Driver Profiles: Räikkönen and Giovinazzi (Alfa Romeo)

Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen has a long history in motorsport, competing as both a constructor and engine supplier since 1950. The team is managed by Sauber, who have been present on the F1 grid since 1993. The team, as Sauber, had partnerships with Mercedes Benz, Red Bull and Petronas, before being bought by BMW in 2006, where they raced under that name. They returned as Sauber in 2010, racing under the name before rebranding as Alfa Romeo Racing for the 2019 seasons onwards. Their previous drivers include Jacques Villeneuve, Felipe Massa, Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc. The current team principal is Frédéric Vasseur, with Kimi Räikkönen and Antonio Giovinazzi as their drivers.

Kimi Räikkönen #7

Kimi Räikkönen is a 41-year-old World Champion driver who had many successful years karting from the age of 10, as well as in the European Formula Super A championship, Formula Ford Euro Cup, winning the British Formula Renault winter series in 1999 and the Formula Renault UK Championship in 2000. In 2000, the Finnish driver tested for Sauber before being given a seat for the 2001 season. There were many concerns over granting his F1 Super Licence as he was very inexperienced, however, he helped the team finish 4th in the Constructors Championship that year. He then raced for McLaren between 2002 and 2006 before moving to Ferrari between 2007 and 2009, where won the Championship in 2007. Räikkönen then left F1 for the 2010 and 2011 season, making his rally debut and NASCAR. In 2012, he returned to the grid for Lotus, before returning to Ferrari between 2014 and 2018. In 2019, he made the move back to the team where he started his F1 career (however they raced as Alfa Romeo). The driver co-owns the Double R Racing team which currently races in the Euroformula Open Championship and has competed in British F3 and F4 and many other Formula races.

Antonio Giovinazzi #99

Antonio Giovinazzi is an Italian driver, who started karting in 2runner up. 000. He moved on to compete in Formula Pilota Chia., winning the season, before moving onto F3 in 2013 where he was the runner up in his debut season and participate in the series for the two years following. In 2016, he raced in the GP2 series, having raced in DTM, Asian Le Mans and the FIA World Endurance Championship, coming in second place behind Gasly. During this year, he performed simulator work for Ferrari and was confirmed as their reserve driver. He then started as the reserve and test driver for Sauber between 2017 and 2018, before being confirmed as taking a seat for the team for the 2019 season as it rebranded to Alfa Romeo. The 27-year-old is also the reserve driver for Ferrari, making him the only driver on the grid to have a full-time seat and act as a reserve driver.

Other Drivers

The team's reserve drivers are Robert Kubica and Callum Ilott. You can read about them

.