In the round-up: Alfa Romeo driver Antonio Giovinazzi is looking to make the same gains in the 2021 season he made between his first two years in Formula 1.
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What they say
Giovinazzi is beginning his third year alongside Kimi Raikkonen at Alfa Romeo, and his main aim is self-improvement in all areas.
From my side it is still to improve myself, like a driver. It’s my third season, so I want to grow up like a driver, like I did from first season to second season. Improve. I want to do another step forward also in this season. So I will have more experience, everything will look more simple, more normal, and I can focus more on my side and improving in different things.
The race pace is where I can still improve. I think I did a great step forward last year, but I can still improve. But of course also the qualifying: you want always more and more.
Also from last year I was quite strong on the first lap on the start, but I want more, and just improving myself. I think it’s good again on the third season with Kimi, that we know each other. And I can still improve myself looking also at Kimi what he’s doing, because he is a driver with a lot of experience.
Links
More motor racing links of interest:
Zak Brown won't offer Hamilton a career swansong at McLaren (MailOnline)
Brown reveals why he wouldn't offer Lewis Hamilton a swansong in 2022 if he doesn't stay at Mercedes.
The second generation Tatuus F4 has been unveiled (Italiaracing)
Italiaracing is able to show, in preview, the renders of the new second generation Tatuus Formula 4 single-seater (in Italian)
ERA Championship launches California winter bootcamp for young racing drivers (ERA Championship)
A four-week programme in January 2022 that will include racing in the first electric junior single-seater car
Barcelona - Test Day 1: Pasma, Saucy and Quinn (FRECA)
On the first of the two days of testing at the Spanish circuit, among the 32 drivers challenging themselves in the new series, the fastest of the day was the Finn Patrik Pasma.
F1 asked to hold inquiry into alleged human rights abuses in Bahrain (The Guardian)
Formula 1 has been urged to carry out an independent inquiry into allegations of human rights abuses associated with the Bahrain Grand Prix
Max Verstappen title would be Red Bull's best yet, says Horner (Reuters)
Max Verstappen ending the record reign of world champion Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes this year would rank as Red Bull’s biggest achievement to date in F1, according to team boss Christian Horner
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Comment of the day
Lewis Hamilton revealed he approached Bahraini officials about humans rights abuse in the country and it created a wider discussion about F1 drivers have previously raised concerns about where they are racing, but Pironi the Provocateur says what Hamilton is doing goes beyond his predecessors:
To all the naysayers (and I belong to them many times), this should be actually applauded. If Hamilton raised these concerns to official representatives, then it’s a bit more than just proclamations. Well done to him.
@Pironitheprovocateur
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Tristan (@skipgamer)
26th March 2021, 0:29
That chosen headline from the Daily Mail article is just clickbait. I braved the ad ridden site just to find out that “of course” Zak would offer Lewis a spot if he had one. 🤦♂️
Also the Reuters article is mislinked to the FIA.
hunocsi (@hunocsi)
26th March 2021, 1:17
Were last year’s results published? I don’t remember seeing them.
Mark (@melmgreen)
26th March 2021, 5:31
Nope.
And @keithcollantine still missing the prize for the last gp. Despite writing Keith a couple of times.
ColdFly (@)
26th March 2021, 7:41
If only there were a button to have him read your comment :P
You’re welcome ;)
Aapje (@aapje)
26th March 2021, 16:42
@melmgreen
I never got my price for a GP win either, but that was from the year before.
David BR (@david-br)
26th March 2021, 2:43
It’s how the Mail – totally looking out for the interests of black people everywhere of course – sell the story but actually Brown is saying he would sign Lewis if the contract was for more than a year or two. It’s more a case of him stating his conditions. Much more interesting is his conviction that Russell and Verstappen will be at Mercedes in 2022. So convinced you wonder if it’s insider knowledge. But where would that leave Red Bull?
Cristiano Ferreira
26th March 2021, 4:04
Maybe Red Bull will sign Ricciardo again, alogside someone from their junior squad, be it Tsunoda or Gasly. Even Perez can stay at Red Bull if he manages to not get utterly destroyed by Verstappen.
I know that Ricciardo signed for 3 years with McLaren but contracts in F1 are meant to be broken as soon as possible. I would not rule out the possibility that his contract with McLaren can be broken if any of the top teams come looking for him.
And there’s Alonso too.
BasCB (@bascb)
26th March 2021, 7:11
Thank you @david-br for correcting this impression. I am glad that now I don’t have to read the Mail to find that out myself!
Omar R (@)
26th March 2021, 3:37
Giovinazzi is, in my opinion, another solid driver in the midfield, who seems to be bound to just stay in the midfield. True that he has matched Raikkonen more recently, but not every race is Kimi giving his all. Giovinazzi will end up like Di Resta, Ericsson and so many other drivers who gathered some points and didn’t live to the promise.
macaque (@macaque)
26th March 2021, 5:32
Or at most he could aspire to be like Hulkenberg.
Klon (@)
26th March 2021, 6:14
Beating Kimi isn’t an achievement, it’s a baseline requirement to be worthy of a F1 seat. The fact that Giovinazzi has continuously failed to do so shows how little talent he has to work with. Gio should thank his lucky stars F2 is full of trash because that is the only reason he is still around.
Ben (@scuderia29)
26th March 2021, 7:23
The predictions championship was a real non starter last year, shame because past years have been enjoyable, hopefully it will be more like years gone before this time, we just need post race points, positions, prize winners etc
Jere (@jerejj)
26th March 2021, 9:56
He has to because otherwise, he might lose his drive to someone like Shwartzman unless Kimi finally leaves.
Rodber
26th March 2021, 12:53
GIO has been competitive against Kimi on a fair number of Saturdays, but on race day when the points are handed out he has well and truly lagged behind. The fact that he matched Kiimi on points last season was really down to a fluke result he achieved when Kimi DNFd.
He is as proud of his one lap speed in quali as he is of his designer beard and pony tail. What that indicates I’m not so sure ……