Could Ferrari test driver Antonio Giovinazzi potentially end up driving for Scuderia Ferrari in the 2019 Formula 1 season?
Antonio Giovinazzi, 24, has never had a full-time ride in Formula 1, but Scuderia Ferrari like the potential that he has shown. Giovinazzi test drove for both Ferrari and Haas in the 2017 season in addition to driving two races, his first two career Formula 1 races, for Sauber early in the year.
In fact, Ferrari pushed Sauber to sign Giovinazzi to a deal for the 2018 Formula 1 season, but Sauber ultimately re-signed 27-year-old Marcus Ericsson, who has driven for the team since the start of the 2015 season, instead.
Sauber did, however, replace 23-year-old Pascal Wehrlein with 20-year-old Charles Leclerc, a driver whom Ferrari also pushed Sauber to sign. However, as stated, that did still leave Giovinazzi without a ride for the 2018 season.
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With Kimi Raikkonen’s third consecutive one-year deal with Ferrari set to expire at the end of the 2018 season, is there a chance that Giovinazzi could be his replacement? This is definitely a longshot given the fact that he does not have a full-time ride this season and other potential replacement candidates such as Leclerc, Sergio Perez and Daniel Ricciardo do, but it is still a possibility.
In his two Formula 1 starts for Sauber in the 2017 season, which he made as a substitute driver for the injured Wehrlein, Giovinazzi finished in 12th place in the Australian Grand Prix and was forced to retire as a result of a nasty wreck early on in the Chinese Grand Prix.
One knock against him is that he has been known to wreck. Here is a video of that wreck in the Chinese Grand Prix.
The fact that Ferrari wanted Sauber to sign Giovinazzi to a contract in the 2018 Formula 1 season to essentially make Sauber the Ferrari B-team shows that they know how talented he is. He could definitely get a chance to drive for Ferrari in the 2019 Formula 1 season as a result of that if Raikkonen leaves, although he should not be considered a front-runner for that seat.
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Do you think Antonio Giovinazzi has a chance to be signed by Scuderia Ferrari for the 2019 Formula 1 season, or do you think they will either hang on to Kimi Raikkonen or replace him with a different driver such as Charles Leclerc, Sergio Perez or Daniel Ricciardo? It will be interesting to see how this situation unfolds.