'When money rules': Giovinazzi on losing Alfa Romeo F1 seat to China's Guanyu Zhou

Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen Formula One team announced on Tuesday that Italian driver Antonia Giovinazzi will be replaced by Chinese driver Guanyu Zhou in the Alfa Romeo seat in Formula One starting from the 2022 season. Following the announcement, Giovinazzi took to his official Instagram handle on Tuesday and expressed his thoughts on his exit from the team after spending four years in the pinnacle of motorsports. Giovinazzi started his F1 career with Alfa Romeo back in 2017 and has started 59 races for the team so far.

Meanwhile, expressing himself on his Instagram post, the 27-year-old Italian posted a picture of himself in a toy F1 car and captioned it with a heartfelt message. Mentioning Formula One consists of emotions, talent, cars, risk, and speed in the message, Giovinazzi said, “But when money rules it can be ruthless. I hope to change my mind about this soon. I believe in the surprise of an unexpected result, of big or small victories achieved thanks to one’s commitment.” Referring to the childhood picture posted by him, Giovinazzi added it was his first picture on an F1 car, but the last is yet to be taken.

Antonia Giovinazzi to race in Formula E after four years in F1

Following the post about his exit from F1, Giovinazzi announced in a separate post on Tuesday that he will be joining Dragon Racing in 2022, and would compete in the Formula E competition. Announcing his decision to join Formula E, Giovinazzi said, “It’s going to be thrilling. It's going to be challenging. It’s going to be: …….electrifying!!!!!!”

With three more races to go in the Formula One 2021 season, Giovinazzi would leave Alfa Romeo after starting a total of 62 races for the team. His best performance till now in the coveted tournament is the 5th place finish during the Brazilian GP in 2019. In his F1 career of four years, Giovinazzi has a total of eight points finishes to his name, with a total of 19 points. Meanwhile, Alfa Romeo had already announced Valtteri Bottas as their driver for the 2022 season, as Mercedes opted for academy driver George Russell to step up to the main team from Williams. Bottas will be now joined by Zhou, who is set to become the first Chinese driver to race in Formula One.

Image: @formula2/@alfaromeoracingorlen