Giovinazzi: Strong Ferrari and Sauber test no guarantee of F1 seat

The Italian topped the times on day one of the Hungaroring test driving for Ferrari, then followed it up with fourth for Sauber on day two.

Giovinazzi's time in the Ferrari was one-thousandth faster than Scuderia driver Kimi Raikkonen managed when he took over the SF71H on Wednesday, and he was six-tenths faster in the Sauber than race driver Marcus Ericsson.

When asked by Autosport how happy he was with his performance in the context of impressing for next season, Giovinazzi said: "I'm really happy.

"Tuesday was a good day with Ferrari, Wednesday also with Sauber. "But because I did a good job is not for sure I will have the seat next year.

"Everything will change, what I will do is my best and we'll see if it will happen or not."

Giovinazzi drove for Sauber in first practice ahead of last weekend's Hungarian GP and will reprise that role at four other races before the end of the season.

He is a serious candidate for a drive at the Swiss team next year because of its increasingly close relationship with Ferrari, for whom Giovinazzi is a driver academy graduate and works as a simulator and test driver.

A race drive with Sauber would reunite Giovinazzi with the team where started his two career F1 starts - replacing Pascal Wehrlein in the opening two rounds of last season when the German was recovering from injury.

Giovinazzi starred on his debut in Australia, having only been drafted in before final practice at that event, but had a messy second race weekend in China where he crashed twice.

When asked by Autosport if he felt he had unfinished business in F1 after that performance, Giovinazzi said: "You cannot imagine! I really want to go back".

He added: "Now we'll see. I still have four FP1s with Sauber.

"At the end of the year I hope I can have the seat I want."

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- The Autosport.com Team

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