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File image of Lionel Messi (left) and Franco Colapinto (right)© X (Twitter)
Rookie Franco Colapinto dismissed talk of him being Formula One’s Lionel Messi as he prepares for his debut at the Italian Grand Prix on Thursday. Colapinto will become the first Argentine driver to compete in F1 in more than two decades at Monza this weekend, replacing struggling Logan Sargeant at Williams. His appointment delighted fans of the sport in the country but asked if he felt like football icon Messi before the last World Cup, Colapinto said such talk was “madness”.
“It’s very hard to feel like Lionel Messi, I don’t know what it’s like to feel like that,” Colapinto told reporters.
“But sometimes I see them comparing me and I think you guys are crazy, like Messi is God, it’s like you can’t do that, how are you comparing me?”
Colapinto doesn’t have high expectations for his debut with Williams, who have just four points in the F1 constructors’ championship.
“I’m not expecting much… I just want to go step by step, I want to focus on myself,” he said.
“I think that’s the main thing. To be able to focus on the job at hand. To be able to meet the team’s expectations. And I, honestly, am very confident that I can do that.”
The action begins at Monza on Friday with the first two of the weekend’s three practice sessions.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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