Giovinazzi on overcoming mistakes, learning from Kimi and his Ferrari F1 dream

Antonio Giovinazzi’s 2020 performances went a little under the radar as Alfa Romeo battled for competitiveness, but they were crucial in securing the Italian’s place in Formula 1 for another year.

On paper, it seemed like Giovinazzi had little to shout about as he scored a total of four points in the 17-round campaign. Even so, it was an extremely important year for the Italian, whose resilience and room for improvement Alfa Romeo and supporters Ferrari have shown enough to keep him for a third campaign.

In an exclusive interview, we sat down virtually with Giovinazzi at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the end of the season via Zoom to discuss his 2020 season, what it’s like to be teammates with Kimi Raikkonen, and his ultimate goal, one day for Ferrari drive to discuss.

Progress in a difficult season

2020 did not go as Alfa Romeo intended. Not only was Alfa hindered by its Ferrari engine’s well-documented straight-line speed deficit, but it was also struggling with aerodynamic issues with its C39 challenger, which were already evident in pre-season testing.

While Alfa held its eighth place in the Constructors’ Championship – in line with the 2019 result – points were hard to come by and it only managed to collect eight points compared to its 57-point stretch from the previous season.

For much of 2020, it was a struggle for Alfa drivers to get out of the first qualifying segment, but that in no way reflected their respective qualities. Of course, there were fewer highlights and no repetition of fourth and fifth places for the team at the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix. Instead, three P9s and two P10s were the best you could muster.

On the subject of matching items

A rare colon in Imola and qualifying at the Turkish Grand Prix – where Giovinazzi and Räikkönen dragged their cars impressively into the third quarter, when the team finished in the top 10 for the first time since the Austrian GP 2019 at the 500th GP with both cars documented – acted as notable standout moments for Alfa.

Despite the team’s slump in form, Giovinazzi continued to make impressive wins both in qualifying and in the race to keep his experienced team-mate Räikkönen, who is 41 years old, on his toes. Indeed, Giovinazzi ended the year against Raikkonen nine to eight in qualifying and scored his points.

With the 2021 season approaching, Giovinazzi wants a stronger car to hit the ground early as he has already outlined an ambitious goal for achieving his first podium.

“Overall, I’m very happy with the progress I’ve made over the season and especially compared to last season [2019]”Said Giovinazzi to Crash.net.

On the subject of matching items

“Of course I’m still young and I still have to improve a lot. Next season I want to take another step and hopefully I can have a better car to fight more up front.

“Hopefully we can have a better car next season and also take another step on my part and get great results.”

While rebounding from his mistakes

Giovinazzi was beaten up by Raikkonen in a difficult first half of his first full season in F1 in 2019, and when it looked like he was set for a much-needed confidence boost, a mistake caused him to drop the points on the penultimate one Round in Spa-Francorchamps.

The self-inflicted mistake almost took Giovinazzi off his feet, but he made a strong recovery at the next home race in Monza to take two points in ninth place and get a stronger end to the campaign.

Giovinazzi credits his mistake at Spa as crucial to his development. It taught him a valuable lesson not to give up and the importance of recovering from setbacks. And it is precisely this attitude that helped Giovinazzi to “turn the page” – as he puts it – and to ensure that he does not make the same mistake twice.

“Of course it wasn’t a great race,” he admitted. “Well, it was one of my best races up to that point.

“The most important thing is not to make the mistakes, but the most important thing is to learn from the mistakes, and that’s what I did. I just turned the page, mainly because after Spa I had a really important weekend with my first home Grand Prix in Monza.

“I wanted to do well at that moment and I think I found the right solution, turned the page and got a great result at Monza. After that moment, your self-confidence is high because the result is good and this makes things a lot easier. “

Giovinazzi’s response to the crash was impressive and he was able to carry that newfound momentum and confidence through to 2020 when he posed a much stronger and more consistent challenge to Raikkonen.

It was in this form that earned him a new contract with Alfa, albeit a one-year deal, and Giovinazzi started a new season knowing he was struggling to secure his place on the starting line-up – despite losing out on it Prospect is not discouraged.

“I’ve always been under pressure in my career,” he said. “Nothing was easy for me, I always had to fight and everything and that’s how it is.

“That is the case for most drivers. You also have to go with the pressure that is part of the game here in Formula 1 and I’ve always said that this is additional motivation to fight for the seat for the next season, so I’ll do that next year too . ”

To Kimi Raikkonen as a teammate

As Räikkönen’s team-mate, Giovinazzi is one of the few to get a rare first-hand glimpse into the mystery that is F1’s “Iceman”.

Giovinazzi already knew Raikkonen from his time as a development and test driver for Ferrari in 2017 and has a close relationship with the Finn. He believes this will help the team move forward.

Giovinazzi, who is the most experienced driver ever in F1 at 329 grand prix and still has a world championship ahead of him, says he learned a lot from the former Ferrari driver and credited much of his race daily wins in 2020 when you see where Raikkonen excels in race management.

“It’s been a couple of years with him now and I’ve always had a good relationship with him,” said Giovinazzi.

“I’m very happy with it and I think it’s very important for the team to have two drivers who have a good relationship and who work well together.

“I think I learn a lot from him, especially in the race because Kimi is one of the best in the race when it comes to managing the tires and the race in general. I’m learning a lot from him and I’m very happy to be able to continue with him next season because I think I can still learn something from him.

“In terms of performance, you always have to look at your teammate because in the end he drives your car on the same team and the first driver you want to beat is him,” he added.

“I’m happy to be his team-mate because I think he’s still one of the best on the grid. He is a world champion driver with a lot of experience. For me, it’s important to my career and also to the people who watch F1 to stand in front of him and fight with him. I’m really proud of that. “

On his dreams of driving for Ferrari

Given his ties to Ferrari and ending an eight-year drought as the first Italian to compete in Formula 1 since Jarno Trulli and Vitantonio Luizzi in 2011, Giovinazzi naturally dreams of one day driving for the famous Maranello team.

Giovinazzi was put on Ferrari’s radar during his brilliant single-seat rise after finishing runner-up in the 2015 Formula 3 European Championship before a narrow loss to Pierre Gasly in the 2016 GP2 Series.

His impressive accomplishments earned him a reputation for becoming Ferrari’s third driver in 2017 and he’s been on the Scuderia’s protégé list ever since, apparently with a path to the dancing horse in the future.

The rise of a promising new line of talents from the Ferrari Driver Academy – including the reigning Formula 2 champion and new Haas F1 driver Mick Schumacher, test driver Callum Ilott and the F2 duo Robert Shwartzman and Marcus Armstrong – threatens, however, Giovinazzi’s dream to restrict.

Giovinazzi is still relatively young in Formula 1 at 27 and looks like a seasoned veteran compared to Ferrari’s new assignment, the oldest of which is six years younger than him. Still, unimpressed by the prospect of potentially queuing to land a Ferrari drive, Giovinazzi remains focused on his dream.

“It has been my dream since I started my career,” said a smiling Giovinazzi. “Of course my main dream was to be a Formula 1 driver, but maybe with Ferrari in the future and it would be great.

“It would be great if I made my debut for Alfa Romeo because I think Alfa Romeo is another important Italian brand with a lot of history in Formula 1.

“I was really proud to make my debut with them and for every driver, for most drivers, driving for Ferrari is a dream. Same for me. We’ll see what happens, but I’ll definitely give it my all. “