Giovinazzi over the moon with F1 seat: "Dream come true"

New Sauber driver Antonio Giovinazzi has expressed his gratitude and his joy with his new job, as the Italian says it's a "dream come true" to be making his debut in F1 in 2019.

With Sauber communicating that Giovinazzi would be manning the second seat at Sauber next season, that will leave Marcus Ericsson without a seat. The Swede is in his fourth season for the team, but will probably struggle to find a seat for the coming season now, with most seats being locked in already.

As for the soon-to-be rookie, he's buzzing. After just about missing out on the Formula 2 title to Pierre Gasly, Giovinazzi seemed destined for F1, but it didn't quite happen for him. 

As a Ferrari Academy graduate, he always had a shot of getting into a Ferrari-partnered team like Haas and Sauber. The latter have struck a deal with Ferrari to always have one driver of their choosing at the team, which was Charles Leclerc this season.

"This is a dream come true," Giovinazzi told the F1's website.

"As an Italian, it is a huge honour for me to represent a brand as iconic and successful as Alfa Romeo.

“I would like to thank the Scuderia Ferrari and the Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team for giving me this great opportunity.

"I am very motivated and cannot wait to start working towards achieving great results together.”