The sense of national pride that runs through motor racing sometimes produces some fascinating storylines.
With only 20 cars on the Formula 1 grid, there are often countries with an extreme passion for motorsport that have to look beyond those races to identify their best drivers.
Drive to Survive has also played its part in creating a huge amount of additional interest in what goes on during Formula 1 race weekends and the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix is no different.
Formula 2 has returned for the first time since Melbourne and Formula 3 is back for its third race weekend of the season.
F3 saw Red Bull junior driver Oliver Goethe win the Sprint Race and nearly complete the double in the Feature Race before rookie Sami Meguetounif earned his first victory this season.
However, in the F2 Sprint Race, Franco Colapinto became the first Argentinian driver to win a race at this level and footballing icon Sergio Aguero loved what he saw at Imola.
Colapinto is a Williams junior driver and races for MP Motorsport alongside former Red Bull academy prospect Dennis Hauger.
After two successful seasons at F3 level with the Dutch team, he’s starting to make an impact in this series.
READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Williams Racing from team principal to Mercedes relationship
Sergio Aguero impressed with Williams junior Franco Colapinto at Imola
Reaching Formula 1 is becoming a more and more challenging task with each passing season considering how few available seats there are.
Every driver at the end of the 2023 campaign was retained for this year, although plenty of change is expected ahead of 2025.
Franco Colapinto was in the city of Pilar which is a province of the capital city of Buenos Aires.
He won the Argentine Karting Championship in 2016 before moving to Europe as many young racers do, competing and winning the F4 Spanish Championship.
Colapinto finished third in the 2020 Formula Renault Eurocup series which started his relationship with MP Motorsport before earning his spot on the F3 grid in 2022.
Argentina has a proud history of incredible racing drivers and it speaks volumes that Aguero is keeping an eye on what Colapinto is doing at Imola.
Although opportunities to reach F1 are few and far between, the 20-year-old might be one of the best-placed youngsters out there to make the step up sooner rather than later.
Franco Colapinto could benefit from Logan Sargeant’s troubles at Williams
Posting on X, formerly Twitter, Aguero said: “Felicitaciones crack @FranColapinto” after he took the chequered flag in Imola which roughly translates to “Congratulations star.”
He was chasing down Estonian star Paul Aron for most of the race and made an incredible move going into the first chicane in the final laps to take the victory.
At the moment, Colapinto isn’t being spoken about as a potential option for the Williams F1 team but maybe he should be.
Logan Sargeant’s future couldn’t be any more uncertain at the moment and qualifying last for Sunday’s race hasn’t done him any favours.
He’s being linked with a mid-season seat swap with Mercedes junior Kimi Antonelli appearing to be the leading candidate to replace him.
However, Colapinto would be a cheaper option for Williams and available immediately as he’s already above the required age limit, unlike Antonelli.
There’s also a chance that Mercedes will want Antonelli to replace Lewis Hamilton for 2025, meaning he would only be at Williams for a handful of races before leaving again.
Team principal James Vowles is unlikely to be happy with that solution and so Colapinto’s performance at Imola – and the praise from Aguero – might have caught his eye.
Colapinto put in another strong performance in the Feature Race, starting the race in 9, but came home in 5 and has a real shout of being the driver of the weekend.
If he can continue at this level, then all of a sudden Williams have another driver they could consider for the future.
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