Giovinazzi prepared to struggle early in FE career

Finley Crebolder

Antonio Giovinazzi speaks to the media at the Formula E pre-season test. Valencia November 2021.

Antonio Giovinazzi is expecting it to be hugely challenging adapting to Formula E given how different the cars are to F1 machinery. 

The Italian will be driving in the all-electric series next season after signing for Dragon Penske following Alfa Romeo’s decision to bring in an all-new line-up of Valtteri Bottas and Guanyu Zhou in 2022.

It will be a new experience altogether for the 28-year old, who has spent his racing career to date driving mainly sportscars and non-electric single-seaters in F1 and the junior categories.

He is expecting his new machinery to be hugely different to anything he has been in before and therefore thinks he will struggle in the first few rounds of his rookie year.

“I think if you go from F1 to maybe Indycar or, I don’t know, from LMP1, in the end you feel maybe less speed, less grip but it’s the same style of driving,” he said, quoted by GPFans.

“The issue I’ve got in Formula E is that it’s a completely different sport. Obviously it’s the braking, no downforce, no sounds, heavy cars. It will be so different and unfortunately, I got only two days before race one but it’s a challenge.

“I love a challenge, but for sure I can tell you this…the first part of the season, the first few races, I will struggle compared to the others. But my motivation is to improve, improve, improve and get, at the end of the season, a good result and see.

“Maybe I [will] like Formula E more. I don’t know what could happen in 2023 but for me, it’s a new challenge and I’m really motivated for this.”

Giovinazzi will remain in the world of F1 in 2022, serving as Ferrari’s reserve driver along with Haas’ Mick Schumacher.

He has expressed a desire to get back onto the grid permanently in the more distant future, but does not feel he can do that through his performances and talent alone.

 

That is because he believes financial factors are more important than talent in the sport these days.

“That’s the bad thing about this sport. Unfortunately, it’s always been like that…I hope I’ll be able to change my mind in the future,” he told Corriere della Sera.

“There are now drivers who decide the financial policies of entire teams. But I’m not the only one to have lost my job because of this.”

 

Antonio Giovinazzi