Alfa Romeo team boss Frederic Vasseur has shed some light on the driver consideration for his team next season. He has also claimed that Antonio Giovinazzi still has the opportunity to save his seat with the team.
Current Mercedes driver, Valtteri Bottas was announced by the team to replace world champion Kimi Raikkonen as he decided to retire at the end of the 2021 Formula 1 season.
Rumours have been going around that Gwanyu Zhou is the team’s favourite to drive be alongside Bottas next year. The Alpine junior driver is currently ranking second in the Formula 2 championship. Alfa Romeo is impressed with the chinese as he has impressive talent and will be coming with an attractive sponsorship package.
Antonio Giovinazzi on the other hand, is fighting very hard to retain his seat with Alfa Romeo. He has put in impressive qualifying sessions at Zandvoort and his homeground Monza. However, he has been unable to replicate the qualifying success into races.
Vasseur insists the Italian can still save his seat during the remaining seven races of the year he said, “I think at least the good side of our position is that we can wait because we know we have some drivers in contact and the ball is in our hands.”
“I’m considering the situation as an opportunity for Antonio, because he’s the guy in the car who can show that he can do a good job and can improve. It’s much more frustrating when you’re not in the car and you have to wait to see if the others are doing well or badly. Antonio has this opportunity, and he has to take it.”
“He did very well in the last few events, and I was very happy to see that he could deliver and could do a step over the different stints and runs. He was improving from Q1 to Q2 and Q2 to Q3 every single run, and he was able to put everything together and fine-tune during the qualifying.”
Vasseur also pointed out that a significant factor that will affect Giovinazzi’s chances lay with his ability to carry his brilliant qualifying runs over to his performances on a Sunday.
“For sure, now the target is to score points, and the last few events were a bit difficult. But I know he’s able to do the job and now I’m waiting for the weekend when he puts everything together – qualifying pace, race pace and then from the first lap to the last lap.”
