Giovinazzi To Make Formula E Switch With Dragon In 2022
Calum Gill 14:29 16/11/2021
Former Alfa Romeo Formula 1 driver Antonio Giovinazzi will drive for the Dragon Penske Formula E team in 2022 after talks with Daniil Kvyat recently broke down.
Earlier on Tuesday, Alfa Romeo announced Giovinazzi’s exit from its F1 line-up, with confirmation that Guanyu Zhou will graduate from Formula 2 to replace him following soon afterwards. “Saying goodbye to a driver is never easy, especially so in the case of Antonio, who has been part of the team for so long,” said Alfa team principal Frédéric Vasseur. “As we part ways, we will cherish the memories of the good times and learn lessons from the bad ones, knowing these moments all made us grow together as a team. We wish Antonio the best for his future after the 2021 season: before then, we still have three races to achieve some good results together and finish the year strongly.”
It is believed that a concerted drive to sign Giovinazzi for Dragon was supported by senior Formula E executives, including its chairman Alejandro Agag - who has previously been influential in several deals for ex-F1 drivers to move into Formula E. These include Esteban Gutierrez in 2017 and Felipe Massa in 2018. Agag and Formula E chief championship officer and deputy CEO Alberto Longo attended last weekend’s Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos and are known to have spoken to the Giovinazzi camp.
Dragon Penske had already confirmed on Monday night that Sergio Sette Camara will stay in the #7 Penske EV-5 for a second full season, after impressing in several races in his first full campaign during 2021. Giovinazzi will make his test debut with Dragon at FE’s official 2022 pre-season test at the end of November, although he will not be able to run at all three days. The test sits between the Qatar and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix so it is logistically possible for Giovinazzi to drive for two of the three days of running before he heads to Jeddah. The 27-year-old’s only previous Formula E experience came from testing the Virgin Racing car during the first rookie test at Marrakesh in 2018 when he was an F1 reserve.
Formula E 2022 Confirmed Drivers:
Envision Racing: Robin Frijns, Nick Cassidy
Dragon/Penske: Sérgio Sette Camara, Antonio Giovinazzi
NIO 333: Oliver Turvey, ?
Jaguar Racing: Mitch Evans, Sam Bird
Venturi: Lucas di Grassi, Edoardo Mortara
Techeetah: António Félix da Costa, Jean-Éric Vergne
Nissan: Maximilian Guenther, Sébastian Buemi
Andretti: Jake Dennis, ?
Mahindra: Alexander Sims, Oliver Rowland
Porsche: André Lotterer, Pascal Wehrlein
Mercedes EQ: ?, ?
