Antonio Giovinazzi to take part in winter testing in place of Pascal Wehrlein
Sauber confirmed today that Antonnio Giovinazzi will take part in pre-season testing in Barcelona next week, replacing Pascal Wehrlein.
The new Sauber team driver, Pascal Wehrlein, will not take part in the tests at the Barcelona circuit. The German still needs to recover from his accident during the Race of Champions, held in Miami last January.
It was obviously impossible for Marcus Ericsson to handle the testing alone, as the new single-seaters are more physically demanding than before. The Hinwil team thus chose the 2016 GP2 vice-champion, the Italian Antonio Giovinazzi, to replace him in the C36 alongside Marcus Ericsson. It’s highly likely that the team had to negotiate with Ferrari to borrow the Italian, who has been the Scuderia’s third driver since the beginning of the year. However, the engine partnership between the two parties surely made things easier.
Antonio Giovinazzi will replace Pascal Wehrlein in first pre-season test in Barcelona https://t.co/9mxewZeP3r #F1 pic.twitter.com/ykqUXU9Il3
— Sauber F1 Team (@SauberF1Team) February 24, 2017
The Swiss team announced that this replacement only concerns the first week of testing for now and that a new assessment of their driver’s physical condition would soon take place to determine if he is able to return to his seat.
