Antonio Giovinazzi admits it isn’t easy to drive without knowing F1 future as Frederic Vasseur seems close to an announcement, while Valtteri Bottas eyes Abu Dhabi test.
Giovinazzi believes that it’s not easy to continue to race with doubts over his F1 Future. The Italian driver is the only driver with no confirmation on his seat for next year. Alfa Romeo has insured one seat for Bottas who’s leaving Mercedes.
The Italian who joined the Swiss-based outfit in 2019, felt the pressure of being him asked about his future, Giovinazzi said: “There is no news yet, no answers. Unfortunately, it is like this, for sure it’s not ideal to come at the track, you don’t know what you will do next year or what will happen. But it’s like this. Hopefully we will know bad or good news soon so at least we know what will happen, it will better for everyone in the team.”
It seemingly is looking like bad news for Giovinazzi which means Alfa Romeo will take its decision by choosing either F2 drivers Oscar Piastri or Guanyu Zhou – where the latter seems favourite – after Andretti links got dropped. The deal didn’t materialise due to “control issues” and not financial troubles.
“For sure it’s not easy, but there’s nothing I can do,” said Giovinazzi about racing without knowing his future. “The only thing I can do is drive fast in the car, bring the results. It’s not my decision, I think it’s more a question for Fred than for me. I’m happy that it’s been quite good in qualifying, but something that we miss is points.
“If we’re looking in also the race result with Kimi, we are in front, but we have less points and this is not good. This is what I want, just score more points from here to Abu Dhabi is the main goal for now. To race to P11 is not great. Istanbul we were just one corner behind that top 10, Austin it was a little bit more difficult and Mexico strategy didn’t work,” summed up Giovinazzi.
Following the breakdown of the Andretti takeover deal, team boss Vasseur expects to announce its second F1 driver for 2022 after next week’s Brazilian GP and as per multiple reports suggests it to be announced on November 16.
“We will take a decision now that we are a little bit less in the spotlight for different reasons,” said Vasseur. “We’ll take a decision in the next couple of days, probably after Brazil. It’s already a question to know if there is interest to change both drivers with the new regulation or if, with the new regulations, stability is important.
“We know that the preparations will be very short with the two times three days of testing and could eventually be less with a reliability or weather issue. It means that we have to be ready from the first day because we know perfectly that, in this kind of championship, it’s very often on the first event that you can score the big points for a midfield team. It’s true that it’s a factor into the decision, but it’s not the only one,” summed up Vasseur.
The lack of test days is what has prompted Vasseur to speak with Mercedes regarding Bottas testing for Alfa Romeo in Abu Dhabi during their 18-inch tyre testing days. The Finn had his first visit to its Hinwil base and also had his seat fitting, but when asked if he will drive, he couldn’t confirm just yet as it has to be agreed with Mercedes first.
“I’ve been a few weeks ago,” said Bottas to written media. “It’s a nice and good factory, so they have all the facilities needed to be a strong team. They have good simulator but still work to do and [yes] I had a seat fit [but regarding Abu Dhabi drive it is] TBC, we’ll see. Hopefully, yes.”
The story was written by Oprah Sagal
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