Franco Colapinto thrilled huge crowds during a Formula 1 demonstration run on the streets on Buenos Aires.

The Alpine F1 driver took to the streets of Argentina’s capital city in a 2012 Lotus E20 sporting the Enstone team’s 2026 livery for a special exhibition run on Sunday.

Colapinto wowed his adoring fans at the roadshow, which saw over 600,000 people attend and even featured a fly-by from the Historical Squadron of the Argentine Air Force.

The demo run - called the Mercado Libre presents: Franco Colapinto Road Show Buenos Aires 2026 - took place in the Palermo neighbourhood of Colapinto’s home city of Buenos Aires.

Avenida del Liberator and Avenida Sarmiento were transformed into a 2km street circuit for Colapinto’s outing.

Colapinto also drove a replica Mercedes W196 - the car in which Juan Manuel Fangio won the F1 world championship in 1954 and 1955.

With a fan forum, music acts and other activities, the event, which was supported by the Government of the City of Buenos Aires, effectively became a festival.

Colapinto has become a star in his home country after making his F1 debut mid-way through the 2024 season with Williams, becoming the first Argentinian driver to compete in the world championship since Gaston Mazzacane in 2001.

The 22-year-old scored five points in nine races for Williams before switching to Alpine in 2025, where he replaced Jack Doohan after the opening six rounds.

Colapinto scored his long-awaited first points for Alpine at the 2026 Chinese Grand Prix.

Amid Colapinto’s popularity, there are growing calls for F1 to return to Argentina, which last hosted a grand prix in 1998.

"I love Argentinians. We are the best fans in the world and it is great to show that, because we are showing Formula 1 that we deserve to return to the calendar and that we deserve to have a race again,” Colapinto said.

"It was a great day. Honestly, I enjoyed it so much personally – it is a dream come true. I’m very happy with the day we had today, enjoying it with everyone, with all my people who have supported me for such a long time.”

The Oscar y Juan Galvez Autdrome will host MotoGP from next year and the venue harbours ambitions of staging F1 in the future.