Franco Colapinto rounded up a good weekend in his Formula 3 debut

Positive balance for Franco Colapinto in his Formula 3 debut at the Sakhir International Autodrome within the framework of the Formula 1 Grand Prix. The Argentinian finished third on the track in the second race he led halfway, but a loss of pace prevented him from staying ahead. It should be remembered that his team, the Van Amersfoort Racing (VAR), is also premiering in the category. The young man from Pilar on Friday took pole positions and this Sunday started ahead.

Colapinto generated great enthusiasm in the Argentine fans because it is in the second division before F1 and shows that he has talent and character to face more experienced drivers and teams in F3. Nevertheless, the Buenos Aires was competitive from the start this weekend and surprised everyone by scoring the best record in the standings held on Friday.

The speciality has two races and on Saturday, in which the top 12 places of the standings are reversed, he had a good job until in the fourth lap he had a touch with Czech Roman Staněk (Trident) and had to enter the pits to change the horn. He returned to the track and was able to finish 25th in the race won by Frenchman Isack Hadjar (Hitech Grand Prix).

On Sunday Colapinto started from pole positions (best starting place) and led until the middle of the race when his car started to lose pace due to the loss of grip on the track due to tire wear. He was first surpassed by Frenchman Victor Martins (ART Grand Prix) and then by Monegasque Arthur Leclerc (Prema), Charles' younger brother.

While Colapinto was able to finish third on the track and could have risen to the podium, he then received a five-second penalty for exceeding the limits of the circuit and his final position was fifth place.

Franco was able to score 10 points and is seventh in the championship led by Martins, but the nine-date season is just beginning and the Argentine will have a chance of revenge. If we consider the absolute premiere of the driver and team, the thumbs up describes the work at the start held in Bahrain. The next date will be April 21-23 in Imola, Italy.

After being an Argentine karting champion, Colapinto arrived in Europe in 2019 and at the age of 16 he was champion of Spanish Formula 4 with Fernando Alonso's team. After shining at the Toyota Racing Series in New Zealand in February 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic stopped activity, but when it resumed it showed its good performance: it was third in the championship in the European Formula Renault in 2020, with two victories included, and in 2021 it premiered in the Sport Prototipos and with the squad G-Drive Racing competed in the European Endurance competition and in its first time at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, it was seventh in its class (LMP2).

In the last two months of 2021, the agreement with the VAR team was closed and apart from F3, Franco will also remain in the LMP2 and in the Regional Formula. The Dutch squad is competing in F3 against stronger budget teams with decades of experience such as ART, Trident, Prema (a Ferrari junior team) and Carlin.

The presence of Colapinto in the F1 environment produced a lot of expectation among Argentine fans who dream of having a driver in the Máxima again. The last one was Gastón Mazzacane in 2001.

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