“Hey guys, thanks for the fantastic strategy.” The radio team, heard after the checkered flag of Mexico City, was not of Max Verstappen or Sergio Perez, but of Antonio Giovinazzi, who saw the possibility of finishing in the points zone vanish from a race that began with a brilliant start (at the first lap had slipped in sixth position) due to the pit stop called by the team on the sixteenth lap.
It is not the first time that Giovinazzi has found himself taking stock of a race weekend negatively affected by his pit wall, but he has always avoided pointing out this aspect, even on days when one more word would not have been out of place.
Yesterday in Mexico it was too much even for his self-control, and while always remaining calm, he hinted that he had enough. Since the beginning of last year there have been more than ten questionable episodes, and in the 2021 season alone it is enough to remember the wrong tires at the pit stop in Bahrain, an additional stop at Imola, a new mistake during the tire change in Barcelona, the wrong call in Monaco, to which must be added the race without radio communications in Sochi and the questionable strategic choice in the Mexican race.
As mentioned, Giovinazzi was shrewd yesterday during the first lap, managing to pull off sixth in turn 2, and after giving up a position to Carlos Sainz during the fifth lap, Antonio stabilized in seventh place, controlling Sebastian Vettel.
The German, despite having had the DRS available on several occasions, has never managed to bring a real attack, leaving Giovinazzi with a fairly easy control of the situation.
Behind Seb, about four seconds behind, was Kimi Raikkonen, and being everyone on medium tires, the situation seemed to stabilize. Then, on lap 16, Giovinazzi was ordered to return to the pits.
“We didn’t have a technical reason to anticipate Antonio’s stop – explained Alfa Romeo Racing’s head of track operations, Xavi Pujolar – but at a certain point he started to have difficulties with the rear tires. Behind him Kimi still had a good pace, and we didn’t want a train to form behind Antonio. We thought that by anticipating the break, Vettel, who was behind him, would also stop to protect himself from the risk of undercut. For his part, Antonio could have pushed harder with new hard tires, while Kimi would have found himself on a free track and postponed the break ”.
The aspect that the Alfa Romeo wall did not evaluate was the race pace of Bottas and Ricciardo, or rather the two single-seaters parade in front of Giovinazzi at the time of the pit stop.
On paper, the poleman and the McLaren driver should no longer have been a driving force for an obstacle for Antonio, but after the contact at the start the tandem proceeded (even before Giovinazzi’s pit) at a not-so-fast pace.
The result was that from lap 18 Giovinazzi (who did not have the cue to overtake the Mercedes) had to follow Bottas until the fortieth lap, nullifying the performance that would have guaranteed him the new tire and forced to run at higher times than even to Raikkonen, who extended his first stint.
“We didn’t expect it – confirmed Pujolar – Antonio had no idea to overtake Bottas, and this cost him a lot of time, effectively compromising his race. Probably Ricciardo (who was in front of Bottas) after the accident at the start accused some problems that did not allow him to be able to push more, the fact is that his pace was very slow. We were sure to find ourselves behind two fast single-seaters, but it wasn’t like that, and we understand Antonio’s disappointment ”.
When Raikkonen completed his stop (on lap 32) he was back on track 14 seconds ahead of Giovinazzi, still blocked by Bottas, who in the meantime was also passed by Vettel, Alonso and Norris.
“I am disappointed – commented Giovinazzi – for me and for the points that the team also left on the road, I could have finished my race in seventh position, and the team would have had two cars in the top-10. My first ride? Yes, good, but it was worth nothing for the final result “.
An error of assessment occurs in all the pit walls, but in Giovinazzi’s case what is striking is the sequence of errors which ended up influencing his season considerably. What hurts the most is the overall scenario, which sees Antonio with one foot already out of the team and his inability to be able to certify with points in the general classification what he really gave to the team in 2021.
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