In just five race weekends Franco Colapinto has made such a name for himself that his fans are taking some incredible troubles to make it to the Sao Paulo Grand Prix this weekend. Over 263 flights from Argentina have been canceled due to a transport strike, fans have now been forced to book 50 buses and travel for 30 hours to reach Interlagos.
Veteran photojournalist Kym Illman revealed the news via his Instagram handle. He said,
“All flights from Buenos Aires to Sao Paulo — booked out. Charter flights have been put up, they have been booked out. I was told today that there are some 50 bus loads of people coming by road from there to here. What’s the journey? 30 hours!”
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Illman added that since all the seats have been sold out for the Brazilian GP, he is worried how will these fans coming from Argentina receive tickets. He believes that at best, they may be able to get a glimpse of their newfound hero at the hotel he is staying at.
However, there is a risk that these fans may not even be able to meet Colapinto at his hotel since the 21-year-old lost his grandfather, who he was very close to, this week. Therefore, he may want to be left alone.
Fans will be desperate to get a glimpse of Colapinto
As Colapinto continues to move from strength to strength, his fan base also continues to increase. With several fans now wanting to get a glimpse of him, things at times have also gone out of hand and have needed the intervention of security to shield him.
“He must have worked a 30 m long section of the fence trying to get to as many of these fans, who were chanting and singing with their flags before security came up. Marcus, who heads the security said, ‘Look you got to get him down, guys…’ They couldn’t get him down for a couple of minutes,” Illman explained in a YouTube video after the US GP.
While Colapinto is likely to get a similar reception at the Sao Paulo GP this weekend as well, he has not had the best of starts to the Grand Prix though. The Argentine only managed to qualify in P14 for Saturday’s sprint race and will need to make up a lot of places if he is to score points again.
