Antonio Giovinazzi eked out his first F1 point in Austrian GP in a double for Alfa Romeo Racing as Frederic Vasseur won the haircut bet.
It was not only Giovinazzi’s first F1 point but Alfa Romeo scored its first double in the 2019 season to have 22 in their kitty and be sixth in the standings after the nine grand prix races, with Kimi Raikkonen ending up ninth and the Italian in 10th.
Both started inside the Top 10 as Raikkonen had a solid start to be fourth at one point before losing out to five other drivers including a recovering McLaren’s Carlos Sainz, who even got Giovinazzi. The Italian had Racing Point’s Sergio Perez on his tail though.
But he fended off well to finally get the one point. In doing so, he lost a bet to team principal Vasseur, who said that he will cut the hairs of Giovinazzi when he scores a point. The Frenchman did it after some chasing in the motorhome post the F1 grand prix.
“I’m so happy to score my first point,” said Giovinazzi. “It’s a great feeling and it’s a big weight off my shoulders. I think this is the maximum we could have done so I’m really pleased to have two cars in the top ten.
“We had a really positive qualifying, but the race was very difficult. Perez was right behind me for most of the afternoon and the pressure was heavy, but I really wanted this point. I feel a lot of our work has been rewarded, but we have to continue moving forward.
“Since France we have done a step in the right direction and we have to keep it up.” After few races out of position, Alfa Romeo looks back on track in the last two F1 races with points for Raikkonen in both of them as he sits inside the Top 10 of drivers’ standings.
“We can be satisfied with scoring points, it was a good result for the team,” said Raikkonen. “I had a good start and the first laps were pretty ok, but then it became a bit more difficult. I felt I lacked a bit of speed to challenge the cars around me.
“And when I did have it, I had to be careful with the tyres. It was a balancing act, trying to keep the tyres alive long enough while still going fast enough. It was a bit of a shame but in the end we got a good result. We still have margin to improve.”
Meanwhile, Vasseur added: “I am very pleased with the work we did. We put two cars in the points for the first time this season and we showed again we can compete towards the front of the midfield. Both Kimi and Antonio raced intelligently.
“They knew when to attack and when to look after their tyres, and to have both scoring is a reward for the whole team. We could have perhaps scored a few more points in the end, when we were catching Sainz with both cars.
“But in the end we can be satisfied of what we got. We have been showing improvement in the last few races, so we will aim to build on that and continue our good run of points.” They are not three points up on Racing Point and five on Toro Rosso.
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