Giovinazzi will try to follow Raikkonen's F1 driving style in 2019
Alfa Romeo driver Antonio Giovinazzi is willing to try to follow Kimi Raikkonen's driving style this year because it would be a "mistake" for him to ignore his team-mate's experience
Giovinazzi has earned a full-time F1 drive at the rebadged Sauber team alongside 2007 world champion Raikkonen, who lost his Ferrari seat to Charles Leclerc.
After sampling Alfa's C38 for the first time on day two of pre-season testing at Barcelona, Giovinazzi said he will try to drive like Raikkonen to help further the team's development.
"I think it will be a mistake to do it a different way from him," said Giovinazzi when asked by Autosport if their driving styles were similar or if he would go in his own direction.
"Now my target is to work from him, learn from him.
"The right thing for the team as well is to go in the same way, and also it's maybe better for myself to go in Kimi's way, and drive in Kimi's way.
"Just [to] make it a lot easier also for the team."
After two years of development work for Ferrari on the team's simulator and various on-track opportunities with the Maranello squad and Sauber, Giovinazzi said working for himself in pre-season testing made a good change.
"It's a different testing [experience] now," he said. "Finally I can work for me, for my car, and this is what I'm doing.
"I'm trying to take all the feedback, give it to the team and try to work a lot with the team and with Kimi as well to build a good car.
"I followed Kimi's day [on Monday], we can do a really good job together.
"Kimi has a lot more experience than me, so I just need to listen to him and give my feedback."
Giovinazzi echoed Raikkonen's complimentary comments about Alfa's car, describing it as "easy to drive".
After a "positive" first day of testing, the Italian said he would do everything possible to make the most of an opportunity he is relishing.
"I waited too long, two years, but finally today I was really happy," said Giovinazzi, who crashed out of the second of two substitute appearances for Sauber at the start of 2017.
"[It felt] like I woke up for Christmas.
"I just want to jump in on Thursday, learn as much as I can and improve the car and make sure in Melbourne everything works well.
"I know this will be my [first] full season, so I just need to do a lot of work.
"When Melbourne starts, everything will come really fast."
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
The driver who can wreck F1's "super exciting" 2020 silly season
Red Bull's Verstappen now has basis for first F1 title challenge
Ferrari: Mick Schumacher a good candidate for seat in Formula 1
The contrasting fortunes of F1's big-name moves to Ferrari
The many surprise driver cameos of the 2023 NASCAR Cup season
Raikkonen "got unlucky" with COTA chaos on NASCAR return
Mercedes joins Williams and RB with 'quick and cheap' F1 cockpit airflow upgrades
Alpine gets F1 spare car for first time in 2024 as lighter chassis appears in China
F1 Chinese GP: Stroll leads FP1 as small fire causes early red flag
Live: F1 Chinese GP updates – FP1 & Sprint qualifying
Why F1 2026 worst case fears could be key to new rules success
How the F1 driver market situation sits for each team with 2025 openings
What's been going wrong for Leclerc in F1's tiny margins qualifying game
What the Chinese GP's highlights reveal about its first F1 race for five years
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments