Antonio Giovinazzi felt "lost" in first Formula E test

Giovinazzi, Formula E — Photo: © LAT Images

Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

Giovinazzi felt "lost" in first Formula E test

Giovinazzi made his debut outing in a Formula E car ahead of the Saudi Arabian GP

Ewan Gale

Friday 3 December 2021 12:34

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Antonio Giovinazzi has conceded he felt "lost" after his first Formula E test with Dragon Racing in Valencia ahead of this weekend's Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

The Alfa Romeo driver will make way for Guanyu Zhou ahead of 2022, with his switch to the all-electric world championship confirmed on the same day as his departure from F1.

Testing was held at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in the week leading up to the inaugural event at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, with Giovinazzi only able to participate in the first two days of FE running.

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The Italian finished 15th on the timesheets on the opening day and explained the car was like nothing he had driven before.

"It has been a busy two months," said Giovinazzi. "Since Austin, I have never stopped, to be honest.

"It was the only week free for us, after Qatar and being straight away in the UK for the seat fit, did some sim, a filming day and then straight to Valencia for the first test.

"For sure, I was expecting that the car would be very different from Formula 1. It has been actually, when I did the first few laps.

"I have never felt something similar in my career, talking about F3, F2, GT and LMP2 but this car was actually different from all of these cars.

"After the first day, to be honest, I was a little bit lost, especially in braking, energy management, no downforce and no sound so it was all different but to be honest, the second day was much better and I enjoyed it a little bit more.

"Of course, it will be tough now because I will go straight to race one because there are no more tests, but it is a new thing for me, after all the categories I did, I also did some races in DTM, we will see, especially in the race, you can have more contact with the other cars, that is what I saw in the races.

"I know a lot of drivers also, I raced with them in previous categories and karting some of them.

"They are all good drivers so for sure, I will be looking forward to this new adventure and we will start in the end of January. Not much time to rest, straight over to race one. Let's see what we can do."