Ferrari junior Antonio Giovinazzi will return to Formula 1 during this weekend’s German Grand Prix at Hockenheim to drive in the FP1 session with Sauber.
The Italian will replace Marcus Ericsson to drive the #36 Sauber alongside Charles Leclerc. It will be his first F1 weekend outing this season after seven runs with Haas last year. His last F1 drive was during the in-season test in Barcelona.
He drove for both Sauber and Ferrari. Following his F1 debut in 2017 with Sauber, the Italian missed on a full-time drive for 2018 as the Swiss outfit took Leclerc instead. He has been doing simulator work for Ferrari since then with Daniil Kvyat.
He also drove in the Le Mans 24 Hours race for the AF Corse Ferrari outfit in the GTE-Pro class alongside Toni Vilander and Pipo Derani, finishing fifth in the category and 20th overall in his first attempt in a 24 hours race.
While the drive doesn’t confirm anything, but it can be looked at as a testing role for the Italian, especially after the speculations surrounding Leclerc moving to Ferrari in 2019 to replace Kimi Raikkonen.
The Swiss team has a power unit tie-up with Ferrari while its subsidiary Alfa Romeo sponsors the outfit, which could give the Italian manufacturer a good chance to field another of its young driver in the F1 team.
Sauber has been on an upward drive this season with Leclerc scoring 13 points and Ericsson adding three to bring the tally to a total of 16 for the Swiss team – they have already surpassed the five they scored last year.