Antonio Giovinazzi, Alfa Romeo, Interlagos, 2019

Pressure over 2020 seat gave Giovinazzi “an extra boost”

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In the round-up: Antonio Giovinazzi says the pressure to secure his seat for the 2020 F1 season spurred him on in the second half of last season.

What they say

Giovinazzi’s place at Alfa Romeo this season wasn’t confirmed until November last year. He said he is familiar with the pressure to deliver in order to secure his place in F1:

Pressure is always there, to be honest. I know I have a contract [for 2020], but I need to be fast all the time because guys behind are pushing to come in F1 and I want to show to my team and other teams that I’m good.

These are my main targets as well also for next year. Now I have already one year of experience I need to push really hard and try to be consistent and be fast and try to get a lot of points for the team.

Before, I always raced with pressure. I never had the potential of money or name beside me. I’ve always been under pressure with[out] a sponsor who pays me and drivers who want my seat. So I’ve always been like that. And maybe that pressure gave me an extra boost I would say for the second part of the season.

Quotes: Dieter Rencken

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Comment of the day

How did Michael Masi perform in his first season as F1 race director?

To have been thrown in at the deep end as he was, I think Masi did a pretty reasonable job.

Given time, as in this year, I believe he’ll grow in confidence and be more assured when making decisions. Hopefully the stewards this year will make more consistent calls and not leave him hung out to try and explain their rationale.

Good luck to him. He had enormous boots to fill and I doubt anyone would have done any better.
DB-C90 (@Dbradock)

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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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6 comments on “Pressure over 2020 seat gave Giovinazzi “an extra boost””

  1. That sucks seeing Bob Varsha battling cancer. He was the voice of F1 in the US during the 2000s. A lot of great memories of watching those races with his commentary. Best of luck to him.

  2. Varsha was on long before the 2000s. I consider him the voice of F1 in the US.

  3. Cotd is glossing over a few incidents, such as the Peroni accident. Masi was thrown in at the deep end and it shows, fom and the fia should have known better, careless to leave so much responsibility down to a single individual.

    1. Sushi Meerkat
      7th January 2020, 8:30

      Out of interest, Which individuals would have been better suited than Masi?

      I disagree that it should be multiple people, it would have put an even bigger spotlight on any discrepancies, fans would put out one race directors biases over another from race to race.

  4. Good luck getting through that Bob Varsha.

  5. From the Autosport-article:
    ”Mercedes’ current race drivers, Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas, are out of contract at the end of 2020, while Russell and Mercedes’ other top protege, Esteban Ocon, are signed with Williams and Renault for this season.”
    – Ocon isn’t that anymore, though. He’s going to be 100% Renault-driver with Mercedes having zero control/rights on him, so more like a former-protege.

    I agree with the COTD. All things considered, he fared well.

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