Picture Credit: Twitter

Picture Credit: Twitter

Antonio Giovinazzi is an Italian racing driver who is currently a part of Ferrari in the FIA World Endurance Championship. At the same time, he is also serving as the reserve driver for Ferrari, Haas, and Alfa Romeo in Formula 1. 

Recently, on June 11, Sunday, the Italian drove the #51 Ferrari hypercar alongside James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi to victory in the Le Mans 24 Hours race, 50 years after the team made its triumphant return to Circuit de la Sarthe. He had prior experience of Le Mans 24 Hours race from 2018, when he was part of AF Corse team in the LMGTE Pro class.

Notably, the 29-year-old driver was born in the Martina Franca town in Italy on December 14, 1993. The first experience for Antonio Giovinazzi behind the wheels was in the year 2000, when he began karting for the first-time in his life. Just six years later, he won the Italian National Trophy 60cc and Euro Trophy 60 championship as a kart racer. In 2010 and 2011, he also became victories in the WSK Masters Series in the KF2 class, to showcase his credentials as a racing driver.

The Italian took part in the British Formula Three Championship in 2013, which culminated with two wins at Silverstone and Spa-Francorchamps as part of the Double R Racing team. In the same year, he debuted in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship with the Double R Racing team, before joining Jagonya Ayam with Carlin in 2014 to win the races at Red Bull Ring and Nurburgring. During 2015, he achieved victory in six races to finish as runners-up in the championship.

In the year 2016, Antonio Giovinazzi signed with Prema Racing to participate in the GP2 Series, where he ended up winning five races to finish second in the championship. The 29-year-old driver also joined the Extreme Speed Motorsports team to compete in the FIA World Endurance Championship in the same year, while achieving decent results in 6 Hours of Fuji and 6 Hours of Shanghai in the LMP2 class. He also won two Asian Le Mans Series races at Buriram and Sepang in the LMP2 class too.

The biggest moment in the career of Martina Franca-born driver came in 2017, when he made his debut in Formula One for Sauber at the Australian GP, finishing the race in 12th place. He also competed at the Chinese GP in the same year, crashing out from qualifying and race. Antonio Giovinazzi was the designated reserve/test driver for multiple F1 teams throughout 2017 and 2018.

From 2019 to 2021, the Italian got the chance to race regularly in Formula One as the Alfa Romeo driver. His best result in the F1 came at the Brazilian GP in 2019, where he achieved fifth place in the final standings.