Antonio Giovinazzi’s ninth place at the Italian Grand Prix saved his seat at Alfa Romeo for 2020, team boss Fred Vasseur claims.
The former GP2 runner-up struggled to make an impact alongside Kimi Raikkonen after getting his first full-time drive in Formula 1 last season, scoring just a solitary point before the summer break compared to the Finn’s 31.
At the Belgian GP at Spa, however, Giovinazzi was running ninth in the very closing stages only to lose it through Pouhon, a crash which put his future into doubt.
“It was a big shock for everybody in the team because it was a good opportunity,” Vasseur told Motorsport. “Antonio came back from nowhere and on the penultimate lap, he had the crash.
“We had a tough discussion with Antonio because it is this kind of thing can decide your career. We were thinking about the future, we had to sit down the week after and we had to discuss about the situation and he had a very good reaction [at Monza].
“A lot of pressure, tons of guests, Alfa Romeo’s home race, he had the press conference so plenty of questions about Spa. I think he did a very good job, the pressure was there.
“In Monza and Singapore he did well – it was good to have Antonio leading the race [in Singapore]. It was a very good reaction.”
At the time, the news had recently broken of Nico Hulkenberg’s exit from Renault and Alfa Romeo was one of the first options mentioned due to his association with Vasseur and Giovinazzi’s lack of results.
But also notable was how the Italian had started to gain the upper hand over Raikkonen, particularly in qualifying.
“In my mind, it was very important how Antonio reacted in Monza,” Vasseur reiterated. “That was the real push.
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“The issue for Antonio was we were down on performance when he was on top. You can be in front of your teammate but [it is noticed less] if it’s for P14 or P15. If it’s sixth or seventh, everyone’s speaking about you.
“One thing is to show to the team and the other one is to score points because for you, for the paddock, everybody is just focused on results.
“It is difficult to have a proper analysis if you’re not involved in the day-by-day. Somehow you relieve a weight from the shoulders.”
Giovinazzi ended 2019 by following Raikkonen to claim his best F1 finish in fifth following the crazy conclusion to the Brazilian GP at Interlagos.