cash. They have made the move to bring him in as reserve driver with every expectation being he will replace Jack Doohan at some point during the F1 2025 season.

Storia

Colapinto is an experienced racer for his young age, having accumulated plenty on the F1 ladder and in the world of endurance racing, with a Spanish F4 title and a P7 in the Le Mans LMP2 class among his highlights.

And his work which followed in Formula 3 attracted the attention of Williams, Colapinto finishing P9 in the 2022 standings with Van Amersfoort and the following year - now a proud member of the Williams Driver Academy - improved to P4 with MP Motorsport, matching his tally of two race wins from the year prior.

Graduating to Formula 2 and taking his first win in the 2024 Imola sprint race, Colapinto impressed Williams to the point of entrusting him as Sargeant's replacement after a rare move in Formula 1 to drop a driver mid-season.

Information on Colapinto's net worth is hard to come by, though Williams team boss James Vowles has hinted that it is pretty low, telling Sky F1: "Throughout his career, he's been on a shoestring budget without any money. He hasn't got anything to his name."

However, a look at Colapinto's website shows an array of endorsements, the Argentine enjoying partnerships with Williams Racing, Globant, YPF, Quilmes, Bigbox, GMC Securities, Ripio, Flybondi, Celulosa Argentina, Green Armor, Cockpit Simuladores, PAP, Bullet Sports Management, Mercado Libre, Scalpers, Motorola and Argentine DJ Bizarrap. So a few!

Information on Colapinto's family life has remained strictly private to this point.