Alfa Romeo Finds More Criticisms From Italy Over Poor Antonio Giovinazzi Treatment

Antonio Giovinazzi finished P11 in Mexico. A respectable result for the Alfa Romeo, but it could’ve been much better if not for his race strategy. Recently, the President of the Italian Automobile Club, Angelo Sticchi Damiani, criticized the Alfa Romeo team and their treatment of the only Italian driver on the grid.

“The question of Antonio Giovinazzi is an open wound,” Damiani said.

“Because the bad luck was joined by a treatment by Alfa Romeo Racing which penalized him compared to his teammate, in the last race this was evident.” (Translated by Google Translate)

In Mexico, Giovinazzi had the best chance of finishing in points since his single point scoring P10 finish in Monaco.

But to the horror of the Italian driver, all his hopes of a finish in points were crushed by a questionable strategy by his team and he finished P11 while his teammate, Kimi Raikkonen, finished P8.

Antonio Giovinazzi voiced his frustration with his team

Instead of swallowing the miscalculation of strategy by his team, Giovinazzi openly expressed his feelings on his radio as well as after the race.

“Hey guys, thanks for the great strategy,” he sarcastically messaged on the radio.

After the race, the Alfa Romeo driver opened up on his distaste with his team even more.

“I’m just really disappointed because today we had the chance to score points with two cars,” he said as reported by Autosport.

“..on my side, the strategy was completely wrong. We pitted too early, but I don’t think was the issue. The issue was that when I came out, I was in traffic. And the strategy didn’t work. So, yeah, just really disappointed.”

Alfa Romeo’s Team Principal Fred Vasseur explained the reason the strategy didn’t work. He explained it was because of the pace of Valtteri Bottas and Daniel Ricciardo, which surprised them.

“Honestly the strategy was not stupid at this stage, but it didn’t work, because we didn’t expect Ricciardo and Bottas would be so slow.”

Currently, Antonio Giovinazzi is set to be replaced by the Chinese driver Guanyo Zhou and will probably have no seat in the coming season.

Also Read: Ferrari Take a Thinly-Veiled Dig at Alfa Romeo F1 After They ‘Ruin’ Antonio Giovinazzi’s Race at Mexico