New kids on the block: The story of Franco Colapinto’s 2022 season so far

18 August 2022

Arriving at the Formula 3 paddock for the first time is a lot like being the new kid at school – meeting lots of new people, catching up on what you’ve missed and getting stuck into your lessons. For Franco Colapinto, teaming up with newcomers Van Amersfoort Racing meant that there’d be plenty to learn and not a lot of time to master it.

Nevertheless, Colapinto’s become one of the surprise star pupils of the season, getting out of the gate strongly and putting in a rookie performance that has garnered him much praise and caught plenty of people’s attention.

As the summer break winds down, we examine his overall performance and Colapinto gives his thoughts on how his first campaign in the third tier has progressed and what areas he needs to address for the final six races and beyond.

THE STATS

Staking his claim to be the leading black and orange VAR car in 2022, Colapinto has put a substantial 40-point gap between himself and his teammates. Although he has bobbed in and out of the top 10 across the first six rounds, he’s never been too far behind the pack and a more consistent run of results in the last two weekends in Spielberg and Budapest have seen him rewarded with ninth in the Drivers’ Championship.

With a tally of 51 points so far, it’s been during the Sprint Races where the Argentinian has shone brightest. Claiming his maiden victory with a decisive last lap overtake in the Imola Sprint Race, he followed the win up with podiums in Spielberg and Budapest.

COLAPINTO’S SEASON SO FAR

“I would rate our season so far as a six or seven out of 10. Of course, it was not perfect, and it was very difficult to think it was going to be like that at the beginning of the year as a new team and as a new driver as myself, but I think it was a pretty decent first season for me and the team.

“We did some good things. We had some really good moments and we had some others where we struggled quite a lot, some difficult circumstances that we didn't quite manage very well. I think that the other teams with much more experience sometimes did a better job there where you need that little bit of extra experience to know where to go and which direction to take.”

Getting up to speed with his F3 car right away, Colapinto gave himself and VAR their dream debut in Sakhir, looking competitive in Practice before going on to secure his maiden pole position. Although his Sprint Race ended early due to a collision during the opening laps, there was no doubt he had the pace during the Feature Race. Comfortably in front until Lap 15, it was the more experienced Victor Martins and Arthur Leclerc who got the better of him. A podium would have been on the cards if not for a five-second time penalty for exceeding track limits, which demoted him to fifth.

A wet Qualifying in Imola did not seem to gel well with the VAR car. Qualifying in 12th, the 19-year-old found himself on reverse grid pole for the Sprint Race and despite losing the lead to Caio Collet, he nipped at his heels for most of the 20-lap race, biding his time for the perfect opportunity to strike. A late Safety Car appearance left the door wide open for Colapinto to pounce, diving into the lead during a dramatic two-lap dash to the chequered flag and claiming his first victory in the Championship.

Failing to crack into the top 12 during Qualifying in Barcelona was always going to leave the rookie with an additional challenge to make it into the points. Whilst his Sprint Race was cut short due to his engine cover breaking off mid-race, he did manage to execute a late charge to snatch eighth in the Feature Race. Another challenging weekend in Silverstone went unrewarded and he left the British circuit having only scored four points in the past five races.

A more positive weekend proved to be on the cards in Spielberg. Qualifying in P9 promoted him to a slot on the second row for the reverse grid Sprint Race and Colapinto held firm to execute a clean race and make a return to the podium in third. For the first time in his rookie campaign, he brought home back-to-back points finishes with sixth in the Feature Race, staying well out of trouble in the wet conditions.

The Hungaroring has shown itself to be a tricky track for drivers to master, although Colapinto appeared to have no such problem on his debut in Budapest. In a reversal from Imola, he was the most experienced driver on the Sprint Race front row and didn’t hesitate to use the wet conditions and slipstream to his advantage to breeze up into the lead. Putting up an impressive defence against Collet, a small error from the VAR driver saw him lose out and eventually he had to settle for second.

STRENGHTS AND THINGS TO IMPROVE

“I think the strongest aspect so far has been that as a team, we’ve been able to find a pretty good base for the car setup. That is really important in F3 as you don't have any time to test anything or time to change something in the setup so it's very important how you arrive at the races. If the car has the pace straightaway, it's probably going to be a decent weekend. I think that was a good thing that we found during the testing and that we improved. It was one of the strongest aspects of the season because it was what let us in the end fight for points, podiums, pole positions because that base car was quite strong overall and didn't really demand many changes.

“I would say the weakest aspect was in the wet conditions. We have been quite weak there. We struggled a lot during the year so far with the wet, where you have to find that sweet spot in the in the setup. There are many little bits that play a pretty big role in the wet and we didn't quite find that bit that we were missing during all the year and during the wet races. Unfortunately, we had quite a lot of them, so we are keeping working on it, we are trying to understand the car a little bit more in that situation. We have quite a lot of information to work out why we're getting some balance issues that were quite weird in some of the races, and to try to find solutions to the problems that we were having in the wet.

“I learnt that consistency is key and that every point counts, even more than in any other Championship in the world. Also, how important the preparation is because of the short amount of time that we have for testing and Free Practice. You have to put a lot of emphasis on the couple of days that you are with the team in the workshop and get a clear picture of what you are going to do during the weekend, it's such a short amount of time before Qualifying and Qualifying is so important in F3 – if you have a good Qualifying, you’ll probably have a good weekend.”

Irrespective of his rookie status, Colapinto’s ability to immediately get on the pace from Practice has been one of his greatest strengths and provided a much-needed baseline for VAR, who understandably in their first F3 season, lack the prior knowledge and experience their rivals have around the various circuits. Excluding Silverstone, he’s qualified no lower than P13 and breaking into the top 12 has enabled him to make the most of his speed during the Sprint Races.

However, there are two core weaknesses that have held him and the team back from pushing further up the order – consistency and the weather. Over half of his points have been scored on Saturdays and where he’s flourished in the shorter races, his Sunday exploits haven’t materalised into big points hauls. Wet weather conditions have frequently thrown a curveball the drivers’ way this season, with over a third of the races getting underway on the blue-walled Pirelli compounds and it seems as though the drier conditions have better suited Colapinto’s driving, as the rain also widens the disadvantage his newcomer team has over the rest of the field.

FINAL STAGE - THE SEASON-ENDING TRIPLE HEADER

“I’m quite looking forward to the last three rounds, looking forward to seeing whether all that we are learning and capitalising on is going to work. I think it will be a good step in terms of getting ready for next season as well. But my main goal is scoring points in the six races left, to score at least a few points in all of the races during the next three rounds and bring back that consistency that we've been missing in some of the races. It would be a good start as well with looking forward to 2023 and of course looking forward to the future.”

As Colapinto said, consistency must be the name of the game heading to Spa-Francorchamps, Zandvoort and Monza. Although the big points aren’t scored on Fridays and all three circuits have an abundance of overtaking opportunities, cracking into the top eight in Qualifying should be his target in order to maximise his chances of adding to his tally across both races. He’s excelled in the Sprint Races so far, but extracting his full potential during the Feature Races has to be his priority if he hopes to close up on top six in the standings.

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