Giovinazzi lands Sauber drive alongside Raikkonen

Sauber has confirmed it will run an all-new driver line-up next season, after Antonio Giovinazzi was last week announced as partnering Kimi Raikkonen in 2019.

The 24-year-old Italian – who contested two races for the Swiss team in 2017, taking a best result of 12th when deputising for the injured Pascal Wehrlein – will join Raikkonen, leaving Marcus Ericsson without a drive.

The Swede will be retained by Sauber as a third driver and ambassador.

Giovinazzi’s only race outing this year was in the Le Mans 24 Hours where he finished fifth in GTE Pro in a Ferrari 488 alongside Toni Vilander and Pipo Derani. He was runner-up to Pierre Gasly in GP2 in 2016 and finished second in British F3 back in 2013. “This is a dream come true, and it is a great pleasure to have the chance to race for this team,” said Giovinazzi. “As an Italian, it is a huge honour for me to represent a brand as iconic and successful as Alfa Romeo [Sauber’s title sponsor] in our sport.” In other driver news, Haas has also confirmed it will retain both Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean. Magnussen had been expected to remain with the team after an impressive year, while Grosjean made a string of errors at the start of the season but has improved since to help Haas rise to fifth in the constructors’ standings.