Antonio Giovinazzi is an Italian Formula 1 driver, born in Martina Franca on 14 December 1993.
A member of the Ferrari Driver Academy, Giovinazzi made his Formula 1 debut at the 2017 Australian Grand Prix, standing in at Sauber for the injured Pascal Wehrlein.
He would replace him again at the following Chinese Grand Prix as Wehrlein continued his recovery.
His first full-time F1 drive would come in 2019 after he was confirmed as part of Alfa Romeo's line-up, giving him the unenviable task of going up against former World Champion team-mate Kimi Raikkonen.
Giovinazzi has been active outside of F1 in his career, appearing at various stages in DTM, Le Mans and the World Endurance Championship.
After finishing runner-up to Pierre Gasly in the 2016 GP2 Championship, it was announced that Antonio Giovinazzi would perform simulator work for Ferrari. He was later confirmed as their third driver for 2017.
It did not take long though for Giovinazzi to get a taste of F1 action when he substituted for injured Sauber driver Pascal Wehrlein at the Australian Grand Prix. Wehrlein did not feel fit enough for a complete race distance due to his training deficit as a result of a crash at the 2017 Race of Champions.
Giovinazzi would qualify P16, one place behind Marcus Ericsson in the other Sauber, while he went on to finish the race in P12, two laps down on winner Sebastian Vettel.
Sauber confirmed that Giovinazzi would replace Wehrlein again for the Chinese Grand Prix, but it did not exactly go to plan with the Italian crashing out of qualifying and the race.
Giovinazzi remained a reserve and test driver for Sauber and Ferrari in 2018, taking part in six free practice sessions for Sauber during the season.
It was then confirmed that Giovinazzi would step up to a full-time race seat with Sauber, now known as Alfa Romeo, in 2019 for the first time.
His team-mate would be 2007 World Champion Kimi Raikkonen, who was returning to the team after Charles Leclerc took his place at Ferrari in a straight swap.
Initially, Giovinazzi would struggle to reach the performance level of vastly more experienced Raikkonen, but his first point would arrive at the Austrian GP where he finished P10.
The Italian then suffered a heavy crash into the barriers on the last lap in Belgium when he had been running P9, and Alfa Romeo boss Frederic Vasseur said the team were considering Giovinazzi's future with the team after that crash.
"We had a tough discussion with Antonio because these kind of things can decide your career. We were thinking about the future," Vasseur said.
At that stage, Giovinazzi had scored just one point, compared to Raikkonen's 31, but responded well by finishing P9 in his home race at Monza one week later.
He carried that momentum into the Singapore Grand Prix, even leading the race for four laps after the leaders had pitted, making him the first Alfa Romeo driver to lead a race since Andrea de Cesaris in the 1983 Belgian Grand Prix.
He would come home P10 to add another point to his tally.
The Italian would score the best result of his career so far at the Brazilian GP, crossing the line P6 before moving up to P5 after Lewis Hamilton was penalised for crashing into Alex Albon during the race.
Giovinazzi ended the season P17 in the Drivers' Championship with 14 points.
Although he finished 29 points behind Raikkonen, on 4 November 2019 Giovinazzi was confirmed to continue at Alfa Romeo for the 2020 season, again partnering the Finn.
That campaign was reduced to 17 races because of the global health pandemic and while Giovinazzi again finished 17th in the Championship standings, his number of points decreased from 14 to just four.
The good news was that he finished level on points with his team-mate Raikkonen.
The season began promisingly for Giovinazzi with P9 at the opening Austrian Grand Prix, but it took him 10 more races to increase his total.
He did so by squeezing into P10 in both the Eifel and Emilia Romagna Grands Prix, while he was only one place away from making it three points finishes out of four having finished P11 in Russia.
In terms of other 2020 highs and lows for Giovinazzi, he was heavily involved in a spectacular multi-car crash upon a Safety Car restart in the Tuscan Grand Prix at Mugello.
But much more positively, he acquired a reputation as being among the very best starters on the grid, gaining a total of 45 places on the opening lap across the first 13 races of the year.
“I concentrate on how to deal with different situations and they are no longer a surprise for me,” said Giovinazzi of his rapid starts.
Antonio Giovinazzi began karting in 2000 with his crowning achievements being Italian National Trophy 60cc and Euro Trophy 60 champion in 2006 and back-to-back champion of the WSK Master Series (KF2 class) in 2010 and 2011.
Giovinazzi then headed to China and more success followed in the Formula Pilota China, winning the title with Eurasia Motorsport.
From 2013, the Italian spent three seasons in the Formula 3 European Championship and finished second in his final year in the series behind Swedish racer Felix Rosenqvist.
Giovinazzi's next destination was the GP2 series and another near miss followed as Pierre Gasly pipped him to the 2016 title by eight points.
But, that same year, he joined Ferrari as their simulator driver, effectively joining their driver academy in the process, providing the final rung on the ladder for him to then reach his dream of Formula 1 racing.
Antonio Giovinazzi is still a relatively new driver to Formula 1 and, lining up against an incredibly established team-mate in Kimi Raikkonen at Alfa Romeo, it is more about opportunity than raking in the big bucks for the Italian at this stage of his career.
That said, he still reportedly earns a salary of £175,000 a year driving for the team formerly known as Sauber.
He will also have income from commercial deals in place with Los Angeles-based King Taco restaurants, eyewear company Carrera, Sparco race suits and online security firm Kaspersky.
Antonio Giovinazzi's mother and father are called Anna and Vito.
The driver is reported to have been in a relationship with Antonella Maraglino, a model who is believed to be four years younger than him, although it is unknown whether that is currently the case.
