Giovinazzi happy to end Q2 drought on ‘difficult weekend’ at the Nurburgring

There was relief for Alfa Romeo's Antonio Giovinazzi on Saturday at the Nurburgring as he finally ended a run of Q1 eliminations on Saturday with P14, making it to Q2 for the first time this season.

The Italian got through to the second part of qualifying for the first time since the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix, and he was especially happy to have broken his duck on a weekend when all the drivers missed out on both Friday practice sessions because of bad weather – and at a track he'd never driven at before.

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“I’m really happy that finally I made it to Q2," he said, "especially on this difficult weekend, missing out on Friday, on a quite new track for me and the team.”

Giovinazzi has scored just two points this season so far, both coming at the Austrian Grand Prix, putting him level with team mate Kimi Raikkonen in the standings – but the Italian is aiming to make it a second points-scoring finish of the season in Sunday's race.

“The car was quite good, still, I know what we want to improve,” he continued, “but I think tomorrow we have a positive [race] because we start a little bit more towards the front."

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With cold temperatures expected on Sunday, the race is likely to be run in the coolest conditions seen at a Grand Prix for years, while rain is also a possibility, leaving Giovinazzi preparing for all eventualities when the lights go out.

“With these conditions anything can happen," he said, "so we need to study a bit more the start, the restart of the Safety Car and try to score some points tomorrow.

“Every race it’s the main target [to score points]. I know that it’s difficult, but in these conditions, maybe it can happen – it is what we need to do tomorrow,” he concluded.

Giovinazzi has yet to finalise his plans for next year with his Alfa Romeo contract up at the end of the season. And with several highly-rated Ferrari juniors waiting in the wings – including Mick Schumacher and Callum Ilott – the Italian needs to impress between now and the end of the year if he is to keep his place in F1.