Antonio Giovinazzi on learning from Raikkonen, his unusual route to F1, and how fast food shaped his career

Tom Clarkson introduces Antonio Giovinazzi as Italy's only current Formula 1 driver and the first Italian on the grid since Tonio Liuzzi in 2011. His path was unusually difficult: his family could not fund a full junior career, so he raced in China before returning to Europe and narrowly missing the 2016 GP2 title to Pierre Gasly. Ferrari development backing, support from the late Sergio Marchionne, and extensive simulator work eventually led to a 2017 substitute appearance for Sauber and a full-time Alfa Romeo seat in 2019. Clarkson notes that Giovinazzi scored Alfa's only points of the 2020 season so far with ninth in Austria.

Recorded at Spa-Francorchamps before Giovinazzi's major 2020 crash, the interview begins with his love for the circuit. He calls it the best track for an F1 car and says the first run through Eau Rouge still makes his stomach feel as though he is on a roller coaster; after two or three laps, the corner becomes flat and the sensation normal. Clarkson asks whether he went flat through Eau Rouge on his first Friday lap, forgetting that Giovinazzi's engine problem meant he did not run. Giovinazzi says he had done it in F2, and that modern cars make the first lap easier because their aerodynamic grip turns Eau Rouge into almost a straight.

With Alfa Romeo lacking the pace to reach Q3 regularly, Giovinazzi says his central battle is with teammate Kimi Raikkonen, because they drive the same car and Raikkonen is a former world champion with enormous experience. He is pleased to qualify close to or ahead of Kimi and values the cooperative relationship they maintain for the team's benefit. Giovinazzi says Kimi's refusal to give up is the biggest lesson: even when the car struggles, he keeps pushing. In race data, Kimi stands out for managing tires, fuel, and the entire race distance, often recovering a 10- or 12-second deficit by the finish. Both drivers sometimes sleep before qualifying or racing to relax.

Giovinazzi says his two years as Ferrari's third driver did not reduce his outright speed, since he continued FP1 sessions and tests, but they weakened his racecraft. When he returned to F1, he struggled with first-lap wheel-to-wheel fights and overtaking even though qualifying pace against Kimi was close. He contrasts that with his GP2 reputation as a strong overtaker. Repeated racing gradually restored what he calls “Antonio,” and he now sees himself regularly gaining positions on lap one. He agrees with Clarkson that confidence was central: F1 contains only the best drivers, who do not give a returning driver easy opportunities.

Giovinazzi explains that pressure was built into his career because his father could not pay for seasons. A karting team and later Mr. Golliat supported him, but Giovinazzi knew that if he was not fast enough, those sponsors could replace him. Becoming a Ferrari driver added another layer: as an Italian connected to Ferrari, he felt expected to remain constantly on message and under scrutiny. He nevertheless describes signing with Ferrari in 2016 as a dream come true. His belief is that top drivers learn to handle pressure from Formula 4 onward, when academies judge every result and a poor run can end a career.

Giovinazzi corrects Clarkson's assumption that he was the first driver from his area, explaining that Tonio Liuzzi grew up five kilometers away in Locorotondo. His own passion began at age three, when his father gave him a go-kart after noticing that he could identify car brands from a distance. He was initially frightened by the engine, but returned the next day and began driving around the garden. His father worked during the week and sought sponsorship from companies he visited, then drove Giovinazzi 90 minutes to the track every weekend. When Antonio later called to say he had secured his F1 seat, his father cried on the phone.

At 18, Giovinazzi moved to Indonesia for seven or eight months because it was his only route into Formula racing. He lived with Sean Gelael, whom he regards as a brother, and with Gelael's family, whose KFC franchise covered Indonesia helped finance his career. Giovinazzi jokingly says he ate a lot of KFC while learning English from Sean, and that he became more recognizable in Indonesia than in Italy because he appeared throughout the KFC network. Ricardo Gelael had promised in 2011 to support him through Formula 2, and Giovinazzi credits him with making a professional car-racing career possible rather than leaving him in karting.

Giovinazzi describes Sergio Marchionne as one of the smartest and most direct people he met. Marchionne strongly wanted him inside the Ferrari family after Giovinazzi's successful 2016 GP2 season, including a win at Monza, and Giovinazzi says that support brought him to Ferrari. As a reserve driver, he rented a house near Maranello and spent much of 2017, sometimes Monday through Friday, in the simulator. Because in-season testing was restricted, the simulator was central to developing the car; Giovinazzi says the work taught him to describe the car more clearly and exposed him to Ferrari's best engineers. He still cannot know whether Marchionne would have put him in Ferrari for 2021.

