Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto claims his team is aligning opportunities for Antonio Giovinazzi to mark his return in Formula 1 for 2023.
After Guanyu Zhou got announced to partner with Valtteri Bottas at Alfa Romeo for 2022, Antonio Giovinazzi was decided to depart from Formula 1.
The Ferrari’s academy product will ply his trade in Formula E for 2022. However, Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto has claimed that his side will be working hard to get the Italian race driver back to F1 in 2023.
“Our hope is to be able to find a seat for Antonio (Giovinazzi) in the 2023 Formula 1 season. At the end of next season, the contracts of 11 drivers will expire and we think some opportunities may arise in this scenario,” said Binotto as per Motorsport.
🎙 Binotto: “Umudumuz, 2023 Formula 1 sezonunda Antonio için bir koltuk bulabilmek. Gelecek sezonun sonunda 11 pilotun sözleşmesi sona erecek ve bu senaryoda bazı fırsatların ortaya çıkabileceğini düşünüyoruz.”#Formula1 pic.twitter.com/Gu9p5Q00K8
— Motorsport.com Türkiye 🇹🇷 (@motorsportcomtr) December 22, 2021
Apart from his services in Formula E, Giovinazzi will also be serving as a reserve driver for Ferrari, Haas and Alfa Romeo. Rarely has anyone before been a reserve driver for three teams.
Meanwhile, Mick Schumacher has also been named as a reserve driver for Ferrari, while the German will continue to serve Haas in 2022.
Also read: F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali confident Lewis Hamilton will not seek retirement anytime soon
Ferrari got no space for their Italian wonder
Giovinazzi didn’t take the news of his exit from F1 well. The Italian race driver even blamed money for his departure from F1, citing Zhou’s economic backing.
He claimed that many F1 drivers consoled him for the seat he lost. However, it didn’t bring him any solution. He was already driving for a Ferrari’s customer team.
Moreover, many drivers didn’t shuffle at the end of this year, unlike in 2020. So, Giovinazzi had no option except to bow out of F1.
Also read: Ferrari massively optimistic about their 2022 engine and car