2017 Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix press conference - Antonio Giovinazzi

Q: Antonio, congratulations on a tremendous first Grand Prix in Melbourne a couple of weeks ago. How do you reflect on it now?

Antonio GIOVINAZZI: Thank you. It was a special weekend. It was my first F1 Grand Prix. Dream came true. Since I was a kid the dream was to arrive in F1 and to drive there was a fantastic experience, fantastic weekend. It was a quite late call on Saturday morning but I really enjoyed everything I did from FP3 to quali to race. So, I will never forget – and to be here already, to start from FP1 will be more easy. And also to have the experience from Melbourne will make everything a lot more easy. It will be a different race weekend though. The weather also looks difficult. So, it will be maybe wet and also to have some experience in the wet conditions will be good. What I can do is to do my best and hope the result can be good like Melbourne.

Q: What’s your deal with the Sauber team, how many races are you going to do for them?

AG: I’m the third driver of Ferrari. Now we just think race-by-race. I had the call here on Tuesday and I’m here to race for Sauber but already from next week I will be back in red with the Scuderia Ferrari – but then we will see in the future.

Q: So no news on Bahrain yet?

AG: Not yet.

Q: Physically, how tough was the Australian Grand Prix for you?

AG: Of course I keep training in the winter so I arrive there quite prepared. To be honest at the end of the race was not easy but I expected it to be more difficult. Here I think it will be a little bit tough because the track has a lot longer corners so for the neck it will be not easy – but I was training last week and hope to also be OK here.

Q: To Antonio Giovinazzi: do you think if you score a point this weekend it would change your career?

AG: It’s a good question. Of course it would change but it will be important for me, for my mind. Of course the result we also had in Melbourne, P12, was a good result and yeah, to improve the result from Melbourne is to take... to score a point will be difficult but I will try my best and score a point.

Q: Antonio, how would you describe your driving style?

AG: My driving style? I don’t know. I’m quite calm, I think, normal driving style. My strong part, I think, in GP2 was – in the race – to save the tyres. In Melbourne, I didn’t have much experience so maybe I was too slow in the beginning of the race but of course here I will improve, to already have FP1 and FP2 will be good to see how is the degradation, to have a feeling with the car so I hope I can do a better job in the race here.

Q: Antonio, how much harder is it to overtake in Formula One compared to GP2?

AG: To be honest it’s quite different, you know. In GP2 we all have similar cars, only one strategy, only one pit stop so I think GP2 was a good category for overtaking but to be honest I think here in Shanghai with the longer straight it will be easier than in Melbourne but to be honest, I didn’t have much experience compared to last year so what I say is not much to take into account so GP2 was good, F1 I don’t have much experience of so after this race I can tell you better.

Q: Antonio, did you set yourself any specific goals, targets for this weekend? For example, beating Marcus or is it just about relaxing for you?

AG: Just as you say, maybe relaxing and enjoying of course and getting more experience. After one race is not enough to set a target so I need to just drive and take experience and do my best and then we will see the results on Sunday.

Q: Antonio, it’s rare for a reserve driver to get a racing opportunity. How are you approaching this race compared to the last race in the sense that... are you treating it like a CV for a race drive next year or is it really just about you filling in the race seat and getting the job done for Sauber?

AG: Yeah, I’m the third driver of Ferrari. Now I’m back here in China. Of course I have more time to prepare for the race so already from FP1 compared to Melbourne and yeah, I just need to take experience, do a lot of laps and of course about next year, this year is still too early to speak. I’m really glad to drive here so I need to say thanks to Scuderia Ferrari and Sauber for this opportunity and I need to just drive and gain experience.