Italy and motorsport have always been strongly connected at a deep level. Historically, the country has been home to prestigious Formula 1 teams, such as the iconic Scuderia Ferrari, as well as talented drivers, from championship winners Giuseppe Farina and Alberto Ascari, to race winners like Giancarlo Fisichella and Jarno Trulli.
More recently, Antonio Giovinazzi competed for Alfa Romeo for four seasons until 2021, and now a bright new talent might add his name to the tally. Andrea Kimi Antonelli is definitely a name to watch out for in the upcoming years, following his rapid climbing on the feeders series ladder.
In an exclusive interview for Pit Debrief, fellow Italian driver Luca Ghiotto broke down the reasons why Italian drivers have been competing in the top single seaters championship less and less in the past few years.
Asked if he believes Antonelli will actually manage to crown his F1 dream. the IndyCar driver was positive:
“Kimi is a great talent. I really hope for him to get to F1, especially because I feel like I come from an era where there were some good Italian drivers that deserved a chance but didn’t have it. So I hope he gets the chance because that would mean that there’s still space here for us, not only about other drivers.”
“Lately I’ve seen people coming from every nation, but Italy has really just gone kind of out of the spotlight. So that’s not good, but one thing to say though is that we all love Ferrari as Italians, but Ferrari is a huge thing. Ferrari is everything, Ferrari is Formula 1, it’s the most important team and Ferrari is Italy.”
In fact, between Giovinazzi’s appointment and his predecessors Trulli and Viuzzi’s retirement from Formula 1, six years had gone by without an Italian on the grid.
“ Ferrari is so Italian and it’s so big and so famous that in one way it does feel like Formula 1 doesn’t need any more Italians. That’s why I feel like Italian drivers are not searched, and that there’s not that many because literally Ferrari is just making all by itself, basically.”
“ But I still feel like drivers like Kimi deserve a chance and I really hope he gets the chance, even though for sure it doesn’t look like he will be driving for Ferrari, but he will be driving for something else. I hope he does. I actually know him, he’s a really good guy and I know he’s really fast, so he will do great results for sure,” the former Formula 2 driver concluded.
Ghiotto also tried to break down the reasons why, in his opinion, Ferrari hasn’t been able to win a championship since 2007 and Kimi Raikkonen’s exploit, highlighting instead how the Prancing Horse’s biggest signing for 2025 might help:
“It’s always hard to say because there are so many things that have to work well in an F1 team or any team to perform well. I feel like for sure the signing of Hamilton, in my opinion, will help because already with the amount of experience he has and he can bring to the team, that will be a huge thing for Ferrari. At the same time, he’s won seven world titles, so for sure he knows how to win. Personally, I feel like he will do well.”
Two times race winner in 2024, at Silverstone and in Austria, Hamilton will definitely bring experience and wheel knowledge on the table, which in the ELMS driver’s opinion will make his appointment a successful move even if he doesn’t manage to win the title.
“I think he still has the ability, even though he has been racing in F1 for a long time and he’s getting quite old, or let’s say towards the 40-years-old. He still has the anger and the will to win by himself, but even if he doesn’t do, he can bring a lot of experience to the team. He can teach a lot to Charles, which will be useful for him as well.”
“I don’t see, honestly, for next year a better driver line-up because Charles has proved himself to be really quick while Hamilton has done crazy things in the past,” he summed up.
The Italian also commented the internal restyling Team Principal Fred Vasseur has been undertaking in the year and a half he has covered the role, with names like Serra and D’Ambrosio only the latest set to join the Prancing Horse in October from Mercedes.
“On the team side of Ferrari, I think Vasseur is doing a great job. He’s signing the right people. If you see now the last few races, the way the team is working is much more as it should be.”
“You can see that changes are happening. It’s not something that you just read around, but they are changing people and everything. That’s happened always, even in the last few years. They’ve been changing people.”
“They’ve been changing the team manager and the staff and everything, but I feel like now is probably the first time that we can all see that there’s actually changes being made and the team looks competitive. That’s a positive thing.”
