Giovinazzi 'could have pushed harder' in F1 début

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Sauber stand-in Antonio Giovinazzi says he regrets not being bolder in his maiden Formula 1 Grand Prix appearance

"I thought I'd take it easy because I didn't want to take another pit stop," he explained after the Australian Grand Prix.

"I took it really easy, just to understand the tyres and understand the car," he said. "This was the target for me, just to understand the car more and have the experience from the tyres and the car."

Giovinazzi explained that his experience racing in GP2 had made him wary about overusing the tyres early on in the race, which would have compromised his race strategy.

"GP2 car is quite different with the [degradation] in the tyres, it's a little bit worse than Formula 1," he suggested.

"For this I was taking it easier in the beginning of the run. In GP2 it was possible to only do seven or eight laps with supersofts and then you need to box."

Kaltenborn impressed with Giovinazzi, but rules out more outings

Giovinazzi was dropped into the race seat without warning when Pascal Wehrlein withdrew on Saturday. He went on to finish the race in 12th place ahead of McLaren's Stoffel Vandoorne.

"To be on top of the rookie drivers, with the preparation I had before - which was nothing – I think was a pretty good weekend," he said.

"It was a good race, and I am happy with my performance.

"My objective was to gain more experience and collect mileage in the car," he concluded. "It was an amazing race weekend for me."

GALLERY: all the pics from Sunday's action

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.