The case for Antonio Giovinazzi – his top five F1 performances

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Antonio Giovinazzi has spent a year on the F1 sidelines, but is now in the frame at several teams for 2023 – we assess his best performances

Alfa-Romeo-driver-Antonio-Giovinazzi-at-the-2019-Singapore-GP

Antonio Giovinazzi: on several teams' shopping lists for 2023

DPPI

Antonio Giovinazzi has been the perennial F1 midfielder over the last few seasons, but could next year finally give him some forward momentum?

The Italian, who was picked up by Ferrari after his ascension up the junior ranks, impressed by finishing runner-up in his debut F2 season to Pierre Gasly, just eight points off the highly-rated Frenchman.

Making his full season debut for Alfa Romeo in 2019, the Italian failed to get the upper-hand over his ageing team-mate Kimi Räikkönen, in fact never finishing ahead of him in the table over the three seasons they spent together.

He was dropped by the team at the end of 2021 and became Ferrari reserve driver this year.

However, Giovinazzi’s experience is still coveted by some teams on the grid. Ferrari has kept him as an Italian presence in the F1 field and, as one of only a select group of drivers who have a superlicence, he is in the frame next year at Alpine, Haas and Williams.

We look back on Giovinazzi’s best drives over his F1 career, illustrating just why some teams are considering putting him in the hot seat.

 

2017 Australian GP

Antonio-Giovinazzi-driving-at-the-2017-Australian-GP-for-Sauber

Giovinazzi was impressive when stepping in last-minute for Sauber in Australia

Grand Prix Photo

Giovinazzi’s first-ever F1 race might not have yielded points, but it was one of his most impressive drives.

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The 2017 season-opener was his first appearance as Ferrari’s reserve driver and Giovinazzi got a call from Sauber on the Saturday morning. Pascal Wehrlein hadn’t fully recovered from his Race of Champions crash some months before and the Italian was needed to step in.

Despite only having FP3 to learn a track which was new to him, in a car he had never driven before, Giovinazzi all but matched incumbent team-mate Marcus Ericsson in qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix.

He started 16th, before putting an assured race performance to finish 12th in the race. For a rookie thrown in at the deep end at the final hour, this was impressive stuff.

 

2019 Austrian GP

Alfa-Romeo-driver-Antonio-Giovinazzi-at-the-2019-Austrian-GP

Giovinazzi brought home first-ever point in Austria

Giovinazzi was handed a full-time seat at Alfa Romeo for 2019, but it wasn’t until Austria that the Italian scored his first points.

Having initially struggled with the C38, the Italian managed to put it in Q3 at the Red Bull Ring.

His next step was to do similar in the Grand Prix. Giovinazzi later admitted his race pace had been a weakness up to this point in the season, and that he studied the data during the season to see how he could do better – it all paid dividends in Styria.

Though losing a place at the start, the Alfa man drove solidly to claim his first point in F1 in 10th, with team-mate Räikkönen finishing ninth to make it double points finish for the team.

 

2019 Italian GP

Alfa-Romeo-driver-Antonio-Giovinazzi-at-the-2019-Italian-GP

Home points at Monza ’19

Sauber

It doesn’t get much better for an Italian than scoring points in Monza, and Giovinazzi managed to do just that later during his debut season.

Missing out on Q3 by 0.002sec to his team-mate Räikkönen, Giovinazzi immediately converted his 11th place starting position into 10th at the start of the Italian Grand Prix as others fumbled the first chicane.

This became ninth when the McLaren of Carlos Sainz shoved off Alex Albon’s Red Bull at the first Lesmo, before Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll came together, promoting Giovinazzi to seventh.

Faster cars would later push him down the order on strategy, but Giovinazzi’s safe pair of hands brought the car home ninth in front of his home crowd.

 

2019 Brazilian GP

Antonio-Giovinazzi-driving-at-the-2019-Brazilian-GP-for-Alfa-Romeo

Räikkönen and Giovinazzi secured an impressive fourth and fifth respectively in Brazil ’19

Sauber

Though Giovinazzi might have qualified just 13th for the penultimate race of 2019, the Italian was just over a tenth off getting into Q3 – the Alfa Romeo pace was clearly there.

Come lights out on Sunday, Giovinazzi got a great start off the line, rising to 10th by the end of the first lap.

As Gio kept his cool, other fell by the wayside: Daniel Ricciardo clashed with Kevin Magnussen, Valtteri Bottas’s Mercedes engine let go.

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With five laps of the Brazilian Grand Prix to go, the Italian was still only ninth, but a late melee caused by the safety car played beautifully into his hands.

The sparring Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel took each other out of the race, before Alex Albon was nerfed off by Lewis Hamilton.

The latter was then given a 5sec time penalty, promoting the Alfa man to fifth at the finish. Perfetto.

Fortuitous? Perhaps, but Giovinazzi was the one who stayed out of trouble.

 

2021 Saudi Arabian GP

Antonio-Giovinazzi-driving-at-the-2021-Saudi-Arabia-GP-for-Sauber

Giovinazzi kept his cool whilst others floundered in Saudi Arabia

Sauber

More carnage, and once again Giovinazzi was rewarded thanks to his cool head.

Starting tenth, the Italian fell behind Fernando Alonso but soon got back past. Then, staying out of the pits on a yellow flag after Mick Schumacher’s crash proved wise. The race was stopped soon afterwards, allowing him to take on fresh tyres without stopping.

As a result he was seventh when the race restarted, then worked wonders on a long stint. He stayed out from lap 17 until the end, only succumbing to the Ferraris of Leclerc and Sainz late on, eventually finishing ninth.

In the age of little testing and an F1 cost cap, the steady hands of Giovinazzi might just be what some teams need in 2023.