Franco Colapinto: Who is F1's NEWEST Driver...

hello and welcome back to my channel I hope you're doing very well today we are talking about a very exciting Topic in the world of Formula 1 and that is Franco kapino now the Argentine driver has very recently been announced that he will be stepping up to Williams F1 team for the remainder of the 2024 season to replace Logan Sergeant he has nine races to prove himself and show what he can do in that car and maximize points for the team Franco becomes the 49th driver for William racing and the first Argentine driver on the Formula 1 Grid in 23 years so today I thought we would talk about his career so far how he got into racing carting single seaters and what his career could look like in the future let's dive in Franco was born in Buenos Aries in Argentina on the 27th of May 2003 making him currently the youngest driver on the formula W Grid at only 21 years old he began carting at just 9 years old and very quickly Rose to the top of the Argentine carting circuit he won national titles in 2016 and 2018 and in the same year he also competed in the Youth Olympic Games winning gold in carting at just 15 years old and it was at that point that he made the step up to single seaters it was in the November of 2018 that Franco moved over to Europe to begin his single seater racing Journey he actually entered the final round of the FIA Spanish Formula 4 season and that was only a month after his victory at the Youth Olympic Games the final race weekend of the Spanish Formula 4 is made up of four races and in Franco's final two races he managed to place first and second which if you ask me for a first time in single seaters is pretty impressive he was then scouted by Fernando Alonzo's team fa racing by drivex who then signed him up for the following year for the Spanish Formula 4 season and that Following season for Franco was pretty remarkable he achieved 11 wins 13 podiums and 10 poll positions being crowned the 2019 Spanish Formula 4 Champion following this Franco started his 2020 season with another single seater title he took the rookie Championship win in the new zealand-based castol Toyota Racing Series adding another win pole position and eight further Podium finishes to his belt Franco then returned to Europe to compete in the formula Renault Euro Cup with MP Motorsport over the summer and managed to gain two race wins nine podiums and finished third in the championship as the highest ranked rookie then in 2021 Franco raced in the formula Regional European championship by Alpine managing to secure two grand slams further Victory and a Podium finish he also dipped his toe in some endurance racing in 2021 competing in the European lemon series sharing an lmp2 car with teammates Roman renov and The One and Only Nick defreze managing to clinch one Victory one pole and one podum ium he also raced in the Asian leemon series managing to achieve three podiums in just four races with the same teammates as in the Elms series he actually competed in the 24 hours of leemon the iconic race at just 17 years old and he came seventh in class for the 2022 season Franco made his FIA Formula 3 debut with Van amamos racing he then went on to gain pole position in his first ever Formula 3 qualifying session and went on to win two races and gained five podiums in his rookie year the results off the back of his rookie year in Formula 3 obviously left a lasting impression as in the January of 2023 it was announced that he had signed for the Williams driver Academy at the start of his second year in F3 his season best highlights of 2023 were two Sprint race wins one at silverston and one at Monza where he finished fourth place overall in the Formula 3 standings that year the announcement of Jan der's departure from MP Motorsport in Formula 2 meant that there was a place on the grid and that is where Franco made his formula 2 debut at the last round of the Formula 2 season in Abu Dhabi the end of last year he also participated in the 2023 postseason Formula 1 test in Abu Dhabi where he spent a little bit of time in the Formula 1 car after all of the other single seater championships had come to a close this year 2024 has been Franco's rookie year in Formula 2 gaining his Maiden win at the Sprint race in similar some season highlights are his second place finishes in both the Barcelona and Austrian feature races and currently he sits sixth in the championship although that won't matter anymore as he is stepping up to Formula 1 as of this weekend in Monza there have been a lot of question marks around Franco's promotion to Formula 1 a lot of thoughts that this may be a premature move for him given that his most recent and only experience in a Formula 1 car in an official session was just over a month ago at the British Grand Prix in silverston where he ran in free practice one interesting thing about Franco Kino's career so far is his overall lack of crashes and retirements so in Formula 2 and three combined he has only had four race ending crashes only one of those has been in Formula 2 and it was only a small wall tap in Saudi Arabia which unfort as mentioned we only have nine races remaining so this is a really short window for Franco to demonstrate his capabilities behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car hopefully for both his and the team sake here is successful but as we know they don't have a seat to offer him for 2025 as that is being taken by Carlos SS so whether Franco does an incredible job it leaves us with a question Mark as to whether we will see him on the grid next year although options are becoming Slimmer and Slimmer as decisions are being made and contracts are being signed although it does hopefully open doors for him in other series if he is interested although I imagine it will probably end as him being a reserve driver let me know your thoughts in the comments I would love to know whether you think he's going to do well or whether you think Williams have made the right decision trusting him with this Formula 1 seat I hope you all enjoyed the video and I will speak to you all very soon