Franco Colapinto Opens Up About the Early Stages of His Racing Career

Argentine Formula 1 driver, Franco Colapinto, recently sat down with F1 Beyond the Grid and spoke about the early stages of his career and what led him to his seat with Alpine F1 Team.

(Image credit to kymillman)

The tell-all interview covered Franco's move from his hometown in Argentina to Europe, where he moved alone at the age of 14, so he could take up opportunities to race across the continent and expand his career. When asked about this move, Franco said, “I was only 13 or 14 at the start. It was tricky for me. I think that the tricky moment is when it does go well. When it goes well, it’s very easy to enjoy and to be like you know very happy and to be enjoying the moment, but when it doesn’t go well, and you’re alone, and whenever everyone you know we used to go for holidays.”

When asked what he would do when he was alone and not racing, he replied, “I would go to the shopping mall close by. So I would just go and get some shopping stuff, I would cook at that moment, was peak of cooking actually.” 

He speaks about the fact that he was completely alone on weekends, living in a factory where he was surrounded by mechanics during the week, but on weekends, he had no one, not even a manager to watch out for him. 

The interview goes on to cover his more recent career, covering when he took over from Logan Sargeant mid-season last year at Williams, his signing at Alpine as a test and reserve driver and finally being offered a racing seat and taking over from Aussie rookie, Jack Doohan. It being said that Favio Britatori, Alpine's current team principal, was the major reason for the driver switch only 5 races into the season.

It is currently unknown what Franco will do next year, as his contract with Alpine only covers this season. But that doesn’t mean we won’t be seeing Franco racing next year - The F1 grid is still largely undecided for 2026, so there is a chance we could see him signing with a different team if he can't get another Alpine contract.

Article written by Isa Charlton