Franco Colapinto has just shared a special moment with a group of fans who traveled from Argentina to Brazil to support him. The fans had restored a 1977 Renault 6 and decorated it with Alpine’s signature blue, pink and white colors, along with Colapinto’s racing number 43. Their remarkable journey from Esperanza, Santa Fe, to Brazil covered more than 2,000 kilometers.
The three fans, Hernán Bonvín, Claudio Goddio and Pablo Quaino, had set out on the adventure with the dream of meeting their Formula 1 hero. After spotting the uniquely decorated car, Colapinto greeted the group with a smile and took a closer look at their creation.
Advertisement
What followed was an unforgettable surprise as the Alpine driver climbed behind the wheel and took the Renault 6 for a drive through the streets of São Paulo.
Videos of the encounter quickly spread across social media, capturing Colapinto enjoying the experience while the excited fans cheered from inside the vehicle.
The Argentine even joked about the car’s radio system, asking whether it worked as he drove, prompting laughter from his passengers. The light-hearted interaction offered a memorable glimpse of the connection between the young driver and his supporters.
Seeing Colapinto drive the car they had worked months on to get going made it all worth their while. The car, which they named ‘Renoleta ‘, became an eye-catching wonder wherever it went. It became an even more significant deal for the Argentine driver during the Brazilian GP weekend, as it highlighted the enthusiasm of South American F1 supporters.
Advertisement
Colapinto has rapidly become one of the most well-known young faces in Argentine motorsport, and his arrival in F1 has certainly rekindled the passion for the sport in Argentina. A country with a very strong motorsport tradition, his presence on the grid has been a real boost. His performances, as well as his personability, have really helped him to connect with fans of all ages.
The 23-year-old’s rising profile is also a reflection of the renewed interest in F1 amongst the Argentine fans, who have taken him as an ambassador for their country in the world of motorsport.
Advertisement
It’s not just on the track that he’s been embraced, with a huge amount of social media interaction and genuine passion for him at the race meetings. He’s brought the country a lot of international attention.
As he continues to build his career in F1, Colapinto has become a figure of interest for the Argentinian fanbase who are keen to see one of their own make his mark at the top of the sport. His relationship with the fans has become a key part of his public persona, and that in itself is a huge part of the appeal. It’s a journey that the next generation of Argentinian F1 fans will follow closely.
It is hardly a secret that South American fans take sports very seriously, and things can sometimes escalate to extremities in terms of fandom. While F1 does not have a plethora of examples in this context, one of the most prominent ones came in September, when Colapinto was a primary subject of a multi-car crash in Azerbaijan.
Colapinto lost control of his car in Baku and caused a multi-car pile-up during a safety car restart, taking Lando Norris and Pierre Gasly out of the race.
Advertisement
Without viewing the footage and without naming anyone, Norris suggested that whoever caused the collision should be handed a one-race ban. Taking the comment to heart, Colapinto’s fans flooded Norris on social media with a flurry of hate and abuse.
Gasly and a few others also got caught in the crossfire, with Colapinto labeling the behavior as something that was “not nice to see.” Alpine subsequently issued a statement in which it condemned the online abuse without pointing to any particular fanbase.
