Did Antonio Giovanazzi just lose his seat?

What a complicated start to the season for the Italian. After a promising end to the 2019 season that saw him gain an advantage over his teammate Kim Räikkönen, 2020 is really not going well.

Firstly, Antonio Giovinazzi is no longer the most performant driver at Alfa Romeo. Admittedly, he remains the fastest in qualifying, but only by a tenth most of the time. Moreover, the Finn has regained the advantage in this exercise since Spain, doing so in a much more dominant fashion with at least a three-tenths lead, if not nine-tenths as in Catalonia, where for the first time this season, the 2007 world champion managed to get an Alfa Romeo into Q2.

In racing, there is no debate; Räikkönen is the best driver of the Hinwill team. The Finnish driver has beaten his garage neighbor 4 times even though he often started behind. Even if Giovanazzi is the only driver in the team to have scored points, it must be acknowledged that it was mainly due to a completely crazy Austrian Grand Prix. A race in which Räikkönen could also have scored points if his left front wheel hadn’t come off in the last moments of the race.

But then what is the future of the Italian in Formula 1?

Since his arrival in 2019, Antonio Giovinazzi has been under pressure from Mick Schumacher, who has been given an additional year due to a poor season in the feeder series of Formula 1. Unfortunately for the Italian, not only is Mick Schumacher now knocking on the door, but also Robert Schwartzman and Callum Ilott, who are currently 1st and 2nd in the F2 championship, are real candidates for a seat in the premier category of motorsport next season.

All the more so because his future also depends on Räikkönen’s decision to stay next year or not. We saw it once again this weekend with the Finn’s 12th place; he hasn’t lost his speed, and his experience makes him a key element of the team in helping to improve the car. A technical feedback that Giovinazzi doesn’t necessarily have with only a year and a half of experience.

Less fast and less effective at development, Giovanazzi is more than ever on an ejection seat, and now there are only 10 races left for the Italian to prove that he deserves his place in the team and make the young Ferrari drivers in F2 wait a bit longer. Unfortunately, this silly crash in Belgium, which Giovanazzi had accustomed us to, must not happen again, otherwise, he might as well start packing his bags.