Ferrari give Giovinazzi simulator run

2016 F1 season

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Leading GP2 driver Antonio Giovinazzi has been given an opportunity to drive Ferrari’s Formula One simulator.

Giovinazzi, whose fourth GP2 win on Saturday gives the rookie more victories than any other driver so far this year, visited the Maranello team today.

“It was a very enjoyable experience and I would like to thank Ferrari for this opportunity,” said Gionvinazzi following his run. “However, now it’s straight back to concentrating fully on my GP2 programme for the rest of this season.”

Ferrari’s young driver programme was hit by the death of Jules Bianchi following a crash at the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix. Bianchi was in his second year of Formula One and was considered a potential future Ferrari driver.

The Italian team then parted ways with Giovinazzi’s GP2 rival Raffaele Marciello at the beginning of this season. Giovinazzi won Saturday’s Monza race after passing Marciello on the final lap.

Ferrari has GP3 championship leader Charles Leclerc among its roster of junior drivers.

Giovinazzi lies ten points behind Prema team mate and championship leader Pierre Gasly, who is backed by Red Bull, with four races remaining.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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21 comments on “Ferrari give Giovinazzi simulator run”

  1. This guy is quick, and I was hoping a team would give him a go. All the better that it’s Ferrari! We are well overdue an Italian in F1 again.

  2. This guy has been superb in his first season of GP2. Really hope that he wins the title in his debut season. Even Vandoorne didn’t do that, and he is also a mega talent!

    1. I totally agree with you. He has been having an outstanding rookie year and it’s not over yet. He really is a good driver and has some great (clean) moves up his sleeve. I may not be Italian, but I respect great driving skills.

  3. He is definitely the surprise of this GP2 season. I watched some of his races in Euro F3 and thought he was a solid driver, but surely not a mega talent. In contrast to Marciello, who absolutely dominated the F3 championship and sunk into the midfield in GP2.
    So Giovinazzi’s GP2-campaign was truly astonishing so far. Regularly matching his teammate, who is probably the fastest driver on the current GP2-grid, and winning 4 races (thus far) in his rookie season is quite an achievement. Fingers crossed he’s gonna win the title.
    With Ferrari backing him there will be plenty of opportunities to put him in a F1 car (testing for Ferrari or FP outings in a Sauber or Haas).

    1. @srga91 ironically enough it might be better for him not to win the GP2 title yet. Gasly either winning or coming in second, he will probably be promoted to F1 anyway, so for Gasly it wouldn’t make that much of a difference.
      But for Giovinazzi, I’m not sure his chances on securing a seat for next year are so big. So if he wins the GP2 title, what’s he going to do next? It might be better to not win, and drive another season in GP2.

      That being said, Gasly has had rotten luck this year. With the lost points of the tyre extinguisher farce together with those of Monza where he really deserved the victory, he would have the title practically sewn up already (and would be leading in the number of wins battle too).
      As it stands, Gasly does deserve to win the title.

      1. @mattds
        I disagree. If Giovinazzi wins the title, Ferrari will make sure he gets a drive for 2017, either with Haas or Sauber.
        Both Prema drivers have had their fair share of bad luck this season, not just Gasly.
        If Gasly can’t beat his teammate, who is still a rookie, then he doesn’t deserve the title.

        1. I have to agree with you – yes, whilst it is true that Gasly has had a few moments of bad luck, at the same time you could make the same argument for others in the field too (for example, you could say that Giovinazzi was unlucky to be demoted from the front row to the back of the grid in Monza). Even with some of those moments of bad luck, you would still expect Gasly to be doing better than he is given the experience advantage he has over his rivals, not to mention that he has the resources of the Red Bull Junior team backing him up.

          1. Well anon, Giovinazzi didn’t have bad luck to be demoted in Monza as there was not a single consequence in the title battle. In fact, the strategy he was given as a result probably helped him as he hadn’t stopped yet by the time the SC came out and so his demotion in hindsight was an advantage, not a disadvantage.

            @srga91 the point is that he _can_ beat Giovinazzi and he would be far ahead in the standings if it wasn’t for some rotten luck (and no, Giovinazzi hasn’t lost nowhere near as much points as Gasly). Gasly has recovered every time – it’s not fair to expect a driver to keep overcoming bad luck because if he doesn’t “he doesn’t deserve it”.

      2. Giovanazzi has has a few points down the pan too. It’s the old thing of maybe if this thing hadn’t happened, or maybe that thing didn’t break, it’s just impossible, what’s happened, has happened. But they are both showing some great talent.

        1. @thebullwhipper there’s a difference between a few points and loads of it. I mean we’re talking 60-ish points just from the top of my mind, and also crucial is Giovinazzi having some really good luck too at times when I can’t really remember situations where Gasly was on the receiving end of some good luck.

  4. I’ve been closely watching GP2 fro the third year now and this year he’s by far the guy I’m the most impressed with. Obviously excellent F1 material , good for him if he can enter the Ferrari academy!

    1. Agreed, though it has to be said the field this year isn’t great. But he should get a chance at Ferrari, now that fuoco seem to have stallen a bit.

      1. i thought this years grid was really good, sure some drivers should leave place for new talents*cogh* De jong, pic, Canamasas *cogh*

        1. @marussi not really @thetick is right. All the favorites have strenghts but also big weaknesses: sirotkin, gasly, lynn, rowland,… They all messed up quite big at some point. Gasly should be trashing Giovinazzi but the rookie could very well end in front of his teammate and has a good shot at winning the championship.

  5. Cool. Me and a couple of mates are playing playstation tonight as well!

    All joking aside though, if there not going to let teams test young drivers privately they need a few more young driver days. Even with the most complicated software you cant get the feel of the car, the forces, the tyres etc etc etc.

  6. Last Italian to win a GP: Giancarlo Fisichella (Malaysia 2006, for Renault)

    Last Italian to win a GP in a Ferrari: Ludovico Scarfiotti (1966, in Monza of course)

    Last Italian WDC: Alberto Ascari (with Ferrari of course)

    These records are long overdue, go Giovinazzi!!

    1. Last Italian to win a GP in a Ferrari was Michele Alboreto (Germany) in 1985.

      Agree with you that these records are long overdue and go Giovinazzi.

      1. OK, didn’t get it right. Correction:

        Last Italian to win a GP in a Ferrari: Michele Alboreto (Germany 1985).

        Last Italian to win the Monza GP in a Ferrari: Ludovico Scarfiotti (1966).

    2. petebaldwin (@)
      6th September 2016, 14:27

      It’s amazing to think that for a country with such a rich history of F1 racing, the last Italian champion was Ascari and the last Italian to win in a Ferrari was over 30 years ago….

  7. It would be good to see an Italian driver in a Ferrari again. Kind of poetic. Will probably take a couple of years at least. Would love to see someone British in one as well one day.

  8. petebaldwin (@)
    6th September 2016, 14:34

    He’s really impressed me when I’ve seen him this season and it’d be great to see an Italian in a Ferrari so I hope it plays out well for him. Ferrari earn enough to cover the sponsorship money from Guiterrez and put Giovinazzi in the Haas instead so hopefully that might be his way into F1.

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