Antonio Giovinazzi says that he hopes to learn as much as possible from his Alfa Romeo team mate Kimi Raikkonen in 2019.
Raikkonen has been in Formula 1 since 2001 with 291 Grand Prix starts under his belt, not to mention the 2007 world championship.
By comparison, Giovinazzi has previously taken part in just two races early in 2017 when he deputised for an injured Pascal Wehrlein. This year he finally gets his chance to compete in his own right with a full-year deal with Alfa Romeo.
"This will be my car, I’m working with my team, with my engineer and everything," he said in Spain this week.
"In the last two years I was third driver so I was always jumping to one car and the other car," he explained. "It was not really easy. But now I’m enjoying this moment."
It's also giving him a chance to benchmark himself against the veteran Raikkonen, newly returned to the squad after being ousted from his seat at Ferrai at the end of 2018.
Giovinazzi is delighted by the opportunity to compare his performance against such an experienced driver, and hopes to soak up some of Raikkonen's knowledge and expertise as well.
"Kimi is really motivated this year and it’s something really good to have," he commented after his first two days of pre-season testing at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
"He is a good target, I would say. He’s a world champion driver, he’s a driver who won a Formula 1 race last October," Giovinazzi pointed out. "For me he can be not just a teacher but also a reference during the year.
"With the results and everything the important thing in the end is to work really well together - going on the same direction with the car, achieving the best result for the team."
As for his first spell in the 2019 Alfa Romeo C38 this past week, Giovinazzi pronounced himself happy with it had gone.
“I am satisfied with the progress we have made this week and overall our team is feeling motivated by our recent learnings,” he said, after completing a total of 101 laps on Tuesday and a further 154 on Thursday.
His best time of 1:18.511s was set on the final day and put him eighth fastest in the timesheets, ahead of Haas drivers Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen and even Red Bull's Pierre Gasly.
Not a bad start for the 25-year-old Italian, who was forced to wait on the sidelines in 2018 in order to secure his big break. He'll get more time behind the wheel in the coming week to ensure he's properly bedded in before the first race of the season in Melbourne on March 17.
“We have another week of testing ahead of us which we will use to focus on making further progress and learn even more about our new car," he said. "I am already looking forward to being back on track.
“I feel comfortable in the car as well as in the team itself and we are all working together constructively."
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