The stars were out at the Circuit of the Americas, but it was Franco Colapinto who stole the show and made Argentinian fans go wild. After finishing 17th in the U.S. Grand Prix, the 22-year-old once again got everyone excited even if the leaderboard didn’t quite reflect it.
In a moment charged with emotion, Colapinto defied Alpine’s team orders to overtake his teammate, Pierre Gasly, in the final laps, a move that dropped the Frenchman to 19th behind Gabriel Bortoleto of Sauber. But that wasn’t the only highlight.
After speaking to the press post-race, Colapinto made a beeline for the pit lane fence. With hundreds of Argentine voices behind him, he climbed up the fencing to salute his fans, a scene reminiscent of his breakout moment with Williams in Austin just one year ago.
The moment was captured and shared on Instagram by his manager, María Catarineu, who gave followers a front-row look at the euphoria that followed.
As Colapinto waved and signed autographs, the soundtrack was unmistakably Argentinian, as fans chanted."Vení, vení, canta conmigo, que un amigo vas a encontrar... que de la mano de Colapinto, todos la vuelta vamos a dar."
This wasn’t the first time the driver took over COTA. In 2024, he scored points for the second time in his F1 career after finishing 10th for Williams. That day, fans broke through security barriers to get closer to their idol, even scaling the fences after the race.
Colapinto began 15th but lost two positions off the line, successfully overtaking Esteban Ocon (Haas) at Turn 12 before coming under pressure from Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), who eventually got past.
From there, the tires on Colapinto’s Alpine A525 began to degrade quickly, causing a steady decline in pace. Alex Albon (Williams) slipped by, and Colapinto found himself in the lower ranks.
Colapinto is set to race again at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez on Sunday, October 26, and the excitement just gets bigger and bigger for fans of the sportsman.