After Ferrari selected Carlos Sainz for 2021, team principal Mattia Binotto called Giovinazzi immediately. Giovinazzi says Binotto believed it was not the right moment for him, and he accepts that he needed a stronger record before taking Ferrari's seat. His fifth place in Brazil was not enough, in his view, and he does not want the opportunity merely because he is Italian or has influential supporters; he wants to deserve it. He also suggests Ferrari may have been protecting him from the intense Italian media pressure that could have destroyed his reputation after a few poor races. The dream remains open, and he says he will not give up.

Giovinazzi's first F1 start came with almost no warning. On Friday night in Melbourne, a message from Maurizio Arrivabene said he might race for Sauber the next day; Giovinazzi initially thought he was dreaming. He had only FP3 to learn the track while completing high- and low-fuel programs, then nearly reached Q2 and finished the weekend exhausted, even sleeping through Ferrari's first-class flight home. China was the opposite: fog canceled Friday running, he crashed in the final qualifying corner, then aquaplaned on the main straight after switching to dry tires and crashed again. The media went from calling him a future Ferrari driver to focusing on “the guy who crashed twice.”

After China, Giovinazzi says he was emotionally destroyed and feared that the crashes had ended his chance. He returned to his Ferrari simulator role, sometimes working 10 or 12 hours, trained as though he were still racing, and refused to become angry with Ferrari for not immediately giving him another opportunity. FP1 sessions for Haas were difficult because a reserve driver receives an awkward program and must challenge teammates who already know the car, but he used rookie tests to show more of his speed, setting the fastest Ferrari times at Jerez and Barcelona and second in Bahrain. He believes those sacrifices eventually helped restore him to the 2019 F1 grid.

Giovinazzi says his 2019 season improved after he studied his weak race pace during the summer. At Spa he found the confidence and overtaking ability he had been missing, including a pass on Ricciardo, and felt quicker than Kimi before an engine failure; he then crashed on the final lap while running strongly. Later results included ninth at Monza, fifth in Brazil, and a memorable Singapore spell. Because of differing strategies, he saw “P1” on the pit board and led the Grand Prix for four laps, becoming the first driver outside Mercedes, Ferrari, or Red Bull to lead a race since 2015. The team even made a shirt commemorating it.

Giovinazzi says he races because he loves both driving an F1 car beyond its limit and competing; he dislikes losing and even admits he has stopped speaking to friends for months after losing games. Basketball is his weakness, partly because Sean Gelael used to wake him at 5:30 a.m. to play. He keeps long hair because he dislikes short cuts, despite spending nearly an hour drying it after races, and has bet himself that he will cut it only after reaching an F1 podium. A bee became his lucky symbol after appearing near him before a strong result in Austria; he now has one on his helmet. He also collects roughly 15 or 16 pairs of white trainers.

Giovinazzi likes Monaco because it is calm, sunny, and close to the sea, fitting his routine of home, gym, and occasional restaurants. He sometimes spends time with Charles Leclerc and Daniil Kvyat, and cycles in the hills. He looks forward to Italy's unusually busy 2020 schedule at Monza, Mugello, and Imola, calling Mugello's Arrabbiata corners demanding and recalling how frightening they felt on a two-seat MotoGP bike with Randy Mamola. Valentino Rossi is his broader sporting hero for winning on two wheels while remaining entertaining, while Michael Schumacher first drew him toward F1 through Ferrari. Giovinazzi says rallying, especially on snow, is another discipline he would like to try.

After the interview, Clarkson reads feedback on the previous episode about Jochen Rindt. Andy Page praises the episode's accounts from Jackie Stewart, Bernie Ecclestone, and Helmut Marko, while Noel Cuddy says a subject that sounded boring turned out to be brilliantly handled and emotionally revealing. Uwe Super calls the episode incredibly moving and marvels that 81-year-old Jackie Stewart can recall details from five decades ago more precisely than he can remember where he parked his car. Clarkson agrees that Stewart is a legend, jokes about losing cars in multistory car parks, and recommends the show's earlier Stewart interview.