Franco Colapinto’s manager Jamie Campbell-Walter has told critics to “shut up” with their opinions and insults of the Argentinean star.

Colapinto, a relative unknown with just one win in Formula 2, burst onto the Formula 1 scene at the Italian Grand Prix when he was called up by Williams to replace the under-performing Logan Sargeant.

Franco Colapinto manager: Listen carefully because I will only say this once…

He impressed on debut as he raced from 18th on the Monza grid to 12th at the finishing line, making up six positions, before scoring his first points on his second race with a P8 in Baku.

Going on to add another point at the United States Grand Prix, Colapinto recorded two top-ten showings in his first four races which was one more than Sargeant managed in 36 starts.

Emerging as the darling of Formula 1 with both Red Bull and Alpine said to be chasing his services for the 2025 season, Colapinto’s copybook was blotted with crashes at the Brazilian Grand Prix where he hit the barrier not once but twice.

The 21-year-old was one of five drivers to crash in Sunday morning’s delayed qualifying before adding a second in the Grand Prix, nose-first into the barrier while the race was under Safety Car conditions.

But while his back-to-back crashes had some pondering whether he’s genuinely ready for the challenge of racing for Red Bull, it was nights out with Argentinean model and actress China Suarez that had fans on social media calling on Colapinto’s management to step in.

Campbell-Walter of Bullet Sports Management hit back.

“Listen carefully because I will only say this once,” he wrote on X. “Stop with your opinions, stop with your insults and stop telling us how we should do our job.

“I will deal with it and I don’t need anymore comments. I was here long before any of you supporting Franco and will be here long after.

“Everyone makes mistakes and he will learn from them. Let’s focus on Vegas and racing, but to do that, I need you all to shut up.”

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From being a Formula 2 driver in early 2024 to a potential Red Bull candidate for F1 2025, Colapinto has been thrust into the spotlight.

The darling of the Argentinean fans who travelled to Brazil to watch him race for Williams, was warned that the time would come when fans could potentially turn against him.

This came from Brazilian driver Rubens Barrichello who told the Beyond the Grid podcast: “You can see Argentina now with Colapinto. Even can see they flew to Brazil, and they really own him, and they are giving a lot of support.

“Okay, so let’s watch the next step. Let’s see how the boy is going to do, and let’s see how the fans are going to behave.

“Because the media in Brazil, it’s a bit of ‘Oh yeah, let’s support’, but the first time you do something wrong, they put you down.

“So you have to be at peace with yourself.”

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