Franco makes it 24…..
Argentina’s Franco Colapinto will step aboard an F1 Williams for first practice tonight at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, and in doing so will become the 24th graduate of the Castrol backed Toyota single seater championship in New Zealand to step aboard an F1 car during a race weekend or official test.
Colapinto enjoyed an excellent 2020 season – the first with the Toyota FT60 car. He took an impressive win at Hampton Downs for Kiwi Motorsport and seven other podiums which put him in third place in the championship behind Igor Fraga and Liam Lawson – and ahead of current F1 racer Yuki Tsunoda.
He was also Rookie of the Year after his fine season, pointing the way to a bright future in the sport.
The 21-year-old is enjoying a strong rookie season in the F2 championship having won one race and scored two podiums in the last four rounds to sit fifth in the standings ahead of Silverstone. He will drive the Williams car usually piloted by Logan Sergeant
Tsunoda, race winner Lando Norris and Guanyu Zhou are graduates from the New Zealand championship currently competing in F1.
