F1 | Alfa Romeo Confirms Giovinazzi For 2020

Paul Jeffrey

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Alfa Romeo Racing have confirmed Antonio Giovinazzi will be retained alongside Kimi Raikkonen in Formula One next season, seemingly closing the door on Nico Hulkenberg retaining his place on the starting grid in 2020.

Giovinazzi started life in Formula One this year rather slowly for Alfa Romeo, often finding himself overshadowed by elder statesman Kimi Raikkonen in the white and red Alfa during the early part of the season. However, following something of a resurgence following the summer break, the 25-year-old Italian has seemingly done enough to convince his team that the Ferrari contracted driver is worth retaining for another year, inking a contract extension that will see him remain at the Swiss squad for another 12 months.

“Antonio has done really well this year and I am extremely pleased to be able to confirm he will stay with Alfa Romeo Racing for 2020" said Team Principle Frédéric Vasseur of today's announcement.​

"The way he has integrated into the team and has consistently improved throughout his first full season in the sport are very promising and we cannot wait to unlock his full potential as we continue to work together. Antonio has emerged as a very quick driver, even alongside as tough a benchmark as Kimi, and we expect him to develop even further as his experience grows. His technical feedback, work ethics and positive approach will help us continue to push our team forward, and so will the consistency of an unchanged line-up for next season.”

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2020 will again see the Italian team up with the most experienced driver on the grid in the form of 40-year-old Kimi Raikkonen, both drivers have contributed points to the teams current eighth place in the constructors standings with only the final three races of the season remaining.

Although Giovinazzi has been outscored by Raikkonen 4 points to 31, the last half dozen races have shown increased speed and racecraft from the Italian, leading to points finishes at the Red Bull Ring (10th), Spa (9th) and a 10th place finish in front of his home fans at Monza.

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With the last realistic seat for next season now taken, Nico Hulkenberg is looking ever increasingly likely to find himself without a drive in Formula One next year. The 32-year-old 177 Grand Prix veteran has already ruled himself out of a drive at Williams, and it remains likely that both Red Bull and Toro Rosso will retain drivers from within their own driver development family.
 
Would like to see Hulk in the second Red Bull, with Albon and Gasly at Toro Rosso to allow Albon some more time to develop his skills (although he's done very, very well at RB).

No fan of Kvyat tbh, he's not top class and hardly really midfield class to be fair. Hulk is too good to leave without wins, and he's at the stage in his career where realistically he should be at his peak.
 
If you strictly look short term, the Hulk is an upgrade over Giovinazzi but if you take a more mid-to-long term view, it makes sense to keep Giovinazzi around. In a team with two pilots, it makes sense to have a less experienced driver with a grizzled veteran. Especially with a team like Alfa Romeo, which is a feeder team for Ferrari. I guess Mick Shumacher will have to do another year in F2.
 
It's always sad to see the old favourites go, but the F1 man doesn't get sentimental about his friends -- he looks at performance and cold hard data. And $.
NH might not have been interested in the Alfa seat anyway.
 
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It's a shame indeed F1 is going to loose a very talented driver (Hulkenberg) to DTM.
He's absolutely NOT going to drive in DTM next year.
 
Good strategy for Alfa....building on a young talent and a seasoned veteran.
In the case of Nico...
In 48 years of following F1, I cannot remember a more unlucky driver where all out timing is concerned.
He somehow always seemed to end up at the right team at the wrong time.
Sometimes things are not meant to be.
 
If you strictly look short term, the Hulk is an upgrade over Giovinazzi but if you take a more mid-to-long term view, it makes sense to keep Giovinazzi around. In a team with two pilots, it makes sense to have a less experienced driver with a grizzled veteran. Especially with a team like Alfa Romeo, which is a feeder team for Ferrari. I guess Mick Shumacher will have to do another year in F2.
With Mick currently at the 12th position in the F2 standing it's better not to promote him already.
After his sudden F3 peak, he not really impressed me yet.
The only victory F2 came from starting first in a reverse grid start. Only because he came in 8th the race before.
 
  • Deleted member 561801

Great news! It's a pleasure to run another year with Antonio!
 
This shows that F1 needs at least two more teams, preferably 3 or 4 more. 20 cars is not enough and excellent drivers are left on the sidelines. It was Ocon last year, it will be Hulkenberg this year. I don't want to go back to the days (1988-1991) when there was almost 40 cars at each GP (some of these teams were jokes), but 28 cars would be great. That way, there would be room for veterans and new drivers.

It sucks for Hulk. On the other hand, there are so many great young drivers in F1 this season (and some pretty good talent in F2) that it's a given some "older" drivers will have to leave. I thought it would be Grosjean, to be honest.

As I wrote before, I've always wondered why Hulk was never signed by a top team. Was it his height and weight? Bad timing? Bad agents? Or is his reputation among team managers not as good as it is amongst fans?
 
Hulk - the unluckiest driver for quite some time.
[...]
Giovinazzi is likeable guy but c'mon... he's not nearly as fast as Hulk, with same car.

But don't forget. He's also not nearly as "old" as Hulk, which leaves a huge amount of space for him to progress and get even faster and... he's not nearly as expensive as a driver like Nico.
 
Young talent?? Giovinazzi hasn't proved that he deserves a F1 seat for the 3 years he has been in the paddock. This guy must have serious connections with Ferrari or they are keeping him just because he is Italian.
 
This shows that F1 needs at least two more teams, preferably 3 or 4 more. 20 cars is not enough and excellent drivers are left on the sidelines. It was Ocon last year, it will be Hulkenberg this year. I don't want to go back to the days (1988-1991) when there was almost 40 cars at each GP (some of these teams were jokes), but 28 cars would be great. That way, there would be room for veterans and new drivers.

It sucks for Hulk. On the other hand, there are so many great young drivers in F1 this season (and some pretty good talent in F2) that it's a given some "older" drivers will have to leave. I thought it would be Grosjean, to be honest.

As I wrote before, I've always wondered why Hulk was never signed by a top team. Was it his height and weight? Bad timing? Bad agents? Or is his reputation among team managers not as good as it is amongst fans?
If you want all great drivers to have a seat we would need at least 25 teams.
It's also bit of the magic, that there is only 20 seats.
 
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Giovanazzi come on he was in F1 for a a while then dumped and now hes back. Totally under performing. He must have a lot of money to put into the team. The only driver on the grid you don't hear about so hes invisible. 4 points to Kimis 31 says it all.
 

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