Antonio Giovinazzi suffered a tricky three-year stint in Formula 1, floundering at the back of the field alongside Kimi Raikkonen at Alfa Romeo.
The Italian driver was shifted out of the highest level of motorsport at the end of 2021 alongside his teammate as the Swiss team welcomed Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Gunayu.
Giovinazzi was unspectacular during his Formula 1 career, rarely hitting the headlines apart from a superb drive to fifth place in the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix.
But the World Endurance Championship has given the Italian a new lease of life while driving for Ferrari in the Hypercar class, in which Giovinazzi won at Le Mans in 2023.
Antonio Giovinazzi won the Le Mans 24 Hours at the first attempt in the Hypercar class
After Giovinazzi couldn’t find a seat on the Formula 1 grid for 2022, the Italian had to look at alternative options and spent a year in Formula E.
The 30-year-old spent one season with DS Penske in the all-electric series, struggling to make an impact as he didn’t score a top-10 finish all season.
Giovinazzi scored a best finish of just 16th place in Monaco as he struggled to grasp the very different car with much less downforce and power than he was used to.
READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Antonio Giovinazzi from WEC career stats to net worth
He also retired from the final five races he entered during the year before withdrawing from the second race of the weekend in Seoul, South Korea.
Ferrari then took to the Hypercar class in WEC at the start of 2023, and Giovinazzi was chosen to drive the No. 51 Ferrari alongside James Calado and his compatriot Alessandro Pier Guidi.
The opening two rounds of the season were unspectacular as Ferrari began to find their feet at the highest level of endurance racing and compete with Toyota, who had dominated in the LMP1 era.
A seventh place at the 1000 Miles of Sebring and sixth place at the Algarve International Circuit were decent results but not very inspiring as they headed to Le Mans.
In France, the Ferraris were blisteringly fast on the Mulsanne straight breaking up the immense 3.7-mile straight, making it difficult for the Toyotas to pass them into either chicane.
This raw top speed saw Ferrari lock out the front row in qualifying, with Giovinazzi’s No. 51 car taking second place.
Ferrari and Toyota were in a dogfight for the entire 24-hour race, an event that required immense concentration as the pole sitter, the No. 50 Ferrari, finished five laps down.
Giovinazzi and his teammates took victory by over a minute ahead of the No. 8 Toyota as the Japanese manufacturer’s run of five consecutive wins ended.
Why did a driver as successful as Antonio Giovinazzi fail in Formula 1?
Giovinazzi has been driving brilliantly in the WEC, and the Italian is the perfect character for the World Endurance Championship, where teamwork is crucial.
Winning at Le Mans may even make the Italian more memorable to some motorsport fans than a few Ferrari Formula 1 drivers throughout history.
By contrast, Giovinazzi’s career in F1 stalled after just three years at the back of the field despite a glittering CV from his junior career.
The Alfa Romeo cars that the Italian drove benefitted from Ferrari power, but he struggled to score points consistently, finishing in the top 10 just nine times in three years.
Giovinazzi had moments of brilliance during his stint in F1 but they were few and far between as he grappled with a car that rarely scored points.
At the end of 2021, Giovinazzi was replaced by Zhou, who was making the step up from Formula 2 and was backed by a multitude of wealthy sponsors, alongside Bottas.
Giovaninazzi was familiar with the move from Formula 2 to F1 having made the same rise himself whilst the feeder championship was still called the GP2 Series.
The Italian fought with Pierre Gasly over the 2016 GP2 title whilst teammates for PREMA, which Giovinazzi ultimately lost by just eight points.
He took five wins that season in what was also Giovinazzi’s rookie GP2 campaign on the back of finishing as the 2015 Formula 3 Euro vice-champion.
Ending the year as the runner-up was a familiar feeling for Giovinazzi by the time Gasly won the GP2 series title. The Italian also finished second in the 2013 British F3 Championship on the back of winning Formula Pilota China in 2012.