Alfa Romeo Racing‘s Antonio Giovinazzi joked that he should “only show up on Saturdays” after a frustrating start to his first full Formula 1 season.
The Italian suffered technical problems on Friday during both of the Bahrain and Chinese weekends and, like the rest of the field, missed out on a hour’s worth of track time in Azerbaijan two weeks’ ago due to George Russell‘s session-ending collision with a loose manhole cover.
“After I’ve missed Free Practice 2 in Bahrain and Free Practice 1 in China I couldn’t believe when another practice session was red flagged in Baku,” said Giovinazzi.
“I was joking that free practices are not for me and it would be better if I would only show up on Saturdays.
“No worries, I will be in the car on Friday and to be honest I can’t wait.”
2016 GP2 Series runner-up Giovinazzi said that eighth place in Qualifying at the Baku City Circuit, ahead of team-mate Kimi Räikkönen, provided the confidence boost he needs to get his season off the ground.
Yet to score a first F1 point, Giovinazzi’s best finish of the season so far came courtesy of an eleventh place in Bahrain – leaving the 25-year-old one of four drivers yet to register in 2019.
However he remains confident that he can turn his fortunes around, should technical problems evade Alfa Romeo.
“The good Qualifying result with P8 in Baku was exactly what I needed, now it is about to be strong and consistent throughout the whole weekend,” Giovinazzi added.
“If there are no hiccups with the car, I’m pretty sure that I could score my first points in Barcelona.”
