One goes in five races at the age of 42: Kim Räikkönen. The other can deal with his future driving at the age of 28: Antonio Giovinazzi.
It committed 2 crashes in 2017
Italy has to be prepared for the fact that next season they will be without a GP driver. In the golden days there were more than ten Italo drivers in the field over 30 years ago.
The dismissal of Giovinazzi is only a matter of time! He has been there since 2017, when he was allowed to replace the injured Pascal Wehrlein in the first two races – and destroyed two cars in China.
Only one World Cup point in 2021
In 2019 he became a regular driver, scoring 19 World Championship points in 57 races so far – this year it was a single point in Monte Carlo before the GP Mexico on Sunday (start at 8 p.m., TV live).
Giovinazzi is simply overwhelmed. In Zandvoort and Monza he threw away his two 7th starting positions each with a collision in the starting seconds!
The “mortal sin”, which boss Frédéric Vasseur (54) will not forgive him, was committed by Giovinazzi at the Turkish GP. At that time the Hinwil duo was fighting for important points. “Can you drive faster?” The command center asked the Italian. And because Kimi appeared bigger and bigger in the rearview mirror, the question was actually an order: Let him pass!
Team order disregarded
What happened? Giovinazzi drove a little faster, but only so much that Raikkonen couldn’t pass. Result? 11th and 12th place … And when the winner Bottas lapped the Italian, he then drove easily after the Finn to the finish. The bosses raged, flattened Antonio.
When the team orders came in Austin, Giovinazzi obeyed immediately. Otherwise he would have been sacked days ago despite team namesake Alfa! When Bottas comes to the Zurich Oberland as the clear number 1 in 2022, Vasseur doesn’t need a rebellious driver in addition to the ten-time GP winner, but a helper who of course also scores points.
Piastri, Zhou or Pourchaire?
And this one will come from Formula 2. But Vasseur wants to take his time and watch the last six junior races in Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi (all in December).
Who is it? Leader Oscar Piastri (at the age of 20 one of the greatest talents in recent years) comes from Melbourne. Chaser Zhou (36 points back) comes from China and would bring 25 million euros, but wants a three-year contract. And Sauber-Eigengewächs Theo Pourchaire (18), fifth overall, comes from France and would certainly be a good student next to Bottas.