Alfa Romeo team boss Frederic Vasseur has revealed that Antonio Giovinazzi was on the verge of losing his Formula 1 seat following his late Belgian Grand Prix crash.
The Italian was in ninth place on the final lap of the 44-lap race and was set to score two championship points – prior to that he had just one point from the Austrian weekend – but lost control at Pouhon and ended up in the barriers.
With team-mate Kimi Raikkonen scoring 31 points up to the Belgian GP, Vasseur admits the axe almost fell on Giovinazzi, but he saved himself by enjoying a strong weekend in Italy – a race Vasseur expected Giovinazzi to struggle under the pressure of racing at his and Alfa Romeo’s home.
“It [the crash] was a big shock for everybody in the team because it was a good opportunity [to score points],” he told Motorsport.com. “Antonio came back from nowhere and on one of the last laps he had the crash.
“We had a tough discussion with Antonio, because these kind of things can decide your career. We were thinking about the future. We had to sit down the week after and we had to discuss about the situation, and he had a very good reaction.
“In my mind it was very important how Antonio reacted in Monza. That was the real push [with] a lot of pressure, tons of guests, Alfa Romeo’s home race.
“I think he did a very good job, the pressure was there.”
Giovinazzi went on to outscore Raikkonen over the final eight races – 13 points to 12 – but Vasseur is aware that may have gone unnoticed given the team’s performance tailed off towards the end of the year.
“The issue for Antonio was we were down on performance when he was on top. You can be in front of your team-mates but [it is noticed less] if it’s for P14 or P15. If it’s sixth or seventh, everyone’s speaking about you.”
