One clue is a clue, two clues are a coincidence, but three clues are proof. So wrote Agatha Christie, the famous mystery writer of the last century. In the case of Antonio Giovinazzi and his surreal season that he is experiencing in Formula 1 with the Alfa Romeo Racing team, one almost smiles thinking that there are many clues regarding heavy mistakes on the part of the team that have ruined races after races. more than the three canons who make a test.
The Mexican Grand Prix is nothing more than the umpteenth test in which the Alfa Romeo team confirmed its inability to know how to read the races and help its driver – almost always Antonio Giovinazzi – to bring home the result he deserved.
But let’s go in order. After a splendid start, also facilitated by the chaos at the first corner triggered by the collision of Daniel Ricciardo against a Valtteri Bottas with a surreal attitude, the Apulian driver found himself with merit in sixth position overall, between the two Ferrari SF21s of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz.
The sixth place, it must be said, did not last long. At the restart, after returning to the pits of the Safety Car called first on the track to remove the cars of Yuki Tsunoda and Mick Schumacher, Carlos Sainz slipped on the Italian. From that moment on Giovinazzi had to do nothing but keep Sebastian Vettel behind him.
Antonio Giovinazzi, Alfa Romeo Racing
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
And he was doing it very well, until the team drew Antonio into the pits and fitted him with Hard tires. Once back on track, the former GP2 vice-champion found himself behind Daniel Ricciardo and Valtteri Bottas, both very slow and already on Hard tires for a few laps.
Antonio, in possession of a slower car, overheated the tires in an attempt to get rid of the two and thus lost performance. Meanwhile, all the others continued to take advantage of the Medium tires, clearly the most performing compounds of the weekend in terms of duration and lap times. This destroyed Giovinazzi’s race. From a rosy perspective, he found himself closing the race in 11th position, for the umpteenth time this season.
At the end of the race, Antonio explained how things went in the crucial moment of his race: “The team called me to the pits, but the problem is that I returned to the track behind Ricciardo and Bottas, who were not working at that moment.” .
“I overheated the tires and the pace with the Hard was slower than in the medium, so I lost all the advantage with the undercut that I had to do. When I got out of the pits my tires gave way after a while and when the others are they went to the pits to make their stop and they were faster than me. The strategy was completely wrong. “
When asked if he had thought all the mistakes made by the team towards him voluntary, Antonio replied with class, but also quite clearly, even though he never uttered words that would be unequivocal.
“Until now I didn’t want to believe that everything was done to ruin my races with strategies, today … I’m really disappointed”. And this disappointment had made the team feel once they crossed the finish line: “Thanks guys for the strategy in the race”, without receiving an answer. An unusual exit from Antonio, because in recent years he has managed to remain calm while often undergoing incomprehensible decisions and strategies. Perhaps the situation linked to his contract, and to his future, is starting to affect not a little.
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