Giovinazzi won’t stagnate in Ferrari role - Wolff

Toto Wolff has played down fears the career of new Ferrari reserve Antonio Giovinazzi might stagnate in 2017.

After almost winning the GP2 title, the 23-year-old Italian has been signed up by Ferrari but is not guaranteed any actual kilometres.

So the question was posed to Mercedes’ Toto Wolff - who has successfully placed his own juniors Pascal Wehrlein and Esteban Ocon on the F1 grid - as to whether Giovinazzi would be better off in the Mercedes programme.

"But Giovinazzi has not driven a formula one car, so you can’t compare him with Wehrlein and Ocon," he told Italy’s La Gazzetta dello Sport.

"Pascal won the title in DTM and then spent a season in formula one, while Esteban won the titles in GP3 and Formula 3," he said.

Giovinazzi, however, almost won the GP2 title this year, but Wolff insisted: "I’m sure Ferrari will find the best option for him."

Asked if the Italian youngster is in danger of dropping off the F1 radar this year, Wolff answered: "No. A great example is Valtteri Bottas.

"He was third driver for a year with Williams before he became their race driver."