It must be bad to start the last hat-trick of this very long world championship, already knowing that it will be the last. I am obviously referring to Antonio Giovinazzi this weekend in Losail. Andoniopilota (which would be his nickname in Maranello) rightly avoided rekindling controversy, at this point totally sterile, with his now ex-team. Three more races and Sauber will replace him with Guanyu Zhou, or rather Giò, always in the Ferrari lexicon.
Italy loses its only representative in F1. The last time, ten years ago, it happened with Jarno Trulli, now disheartened by the little or no potential of Lotus (which was the former Caterham, not the one who gave Raikkonen his wings after his experience in rallies). I purposely avoid the whining about our drivers who have no chances against foreign capital, the lack of sponsors and so on. To regain a representation, even a large one, of our pilots in the highest formula, the law of numbers applies: when there will be a proper nursery, focused on performance and professionally trained, the results will come. Maybe soon, who knows.
Giovinazzi knows he has not had a perfect career, sometimes sinning with consistency: but he also knows that, at least according to myself, the seat in an F1 deserved it 100%. The problem is that his career has always been managed externally. I was there when, as a driver in the second formula, he arrived in Maranello, on the wave of a project that involved the entire top of the Cavallino. He spoke so strange that I thought he had Gaelic ancestry, instead it was the accent of Martina Franca. In Ferrari he made himself appreciated for his work in the simulator and I believe, indeed I know, that the idea of bringing an Italian driver back to a Red was caressed by several in the Gestione Sportiva. His professional history took a crossroads with no return when Charles went up from the Sauber Leclerc, following a path already traced (as well as paved with concrete results) and “Giovi” definitively left the red for the red-crusader.
Now, I don’t know what idea you have of Switzerland and the Swiss. Personally I have an excellent opinion (since I work there), but do not expect people who work with their heads down 24 hours a day. If you’re looking for one at lunchtime, you can’t even find it on your cell phone. And from Friday afternoon, until the following week, forget about finding someone in the office. From the time of Peter Sauber, through the unfortunate management of Monisha Kaltenborn, to the takeover by Pascal Picci’s Longbow holding company and through the ownership of Finn Rausing, certain things have never changed. And they are not always compatible with the frenetic pace of F1. Not only that, but the “permanent job” in Switzerland is at least as sacred as in a Checco Zalone film. Michael Andretti must have noticed this when he probed the possibility of taking over the team, obviously with a plan that included several hundred redundancies. Rejected with losses.
The point is that to Finn Rausing, heir to Tetrapak and at number 151 on the Forbes billionaire list, selling the team is of interest up to a point. True, he loses money every year, but if you have a personal fortune of fourteen billion, maybe you see things differently. In addition, Rausing is a rather peculiar type, who is divided between London and a remote island in the Scandinavian seas, and recently fell ill with Covid: an experience fortunately outdated, but which perhaps leads you to reflect on what is really important. in life. The fact is that Sauber could have become Renault’s B team, the only manufacturer that at the moment cannot use external synergies as the others do (within the limits of the regulation, of course). In the summer there was an offer to take over a minority stake, but acquiring operational control. But nothing has been done about it, like for Andretti. Instead, Sauber extended the relationship with Alfa Romeo and the supply of engines Ferrari, but without the constraints that allowed Maranello to use the team as a training school for its young drivers. Of the project dreamed of six years ago by Sergio Marchionne very little remains, apart from the name on the sides.
The winning “party”, at Sauber, therefore remains that of Frédéric Vasseur, the team principal often harshly criticized for his choices, especially in Italy. He is certainly a very busy man in various management tasks, which does not even leave him the time to be full-time at the team headquarters in Hinwil. The strange thing in the whole affair is that Guanyu Giò should have been the point man for the Renault project. And instead he finds himself catapulted into the Ferrari reality, from which, as a young Academy driver, he left years ago, trading the Cavallino for the Losanga, precisely in search of new and better opportunities. Of course, it will be said that money is money and the arrival of a “real” local driver (Ho-pin Tung, Williams tester, Chinese only had almond eyes) will be coveted by anyone in the Middle Kingdom. Always assuming that the pandemic grants a respite and allows to restore that GP that has been missing in Shanghai for two years now. As for the hoped-for arrival of new sponsors, we should ask Ferrari, fresh from the experiences of Weichai and Lenovo. Meanwhile, the Sauber will continue to float in the Zurich Oberland, like a battleship of the powerful Swiss navy. Waiting to head east, or simply trying not to sink.
#Brancaleone #rossocrociate #FormulaPassionit