Giovinazzi follows Ricciardo’s lead with Vasseur podium bet

Alfa Romeo driver Antonio Giovinazzi has opted to follow in the lead of Daniel Ricciardo and make a bet with his team boss Frederic Vasseur contingent upon the Italian scoring his first podium in Formula 1.

While Ricciardo bet then Renault team principal Cyril Abiteboul that he would have to get a tattoo of the driver’s choice on his body if he scored a podium for the French team, which he managed twice last year, Giovinazzi has put his long locks on the line, according to Gazzetta dello Sport.

“I made a bet with Frederic Vasseur: when I reach my first podium place, he can shave my hair", he said.

"Frederic occasionally jokes about shaving my hair, so I can see from his face that he is already thinking about finally cutting and shaving my hair. I myself will be satisfied with this season if my hair is short at the end of the year, because that means that I have been on the podium in 2021.

"That says something about how much I want to be on the podium, because I am very attached to my long hair."

However, Vasseur may have to wait a while before getting the razor out as the Alfa Romeos ran consistently towards the back of the grid in 2020.

"In 2020 I scored fewer points than in 2019, but that was for several reasons. Ultimately, I certainly grew in 2020, you can also see that in my performance against Kimi Raikkonen. He is a world champion and my teammate, so compared to him I have to perform well and I succeeded in that in 2020," the Italian said.

"Next season I hope to develop myself further and to get more points, but of course everything depends on the car you drive in. Although we are limited in what we can do in the car compared to last season, I think we will be back again a step forward. I expect we will be closer to AlphaTauri and Alpine this winter."