Giovinazzi refused to let Räikkönen pass in Turkey
Antonio Giovinazzi did not follow a team order last Sunday. An attitude that may have cost one or two points for Alfa Romeo as well as the Italian's seat?
Apart from at the midway point, the two Alfa Romeo drivers did not part ways throughout the entire Grand Prix last Sunday in Turkey. Towards the end of the race, the two teammates closed in on Daniel Ricciardo’s McLaren but did not have enough time to try to snatch the tenth position (synonymous with entering the points) held by Esteban Ocon. Was Antonio Giovinazzi’s attitude the cause of this missed opportunity once again? This is at least what Xevi Pujolar, the head of track engineering at Alfa Romeo, revealed on the official Formula 1 website.
« We asked Antonio to swap positions at the end of the race, but Antonio picked up the pace and decided to stay ahead. There was only one lap left to catch Ocon, so it wasn’t ideal for the team, so I didn’t understand why we didn’t switch positions at that time ». Pujolar continues. « Obviously, when you have two cars following each other, we can swap positions depending on the situation. It was important to be able to score points, especially because Kimi’s pace was high ». Räikkönen had indeed closed a gap of over twelve seconds with his teammate in just a few laps (between the 46th and 53rd laps).
Will this refusal to obey instructions work against Giovinazzi? The Italian has still not been confirmed at Alfa Romeo for 2022. The native of Martina Franca could well be replaced by a young Formula 2 driver such as Oscar Piastri, the Chinese Guanyu Zhou, or even Théo Pourchaire. The team is expected to announce Valtteri Bottas’s future teammate in the coming weeks, maybe even in the next few days.
