Giovinazzi enjoys ‘good comeback’ despite sickness

Antonio Giovinazzi called his return to Formula 1 test action with Sauber and Ferrari in Barcelona "a good comeback” despite coming down ill on Wednesday morning.

Giovinazzi completed 135 laps for Sauber on Tuesday before racking up 148 with Ferrari on the second day of running, setting the second-fastest time of the test.

The two-day test in Barcelona marked Giovinazzi’s first official F1 test appearance since practice for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix last November when he enjoyed a run-out with Haas, although the Italian did feature in a Pirelli test at Fiorano earlier this year.

“I really enjoyed the day. The last time was in Abu Dhabi FP1, and FP1 you can only do 10 laps, but this was a proper test,” Giovinazzi said.

“I think we got a lot of data and it’s really good also to compare the data that we have in the simulator. It was a really positive day and thanks to the team, because we did a really good test.

Giovinazzi ended the day at the top of the mileage charts despite suffering with sickness in the morning, having recovered quickly.

“I was a little bit sick, but in the end it was OK, so I kept running until the end,” Giovinazzi said.

“In the end, doing 137 and 145 laps, this was important to finish the programme, to give all the data to the team, yesterday to Sauber, today to Ferrari. This was my main thing.”

As Giovinazzi has not started more than two grands prix, the Italian counts towards Ferrari’s two-day young driver allocation for the in-season tests, with the next running taking place at the Hungaroring following the Hungarian Grand Prix at the end of July.