Franco Colapinto He is not only a pilot Formula 1. In another of its facets that Argentines and the world are discovering, The young man now showed himself at the wheel of a huge mining exchange known in the sector as CAEX.
The thing is Franco Colapinto and his -still- teammate Alex Albon They had the opportunity to drive high-tonnage mining trucks thanks to a team sponsor Williams Racing.
At this time, confirmation or rejection is expected for a seat in 2025 for the Argentine pilot in Visa Cash App Racing Bulls (Red Bull’s second line), where he could share a team with the Japanese Yuki Tsunoda.
Sauberthe other team that still had a vacant seat for 2025, confirmed the hiring of the Brazilian Gabriel Bortoleto for next season, which will be a companion to Nico Hulkenberg. There is no longer a place for Franco there.
The truth is that for now, and as Edu Gajardo revealed in Mendoza Mining, Franco Colapinto drove a Komatsu 930E, electric vehicle manufactured by the main sponsor of the Williams team, during the last visit to the United States for the Austin Formula 1 Grand Prix.
In that competition, his fourth, The Argentine driver excelled in the highest category of motorsportsfinished 10th and was in the points zone after having started from 15th place.
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In the video that was recorded before the race and that was broadcast Williams In the last few hours, Colapinto is seen playing with mining trucks, smaller-scale replicas, while Albon invites him to drive a real one. “Franco, let’s drive a real one,” The British man of Thai origin proposed to him. And the Argentine doesn’t even doubt it. “Wow, they’re huge.”he says as soon as he observes the vehicles in front, a few meters away.
Dressed in the classic neon refractory vest, helmet, safety boots and dark glasses, Albon tells Franco: “This is the Kamatsu Electric Drive mining truck, 7.45 meters high and weighing 522 tons“.
Surprised by the size, Colapinto reacts: “The tire is as big as you.” Laughing, Albon replies: ““Imagine changing tires like in NASCAR, you need like six hours to change them.”
A challenge between Franco Colapinto and Alex Albon in the mining trucks
The activity promoted by the Japanese manufacturer included a test drive with a truck, fully loaded, and a specialized driver in the passenger seat, something that is impossible in F1.
After driving several times in “eight shape”Albon and Franco describe their experience and challenge each other to a duel of times and speed. The first tests were done at an average of 18 miles per hour, about 29 kilometers per hour.
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The second part of the challenge included avoiding orange cones in a zig zag, forward and moving direction, along a 100-meter-long circuit. Alex delayed 1:56 minutes to finish the tour. “I did pretty well, I didn’t hit any cones,” he said when he finished.
Then, it was up to Colapinto: he did it in 1:26. However, there was an additional 15 second penalty for each hit to the cones. “I did well, but I think I hit 20 cones”said the Argentine.
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Finally Franco received the penalty of 30 additional seconds: “I don’t care about the penalty, I did it first with 1:26, it was fun and I enjoyed it a lot.”
Between laughter and good vibes, Albon summarized: “It was a different experience than what we usually do, it’s not every day you get the opportunity to drive these trucks. Now we’re going to the backhoe and the loader truck.”
The full video of Franco Colapinto in a mining truck
This is the video released by the Williams Racing team of the Formula 1 driver Franco Colapinto at the wheel of a mining truck.
Source: Ambito
