Antonio Giovinazzi
Before the 2018 Formula 1 season began, Ferrari tried to get Sauber to sign both Charles Leclerc and Antonio Giovinazzi this season to effectively create a Ferrari B-team. They did end up signing Leclerc, but they retained Marcus Ericsson as opposed to signing Giovinazzi.
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Giovinazzi, 24, drove in two races for Sauber as the replacement for the injured Pascal Wehrlein at the start of the 2017 season. He finished in 12th in the season opener, the Australian Grand Prix, and he crashed out of his second and most recent race, the Chinese Grand Prix.
Giovinazzi also test drove for Sauber, Haas and Ferrari last season, so given the fact that Ferrari urged Sauber to sign him, they clearly liked what they saw from him in his two races and in his time as a test driver.
However, Giovinazzi is listed as a longshot candidate to replace Kimi Raikkonen in this article due to the fact that he has driven in only two races in his Formula 1 career and there are several other candidates who have far more experience than he does who are also in the mix for Ferrari to sign.
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Which driver will ultimately end up joining Sebastian Vettel at Scuderia Ferrari in the 2019 Formula 1 season and perhaps longer? Will that driver be one of the five drivers discussed in this article? We should know more about this situation as the season progresses.