The F1 paddock bids adieu with a heavy heart, to Antonio Giovinazzi. Giovinazzi may not have set the world of F1 alight, but he was a man of the people. The Italian Jesus had a short-lived three-year career in the sport, and he will be a personality that will be missed. Now replaced by F1’s first Chinese driver, Guanyu Zhou, Giovinazzi did not hold back on his emotions.

It’s no secret that the sponsorships behind Zhou add some necessary weight to Alfa Romeo‘s pockets. Although talented with an impressive record to back him, the money may have tipped the scales in his favor. And Gio isn’t too happy about it. In a post bidding goodbye to the sport, he made it well-known that he wasn’t happy with the decision.

” F1 is emotion, talent, cars, risk, speed. But when money rules, it can be ruthless.” It didn’t stop there for the Italian, who was clearly unhappy that money dictated his place in the sport. “I believe in the surprise of an unexpected result, of big or small victories achieved thanks to one’s commitment.”

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Regardless, Gio and many others know this isn’t the end of the road for him. GP2 teammate Pierre Gasly encouraged the driver, “Sei un grande. The best is yet to come for you bro.” Sergio Perez empathized with Antonio saying, “Never give up!!! I’ve been there too many times mate!”

Once again, the money-making side of the sport wins the battle.

Looking back at three years of Antonio Giovinazzi

The boy from Martina Franca made his way to an Italian F1 team in 2019 and had out-qualified his champion-teammate in his second season. A Ferrari Academi protege, Giovinazzi, made his name with incredible charges in his GP2 career. From Sauber stand-in to a Ferrari reserve driver, Gio made his way up the ranks to a seat in Alfa Romeo.

Unfortunately, the line ends there for Giovinazzi, who leaves F1 devoid of an experience on the podium. 2021 looked to be a year of improvement for Antonio, who took his audience aback with surprise Q3 appearances in the season. However, we will never know if it would lead to a podium, as his career is now cut short.

Nonetheless, you can’t keep a driver born for speed out of a car for long. We may see F1’s Jesus make his way to Formula E; as proven by many drivers before, maybe the alternate series will treat Giovinazzi better.

Till then, we have three more rounds with the beloved Alfa Romeo pair, as F1 waves goodbye to Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi with years’ worth of laughter and fun to remember them by.

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