F1 | Alfa Romeo, Antonio Giovinazzi: “Qualifying will be fundamental”

Qatar is the first weekend as a divorcee for Antonio Giovinazzi, who on Tuesday was officially farewelled by Alfa Romeo after three years of collaboration. The driver from Puglia - who announced his arrival in Formula E for 2022 - did not shine under the lights of the Losail circuit: in FP1 Antonio was fourteenth, with a tenth of an advantage over teammate Kimi Raikkonen. In the second free practice session, however, due to traffic, the situation was reversed and Giovinazzi slipped to seventeenth - and penultimate - position (Nikita Mazepin did not take part in FP2).

F1 | Free practice analysis in Qatar: Bottas flies in the race pace

"It was a good debut on this track. I was really surprised by the grip levels, already in FP1. The track is really nice, very fast and nice to drive – said Giovinazzi at the end of the day – the first session went well, while we encountered some traffic during the qualifying simulation in FP2. Tomorrow will be a challenge, because there isn't much space for the other cars to pass with all these fast corners. Qualifying will be really important, but there is still a free practice session to do, to try new things and improve.".