Alfa Romeo confident Giovinazzi will ‘come around’

Finley Crebolder
Alfa Romeo incorrectly installed Giovinazzi's engine

Alfa Romeo incorrectly installed Giovinazzi's engine

Antonio Giovinazzi will come good, he just needs time and patience according to Alfa Romeo team boss Frederic Vasseur.

While team-mate Kimi Raikkonen has scored points in all three races this season, Giovinazzi has yet to get off the mark.

The 25-year-old Italian has a best result of P11, which he achieved at the Bahrain Grand Prix, missing out on his first Formula 1 point by less than a second.

Giovinazzi, though, has had his fair share – if not more – of bad luck.

Car troubles during all three Grand Prix weekends meant he has yet to get the most out of his C38.

And that, Vasseur says, is down to the team and not the driver.

“Antonio so far couldn’t show his real potential, but that’s completely down to the team,” the Alfa Romeo team boss said.

“Some technical issues and therefore missed track time meant that he could never get comfortable and get the best out of the car.

“But especially in Australia in Q1 he showed how fast he is.

“Everyone just needs to be a bit patient and I’m sure he’ll come around.”

On the other side of the garage, Vasseur was full of praise for Raikkonen, who joined Alfa Romeo from Ferrari in the off-season.

He added: “Kimi is doing a great job, his feedback to engineers is as precise as it can be and as soon as he sits in the car he gets the job done.”

Looking ahead to this weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Vasseur is hoping Alfa Romeo can add to the 12 points they have scored to date.

“Baku means crashes and safety cars and overtaking so you’ll never know what to expect from the race, but our target is clear: we’ve put a lot of work into the development of our performance since the race in China so we want to finish in the points with both cars.”

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