Champion's heart: why Colapinto cried after the Italian F1 Grand Prix | OneFootball

Franco Colapinto breathes motorsport. He lives for and because of this sport he loves madly. He is a student of the discipline, ever since those days when he was a child and would go to the library at the school he attended in Pilar to look for books about Juan Manuel Fangio. His heart beats flat out every time he is behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car. It is a feeling. He feels racing so deeply that this Sunday he knew he had more in him, and that is why he was in tears at the end of the Italian Grand Prix, where he delivered a tremendous race that goes beyond his return to the points.

At the Monza National Autodrome, the 23-year-old Argentine driver had the eight aerodynamic updates on his Alpine A526. His single-seater took a leap in quality and that allowed the Buenos Aires native to fight further up the field. He matched his best qualifying result by finishing eighth, something he had achieved in Miami this year.

Yesterday he started seventh because of Kimi Antonelli’s penalty for changing his engine in the Mercedes, and he had another frenetic start. He soon moved up to third after overtaking none other than Max Verstappen (Red Bull). He battled with the four-time world champion, and then came his spin, which happened while fighting at the front and not at the back.

The first thing to highlight is the Pilar native’s quick reaction. He turned the page and, despite rejoining in 16th, recovered, fought, and moved forward on pure talent to make overtakes. He also showed intelligence in managing his energy, as happened in the double pass within just a few meters on Ollie Bearman (Haas) and Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi).

If you add the four places he gained at the start and the seven he made up after recovering from his spin, he gained eleven positions over the course of the race. It is true that, after the start, Lewis Hamilton got tangled up with his Ferrari teammate, Charles Leclerc, and that Leclerc ended up in the barriers. But that is part of motorsport. You capitalize on others’ problems, period. There is no need to downplay what Colapinto is doing.

Franco’s show of character and mental strength to move forward with a car that suffered floor damage from his spin show that he has a champion’s heart. He goes for everything until the checkered flag falls, which is when races end; Fangio himself always used to say that. He finished ninth and scored two points. He has scored in half of the Grands Prix contested in 2026. Although that was not the most important thing: above all was how he responded to adversity, and his fighting spirit inspires the thousands of kids racing karts in Argentina. This Sunday Franco sent the message that you must never give up.

But Colapinto lives motorsport intensely, and his potential to fight further up the field led to his frustration. First he was comforted by his engineer, Stuart Barlow, who acknowledged his great performance. Then the feeling and self-criticism from the Buenos Aires native continued and, upon reaching the mixed zone, he broke down while speaking with ESPN. “A tough race. Very frustrating. I had a great opportunity and I didn’t take it. Sad about that. A great race and a serious mistake,” and at that point his voice broke, as if underlining what he felt. “I wasted a great opportunity for myself and for the team. Learn from this,” he said, visibly emotional. In fact, the voice of Alpine press chief Sam Mallinson can be heard asking for a moment so Franco could continue speaking.

Later it was Alpine’s executive advisor and strongman himself, Flavio Briatore, who acknowledged Colapinto’s work: “Both drivers have done a fantastic job over the weekend. It was great that Pierre could enjoy his moment with the team yesterday, and Franco drove a brilliant race to come back and score valuable points for the team.”

Those tears go beyond the pain of falling out of the fight for the lead, although it is worth clarifying that his teammate, Pierre Gasly, took pole position, led the opening meters, but then could not hold back the pace of superior cars like the Mercedes, McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull. Even so, Franco felt he had more in him.

Cry, Franco. Let out your anger. Because those who truly feel motorsport get emotional knowing they could have done more. Like on January 13, 1980, when Carlos Alberto Reutemann broke down in tears after retiring because of the overheating Cosworth engine in his Williams at the Oscar and Juan Gálvez City of Buenos Aires Autodrome. Lole knew it was one of his last chances to win in front of his people.

His tears are also those of the boy whose family’s effort to get him racing in Europe included the sale of a house by his father, Aníbal, to fund his Spanish Formula 4 season, and Franco repaid him with the title. His father accompanied him this weekend at Monza and perhaps Franco wanted to give him his best result in F1. Both know everything they went through to get here, and the emotional embrace on November 28, 2023, the day Franco first got into an F1 car as part of the Rookie Test in Abu Dhabi, showed that. “I couldn’t miss it, I had to be in Abu Dhabi,” Colapinto’s father once told Infobae.

The same tears he showed the whole world live and direct when he retired from one of the Formula 2 races in 2024, when a spin left him with nothing. He got out of his Dallara and Colapinto cried. He did not care about the cameras. His pain went even deeper at a time when he still did not have the budget secured to complete the season in the category that feeds into F1. Times when everything was on the line for him in order to make the big leap.

That chance came thanks to James Vowles, the head of Williams, who would even have liked to promote him directly as a permanent full-time driver, but the interests of Dorilton Capital, the investment group that owns the British team, reportedly imposed the name of Carlos Sainz because they wanted an experienced driver. But once again Franco delivered and repaid Uncle James’s trust by scoring four points in his second race in the top category, and on an unfamiliar circuit such as the demanding Baku street track in Azerbaijan.

This Sunday there was no pressure. He had already been announced as a full-time driver for 2027 at Alpine. But when an athlete loves what he does so much, the emotion born of the helplessness of wanting to give more can bring tears, as happened with Lionel Messi in the final of the 2024 Copa América in the United States.

Colapinto shows himself exactly as he is: authentic, genuine, and his essence does not change even though he is now in the big circus. He is still the same kid who was amazed to see the Lightning McQueen replica in the Monza pit boxes and went over to it, remembering those days when he was very little and enjoyed the children’s movie.

Today there are guarantees, security, peace of mind, and a picture that points to at least 15 years of Colapinto in F1, because he earned that place. However, the tears are also those of that 14-year-old boy who lived alone in a karting factory and 10,000 kilometers away from his family. Franco sacrificed everything for his dream. He achieved it and he deserves it.

This Sunday he felt frustration because he believed he could fight further up the field. But Franco Colapinto can rest easy knowing this is only a beginning and that it confirms what he can do with a competitive car. Because the greats are defined by how they get back up and react. They come back better, and that is what he showed this Sunday at Monza. The Argentine has a champion’s heart, and in his country there are 47 million fans behind him.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.