"Frustrating" Giovinazzi has the talent

Alfa Romeo driver Antonio Giovinazzi has had a tough start to his second spell in F1 but Frederic Vasseur has insisted the Italian does have the talent to succeed in Formula 1 and the team will do what they can to help.

Having been tipped for promising things in the sport, Giovinazzi has struggled since becoming a full-time driver at Alfa Romeo for the 2019 season, being out-performed by his teammate Kimi Raikkonen at every race so far. The Italian’s best result of the season was P11 in Bahrain.

Despite the slow start Alfa boss Vasseur knows the talent is there and with a bit of support, the results will come.

“It’s frustrating for everyone because Antonio showed from the beginning that he has the talent,” Vasseur told Motorlat.

“He was very fast in Melbourne Q1, faster than Kimi or more or less the same.

“In Bahrain, the pace was there, but in qualifying, he made a small mistake at the end of the lap, but he was also a little faster than Kimi.

“If we look at last year, the start of the season was also difficult for our drivers, but we gave them a lot of support and they were able to improve during the season.

“We have to do the same with Antonio.”