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🇮🇹2017 – 2021

Giovinazzi

Antonio Giovinazzi

Martina Franca, in the heel of Italy’s boot, produced a driver who would win Le Mans before he ever stood on a Formula One podium. Antonio Giovinazzi, born December 14, 1993, arrived in F1 as a Sauber substitute in 2017 and became a full-time Alfa Romeo driver from 2019 to 2021.

0Wins
0Poles

United Autosports · CC BY-SA 2.0

Born

14 December 1993

Martina Franca, Italy

Current status

Living

Biography

The story

Martina Franca, in the heel of Italy’s boot, produced a driver who would win Le Mans before he ever stood on a Formula One podium. Antonio Giovinazzi, born December 14, 1993, arrived in F1 as a Sauber substitute in 2017 and became a full-time Alfa Romeo driver from 2019 to 2021. Across 62 grands prix he scored zero podiums, zero wins, and zero poles—a statistical blank that undersells his career. After F1, Giovinazzi found his métier in endurance racing. With Ferrari AF Corse, driving the #51 499P, he won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2023 and captured the FIA World Endurance Championship in 2025, proving that his talent, if not his F1 machinery, was world-class.

Early life

Martina Franca, a town in the Apulia region of southern Italy, was where Antonio Maria Giovinazzi was born on December 14, 1993. Details of his earliest childhood and family background are sparse in the available sources, but his path into motorsport began at a young age. He started karting as a child, a common entry point for Italian drivers, though the specific age or circumstances of his first race are not recorded in the provided material. His early career progression through the junior single-seater ranks is well documented. He achieved significant success, becoming the runner-up in the FIA European Formula 3 Championship in 2015 and finishing as the vice-champion of the GP2 Series in 2016. These results in the feeder series directly paved the way for his entry into Formula One.

Path to F1

Before he reached Formula One, Antonio Giovinazzi built a reputation as one of the most consistent performers in the junior categories. In 2015, he finished as runner-up in the FIA European Formula 3 Championship, a campaign that put him on the radar of top-tier teams. The following year, he moved up to GP2 Series and again secured the vice-champion title, demonstrating a steady, point-scoring rhythm that contrasted with the flashier wins of his rivals. Those back-to-back silver medals in two of the sport’s most competitive feeder series were enough to earn him a promotion: in 2017, he made his Formula One debut with Sauber, stepping into the car as a substitute before landing a full-time seat with the team—later rebranded as Alfa Romeo—from 2019 through 2021.

F1 career

Giovinazzi made his Formula 1 debut in 2017, substituting for an injured Pascal Wehrlein at Sauber for the opening two rounds of the season. He returned to the team full-time in 2019, when the Swiss outfit rebranded as Alfa Romeo Racing, and remained there through the end of 2021. Across 62 Grands Prix, he failed to score a podium, win, pole position, or fastest lap, and finished no higher than fifth, which he achieved twice. His best championship finish was 17th in the drivers' standings in 2020. Despite a reputation for solid, error-free driving and a strong qualifying pace relative to teammate Kimi Räikkönen, Giovinazzi could not secure a contract for 2022 as Alfa Romeo opted for Valtteri Bottas and rookie Zhou Guanyu. His F1 career ended without a single championship point in his final season, leaving him with a total of 21 career points.

Peak years

Personal life

The public record on Antonio Giovinazzi’s personal life is thin. He was born in Martina Franca, a town in the Apulia region of southern Italy, on December 14, 1993. At 183 cm tall, he carries a lean, athletic build common among modern drivers. No information regarding a spouse, partner, or children appears in the provided sources. His current residence is not listed, though his career has taken him from Italy to Switzerland during his Formula One years with Sauber and Alfa Romeo, and more recently to a base tied to Ferrari’s endurance racing program. Beyond the cockpit, details on hobbies or public persona are absent from the source material. The biographical record, across three languages, offers little beyond his birth city and physical stature.

