On August 27th in Globant’s offices in Puerto Madero were being made a millionaire transference in order to make the company (and startup Argentinian) the partner official of William’s Formula One Team and in consequences to make the Argentinian pilot Franco Colapinto the new pilot of the team, substituting the injured the former pilot Logan Sargent in the rest of 2024’s season. Colapinto who was doing since 2013 a whole career in races, even making it through some minors Formula’s categories: such the Formula 4 in Spain, and then the Formula 3 and 2 respectively, until he was called in the past August to compete in the max category of the sport at the world.
In an environment of so low renovation of competitors, in which only twenty people on the planet can access, Colapinto was bringing the Argentina’s representation in Formula 1 since the last time in 2001 with Reutemann. This brought up the feeling of Argentina being present again in the sport that already has seen Juan Manuel Fangio became one of non-questionable legend: the feeling of returning to a sport that motivates a great part of the country and represents a tournament such important as the FIFA World Cup and Olympics Games. The proud that one of those people is Argentinian.
Franco Colapinto finds himself as a celebrity “from the night to the morning” in the lives of the people. Representing a young spirit and a promise. With all his career ahead and a paper ready to impress story in it. He begins his trajectory with Williams, a Formula One Team that has known how to make cars world champions. In the current days (with humor) it just makes tractors on the formula one tracks, thing that takes all the pressure to the pilot and makes that anything that can be done become in something to celebrate for. An example of that is the last Baku GP, where Colapinto gets the 8th position and got some point, something that doesn’t happen to any Argentinian since 1982. Which makes a fever for Colapinto spread for all the country.
The rest races have been to Colapinto a bunch of adventures both of extern and intern. The current legends as Halminton and Verstappen has praised him because of his ways of drive and his courage in the races in the circuits. Step by step Colapinto grows something fundamental for Formula One’s pilots to conserve them places: the advertising and fame. Is that apart of be needing talent and determinism, it can’t be denied that a pilot with a strong charisma doesn’t motivate to Formula One Teams to contract them. Recently there was this joke about Sergio Perez and the advertising that keeps him on his seat on Red Bull’s car: something that Colapinto already has, and that’s because he has realistic possibilities of being a replace of Perez next year. Seems that people still don’t realize o measure the scenario of don’t seeing him in the 2025 season and that the national motivation for the automobilism disappear.
The Colapinto’s concept also has brought the perfect place to the show and the speculations in all its possible ways. From seeing him with “La China” Suarez in Madrid and the accidents he suffered in the last Gran Prix, feedback and make grow the presence of Colapinto in the life of the Argentinians. Without doubt Colapinto is transformed in a sportive figure out of the football like used to be Del Potro and Ginobili some years ago and with that he brings back the motivation for a whole country and its role in the international sports.
The Formula 1 represents more than twenty pilots in the tracks on the world, represents the high-level coordination and the capacity of the teams of having the most advanced and fastest cars in the world, being abled to be fixed in just a couple of hours. Also, there’s the big government’s investing on it to show to the world and there are all the brands who puts themselves on the advertising. It’s speculated that Globant has paid around 25 million of dollars to put Colapinto on his seat. By other side, Formula 1becomes by the time in the return of a better past in Argentina: las last time there was a Gran Prix in Argentina was in 1998 in the iconic Menem’s decade. Since the possibility of a repeat of that has become an illusion for the last governments: CFK in 2012, who was president at the time, announced the return of Formula 1 in Argentina for the next three years in some circuit in Mar del Plata, the result: it didn´t have the necessary width. For Maurico Macri it was a “priority in his administration” but nothing happened. For the minister Lammens in Alberto Fernandez’s government it was a fact the return, but it was also a lied. Now it's the turn of Milei to flirt with the returning and it seems to be interesting to call to private investment and brings back de Formula One in 2027.
Beyond of Colapinto’s consequences, it begins to appeared his name in others Formula One Teams that could allow him to stay for the championship another year. Which would suppose his consolidated career in the whole competence and the first year of several in all the season, who knows, maybe he wins sometimes one Gran Prix, and the he could reach the highest honor such as Fangio did. The feeling that Colapinto in the next three races isn´t playing the podium, he’s playing his life in Formula One.