Franco Colapinto is living in such a dreamworld that even his hero is gunning for him to stay in Formula 1.
The Argentine, who’s only five races into his F1 career, sat by in awe as Lewis Hamilton pitched for him to stay on the grid in 2025.
Colapinto was called upon in August when Williams decided to end their collaboration with Logan Sargeant after an underwhelming two-and-a-half-years in the sport.
Despite a completely unremarkable junior career, the decision to promote Colapinto has proved to be genius, with the 21-year-old flying out of the blocks despite no practice time in the world’s fastest cars.
Colapinto has been level pegging with his vastly more experienced teammate Alex Albon, and with two point-scoring finishes, it’s understandable that Williams’ team principal James Vowles is scrambling to find him a spot on the 2025 grid.
Now Vowles has been joined by his former Mercedes colleague Hamilton, who pitched for Colapinto while sitting next to him in a press conference at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
“I think he’s done an incredible job,” Hamilton began. “To be called upon at the last minute and be thrown into the deep end in this sport.
“The majority of us, if we’re lucky enough, get a bit of a run up. For example, young Kimi [Antonelli, 2025 Mercedes driver] has had a lot of test days before his first race.
“I think he’ll have over 20 test days or something in the car which is unprecedented. For this guy here, he didn’t have that and just jumped straight in and did a fantastic job in the races.
“It’s always great to see young people and talented individuals get the opportunity to come through and shine and I think he did that in the first race, we had a great little battle and it was super safe, it was hard but fair and I think he’s earned his right to be here.”
Despite impressing the entire sport, Colapinto won’t race with Williams next season as the British team have already signed four-time race-winner Carlos Sainz to partner Albon.
They’re one of eight teams to have drivers contracted for 2025, with VCARB and Kick Sauber the only teams with openings.
VCARB’s parent team Red Bull are still deciding who will fill their four cockpits next season, while at Sauber, Hamilton’s former teammate and good friend Valtteri Bottas is battling to partner Nico Hulkenburg next season.
However, it appears that Hamilton would be happy for Bottas to make way.
The seven-time world champion added: “There’s still a seat available and he’s saying it’s not for him to decide, but my advice would be to make sure that he’s… I’ll be pushing on my side to make sure he’s doing absolutely everything.
“At the end of the day he’s just got to focus on doing his job every weekend and he’s got good people behind him who are doing the right job to make sure that he’s here to race next year.”
Hamilton’s comments will have left Colapinto pinching himself, as the Argentine was already left stunned after battling one of his heroes back in Italy.
Posting a picture on Instagram of the Brit congratulating after his first Grand Prix, he wrote: “My best moment of the day.. How crazy and what a dream come true to shake hands with Lewis Hamilton after a race together wow.”
Hamilton replied: “Great drive, well done” – and he’s only been impressed ever since.