After F1

After 62 Grands Prix without a win, podium, or pole, Antonio Giovinazzi’s Formula One career ended when Alfa Romeo did not renew his contract for 2022. He pivoted immediately to electric racing, competing in the 2021–22 Formula E season with Dragon Penske Autosport, but the switch proved brief. His lasting post-F1 identity was forged in endurance machinery. In 2023, he joined Ferrari AF Corse in the FIA World Endurance Championship, piloting the Ferrari 499P #51. That same year, he won the 24 Hours of Le Mans outright, and in 2025 he secured the World Endurance Championship title with the team. Giovinazzi remains a factory Ferrari driver in the series, having finished third at Le Mans in 2024.

Where now

He no longer occupies a Formula One cockpit, but Antonio Giovinazzi remains a factory driver in the FIA World Endurance Championship, competing for Ferrari AF Corse. Since 2023, he has piloted the Ferrari 499P #51, a program that has already delivered the sport’s ultimate prize: an outright victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2023. Two years later, in 2025, he secured the World Endurance Championship title with the same team. The Italian, who turned 31 in December 2024, has found a second career in endurance racing that has yielded the major silverware that eluded him during his 62 Grand Prix starts. He is not a retired driver reminiscing; he is an active competitor at the top of a different discipline.

Legacy

Giovinazzi’s Formula 1 career produced no wins, no podiums, and no poles across 62 starts—a statistical blank that undersells the broader arc of his driving life. His legacy, instead, is one of reinvention. After leaving Alfa Romeo at the end of 2021, he became a Ferrari factory driver in the World Endurance Championship and, in 2023, won the 24 Hours of Le Mans outright. The following year he claimed the FIA World Endurance Championship title. In an era when single-seater failure often marks a career’s end, Giovinazzi’s second act—winning the most prestigious race in endurance and a world championship—places him in a small group of drivers who achieved more after F1 than within it. He remains, at 31, a reminder that a driver’s worth is not always captured by the final column of a grand prix results table.

Timeline

A life in dates

  1. 1993

    Antonio Giovinazzi is born

    Born in Martina Franca, Italy.

    Martina Franca, Italy

  2. 2015

    FIA F3 European Championship runner-up

    Finished as runner-up in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship in 2015.

  3. 2016

    GP2 Series runner-up

    Finished as runner-up in the GP2 Series in 2016.

  4. 2017

    Moves to Formula 1 with Sauber

    The year after his GP2 runner-up finish, he makes his Formula 1 debut with the Sauber team.

  5. 2017

    Formula 1 debut

  6. 2019

    Becomes Alfa Romeo F1 driver

    From 2019 to 2021, he drove for the Alfa Romeo Formula 1 team.

  7. 2021

    Competes in Formula E

    Competed in the 2021-22 Formula E World Championship with Dragon Penske Autosport.

  8. 2021

    Last F1 race

  9. 2023

    Joins Ferrari AF Corse in WEC

    Since 2023, he drives for Ferrari AF Corse with the Ferrari 499P #51 in the FIA World Endurance Championship.

  10. 2023

    Wins the 24 Hours of Le Mans

    Won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2023 with Ferrari.

    Le Mans, França

  11. 2024

    Third place at 24 Hours of Le Mans

    Finished third at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2024.

    Le Mans, França

  12. 2025

    WEC World Champion

    Won the FIA World Endurance Championship in 2025 with Ferrari.

Gallery

United Autosport lors des 24 Heures du Mans 2018.

United Autosport lors des 24 Heures du Mans 2018.

United Autosports · CC BY-SA 2.0

24H Le Mans 2025 Hypercar 3rd place podium

24H Le Mans 2025 Hypercar 3rd place podium

Lukas Raich · CC BY-SA 4.0

Statistics

The numbers

Grands Prix62
Wins0
Podiums0
Poles0
Fastest laps0
Points21
World titles0
Best finish5th

Points by season

All Grands Prix

Where they are today

Life today

  • Ferrari AF Corse

    factory driver

    Competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship for the Ferrari AF Corse team, driving the Ferrari 499P #51.

    en.wikipedia.org

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