Alfa Romeo team boss Frederic Vasseur suggests Antonio Giovinazzi's Formula 1 seat at Alfa Romeo was left hanging by a thread after his crash during the Belgian Grand Prix. The young Italian driver had worked himself into sixth place for five laps before pitting and eventually climbing back up to ninth. He then crashed on the penultimate lap.
Vasseur goes on to suggest that Giovinazzi's reaction after the crash left the whole team feeling rather impressed. This impression, not only on the circuit but also dealing with the pressures off-track in Italy, prompted a new contract.
“It [the crash at Spa] was a big shock for everybody in the team because it was a good opportunity. Antonio came back from nowhere and on one of the last laps he had the crash," Vasseur told Motorsport.com.
“We had a tough discussion with Antonio because these kind of things can decide your career. We were thinking about the future. We had to sit down the week after and we had to discuss about the situation, and he had a very good reaction. A lot of pressure, tons of guests, Alfa Romeo's home race, he will have the press conference so plenty of questions about Spa. OK, so now it's time to react. I think he did a very good job, the pressure was there. In Monza and Singapore, he did well – it was good to have Antonio leading the race. It was a very good reaction.”
The 26-year-old went on to finish 17th in the world championship ahead of Romain Grosjean and the two Williams drivers. A sixth-place finish in the bizarre Brazilian Grand Prix helped lift the Italian higher up. In the end, he scored 29 less points than his significantly more experienced teammate Kimi Raikkonen.