Antonio Giovinazzi

**Antonio Maria Giovinazzi** is an Italian racing driver currently competing in Formula 1.5 for Alfa Romeo Racing, racing under the Italian flag. He was the 2015 FIA Formula 3 European Championship runner-up and raced with Prema in the 2016 GP2 Series, again finishing runner-up with five wins and eight overall podiums. Giovinazzi was chosen by Scuderia Ferrari to be their third and reserve driver for the 2017 season. He made his competitive debut for Sauber at the 2017 Australian Grand Prix, replacing the injured Pascal Wehrlein. He also replaced Wehrlein at the following Chinese Grand Prix as Wehrlein continued his recovery. Giovinazzi signed a contract to race full-time for Alfa Romeo Racing in 2019.

## F1.5 Career

### **Sauber (2017)**

#### **2017 Season**

Antonio signed as a test driver for Sauber in 2017. After Pascal Wehrlein withdrew from the first two races due to an injury, the Italian was fielded in his place. In his debut race, Giovinazzi took 7th place and scored 6 points, benefiting from multiple retirements. However, he retired in the next race, the Chinese Grand Prix. Wehrlein came back in Bahrain and Giovinazzi was back to being a test driver for the rest of the season.

### **Alfa Romeo (2019-2021)**

#### **2019 Season**

Two years later, Giovinazzi returned to the Sauber seat, now rebranded as Alfa Romeo. This time, he became a full-time driver. He started the season with a 9th place in Australia, but took a much better 5th place in the next race benefiting from the retirements of Sainz and the Renaults. He finished 9th, 7th and 10th at the next three races. In Monaco, he caused a collision with Robert Kubica after a dangerous overtake attempt. He was handed a 10 second penalty for the incident and finished dead last in 14th. After a 7th and 10th result at the following races, Giovinazzi scored a 4th place at the Austrian Grand Prix. He retired from the British Grand Prix after spinning off and finished 10th with fastest lap in Germany, despite crossing the line in 8th, as a 30-second penalty was handed to both Alfa Romeos for a rules infringement. After a bad race in Hungary, he was on course for a top 5 finish in Belgium, but crashed out at Pouhon on the last lap. However, he was able to bounce back and take 2 back to back 4th places in Italy and Singapore. He scored a small amount of points in the next 4 races and the final race in Abu Dhabi, but he was able to take another 4th place in the chaotic race in Brazil, yet again missing out on his maiden F1.5 podium. He finished the season with 88 points. Giovinazzi was soundly beaten by his teammate Kimi Räikkönen, who scored 8 podiums, 2 pole positions and nearly double the amount of the Italian's points. Despite this, Alfa Romeo retained him for the next season.

#### **2020 Season**

Giovinazzi and Räikkönen were retained by Alfa Romeo for the 2020 season.

Giovinazzi scored points at the first race of the season in Austria, finishing 7th after six cars retired from the race. On lap 11 of the Belgian Grand Prix, Giovinazzi lost control and crashed at turn 14. A stray wheel from his car hit the Williams of George Russell causing both to retire from the race. He was involved in a high-speed accident at the Tuscan Grand Prix during the safety car restart, in which four cars were eliminated from the race. Giovinazzi scored points at multiple races duirng the season, to give him a total of 23 points to finish 13th in the championship.

#### **2021 Season**

The season started strong in Bahrain with an 8th place finish, followed by 11th in Imola, 8th in Portugal then 11th again Spain. The second half of the season was the best for Giovinazzi, who scored four point's finishes in a row from Turkey to Brazil. Giovinazzi retired from the final race.

Giovinazzi left Alfa Romeo at the end of the 2021 season, and became reserve driver for Ferrari, sharing the duties with Mick Schumacher. Giovinazzi is also due to act as reserve driver for Alfa Romeo and Haas (Ferrari's customer teams) as part of his contract with Ferrari.

### Alpine and Haas (2022)

#### Haas

Giovinazzi is a test driver for Haas in 2022, and is due to compete in free practice sessions at the Italian and United States Grands Prix for the team. In FP1 at Italy Giovinazzi finished 12th just 3 tenths behind Kevin Magnussen.

#### Alpine

Giovinazzi will take part in a test session with Alpine at the Hungaroring in late September, alongside Nyck De Vries and Jack Doohan.