The driver from Buenos Aires, a member of the Williams Academy, scored points in the two races in which he competed: on Saturday he missed the victory and on Sunday he entered the Top Ten.
And Franco Colapinto He imagined a good letter of introduction to his new MP Motorsport team at the start of the 2023 season of the Formula 3 surely you will agree: scored in both races this weekend at the Bahrain Grand Prix complex. For everything, there are always nuances, but the Buenos Aires native sealed the first date knowing that he can be excited about a car that, last year, was fourth in the manufacturers’ table.
The best of Colapinto, in light of the results, was the sprint race on Saturday. There, the 19-year-old from Buenos Aires dominated for a good part of the competition, but had to settle for second place on the Sakhir circuit. He took off in the pole position (by reverse game system) and commanded the classification during the first 13 of the 19 total laps of the competition.
The native of the city of Pilar was later surpassed by the Spanish Jose Maria Martí (Campos Racing), who ended up claiming the victory. The third place was held by the Brazilian Gaius Collet (Van Amersfoort), while the Swede of Bosnian origin Dino Beganovic (Prema Racing) finished in fourth place.
For the main competition on Sunday, 22 laps away, Colapinto had to start from twelfth position, with Gabriele Mini (Hitech GP) leading the grid.
And the Italian seemed on track to victory, but a penalty and a safety car ruined his chances for Gabriel Bortoleto to inherit victory on the first round of the season.
Colapinto had a hard time finding the rhythm, in fact he fell to 15th, but the end of the race came with a gift: although he finished eleventh on the track, a five-second penalty for Paul Aron allowed him to enter the Top Ten and score a point for the drivers’ championship.
F3 will return in Melbourne, Australia from March 31 to April 2.
