Giovinazzi says Imola point was perfect way to celebrate 2021 Alfa Romeo contract renewal

Points have been hard to come by for Alfa Romeo in 2020 – but the newly re-signed Antonio Giovinazzi helped the team bag some at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, as he followed ninth-placed team mate Kimi Raikkonen home at Imola to mark Alfa Romeo’s first double score of the season.

A lacklustre qualifying at Imola had seen Giovinazzi start the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in last place. But he used a bold call to start on the soft tyres to good effect, making one of his trademark fast starts to climb from 20th to 14th by the end of the first lap – while the Italian would later survive a tricky Safety Car restart to eventually finish 10th on home soil.

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“I’m really happy with the result,” said Giovinazzi. “Especially from where we started from last, again an amazing first lap, gained positions from there, and then the strategy was good. Was difficult, I would say, after the last Safety Car with the old medium and really cold conditions, but I did the maximum to keep the cars behind and I was in the points. I was pushing really hard, and really happy with the result.”

The result from the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix – albeit admittedly helped by retirements and incidents for the likes of Max Verstappen, Alex Albon, Pierre Gasly and George Russell – marks the first time that both Alfa Romeo cars have scored points in a race this season, bringing their tally up to eight for this season.

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But with Alfa Romeo having delivered the news ahead of the Imola weekend that both Raikkonen and Giovinazzi would be retained for 2021, Giovinazzi said the double points were a perfect way to celebrate his new deal.

“It was good,” said Giovinazzi. “Also with Kimi scoring, points with two cars is something great for Alfa Romeo… and also a good thing to celebrate the renewal of the contract.”