Alfa Romeo boss Fred Vasseur slammed Antonio Giovinazzi in the wake of comments made by the Italian after it was announced that up-and-coming Chinese driver Guanyu Zhou will replace the Italian at the Swiss team.
Giovinazzi, a Ferrari backed driver for years took to Twitter to announce the end of this chapter of his Formula 1 journey: "F1 is emotion, talent, cars, risk, speed, but when money rules it can be ruthless.”
This is rather steep coming from a driver whose career has been funded by Ferrari, including the seat he has had with Alfa Romeo for three years, alongside way-past-his-best Kimi Raikkonen.
The Finn is finally hanging up his helmet after two decades in the top flight, opening the door to Mercedes reject Valtteri Bottas to spearhead the team from 2022.
Thus, with Zhou confirmed, it's over for Giovinazzi. It would be fair to say his future has always been in doubt because he has not shown he will evolve into a top tier driver such as the late Jules Bianchi or, more recently, Charles Leclerc - both Ferrari Development Academy drivers too.
Giovinazzi followed in their footsteps but never reached the heights his predecessors did. Ferrari might have pulled the F1 plug on him last year to allow Mick Schumacher to drive for Alfa Romeo, a far better option than Haas.
But the Reds under Mattia Binotto must've felt the Italian would unleash something extra this season, which he did not and became yet another unfortunate case of a driver having a year too long in F1; another season would have been a travesty.
While Giovinazzi is a fine racing driver - perhaps destined to be Champion in the categories Ferrari will pay him to drive in, while he embarks on a Formula E journey - F1 is not for him.
At the same time, we wish him only the best and expect him to be among the front-runners in the next chapter of his career in motorsport.
Giovinazzi blocked GRANDPRIX247 on Twitter because he was called out years ago
However, his talent did not suffice to be among the top 20 drivers on this planet.
This was mentioned in a few reports on GRANDPRIX247 questioning his readiness for the big time after his qualifying and race crashes during the 2017 Chinese Grand Prix, when he subbed at Sauber for injured Pascal Wehrlein, before a full-time drive with the team from 2019.
In retrospect those two days and two crashes in Shanghai, set the tone for his F1 career thereafter. He was simply too accident-prone when he made his debut and remained so throughout his time in the top flight.
In a social media game of tit-for-tat Giovinazzi blocked GP247 on Twitter for calling him out and questioning if he is really deserving of the seat when it was clear to us he was not. We were right at the time doubting him, sadly.
Sad because, it is always an unhappy time when a driver departs F1, especially if a driver is being pushed rather than choosing to walk. But it can be said; Giovinazzi had more than a fair crack at the big time, but fell short.
He will have 62 Grand Prix starts on his CV when he climbs out of the Alfa Romeo for the last time in Abu Dhabi next month, with 18 points to his name at this stage of the season.
Vasseur: Many drivers would have dreamed to have what Giovinazzi had
It is also a tad steep for him to be denouncing pay drivers when he was one throughout the three years Ferrari dished out for his seat at Alfa Romeo. By whatever means, hard cash or barter, he was a pay driver too.
Best left to Alfa Romeo team boss Frederic Vasseur to sum up Antonio's reality: “Honestly, it's important for him to close the chapter, at least on this season, by doing well on track.
“I saw the comments and honestly, I'm not a big fan of this type of attitude. The team gave him the chance to do three seasons in F1, Alfa Romeo gave him the chance to do three seasons in F1. Many drivers would have dreamed to have that.
“Now he will have other challenges. He will have to do well in that other challenge, and perhaps he will come back in F1 in the future. But it's a small world and we must remain professional,” added Vasseur.
Arrivederci Antonio Giovinazzi! Next.
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