Sauber's new driver Antonio Giovinazzi believes his two previous races in Formula 1 will not help him in 2019. The Italian made his debut in 2017 as a stand-in for Pascal Wehrlein who was injured.
Since then, Giovinazzi drove in a couple of practice sessions this season while completing his role and test driver for Sauber and Ferrari. When asked by Autosport if his experience will help, Giovinazzi replied with a no.
"Unfortunately, it's already a long time ago. It's beginning of last year!" he said.
"It was not a full weekend [in Australia], it was only Saturday. In China, I missed FP1 and FP2 because of the weather so I started again from FP3. It was difficult to approach, but fortunately, next year will be a lot more easy.
"I will have the winter tests in Barcelona, and I will be a lot more ready when I arrive in Melbourne."
Since his last Formula 1 race, the Ferrari academy driver has contested in just one event. He took part in the Le Mans 24 hours with the AF Corse Ferrari GTE team. Giovinazzi, the runner-up in GP2 2016, says he can't wait to get started.
"I can't wait to be honest. I miss the pressure of the race weekend and also the race on Sunday. For now, I'm relaxed in FP1, doing my job. I can't wait until next year for the real pressure.
"It will be quite tough for the first races. I have a world champion [Kimi Raikkonen] beside me, who has a lot of years in F1. I need to do my job, try to improve race-by-race, and we'll see at the end of the year if we did a good job or not."