Alfa Romeo were left frustrated with Antonio Giovinazzi for ignoring team orders during the 2021 Turkish Grand Prix.
With Giovinazzi and team-mate Kimi Raikkonen running outside the points and the Finnish driver showing better pace, the team got on the radio to instruct the Italian to let his veteran team-mate through.
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However, Giovinazzi ignored this team order and pressed on with his own bid to score points for the team.
He ended up crossing the finish line just outside the points and said he needed another lap to get a points finish in Istanbul.
Speaking after the race, Giovinazzi said: “Just a little bit too close to P10.
“One more lap and we would have been in the points. But we tried our best and unfortunately it is like this, and now we look forward to the next one.
“It was not an easy race for sure, especially when I changed the tyres. The tyres were not ready and it took some laps to find the grip from the tyres.
“But it was difficult for everyone and really I am disappointed that for one lap we are not in the points.”
Meanwhile, Xevi Pujolar, head of trackside engineering at Alfa Romeo, expressed his frustration with Giovinazzi’s decision to not let Raikkonen overtake him.
He said that Alfa Romeo asked the Italian to swap positions with Raikkonen, “but then at this point Antonio was starting to pick up the pace and he himself decided that he wanted to stay ahead.”
Continuing, he said: “Maybe that situation is a couple of laps that we potentially could have been faster as a team. Then it was just one more lap to catch Ocon.
“For sure for the team it was not ideal. I did not understand very well why we could not swap at this point because also then when you have got both cars at the end we can change it back depending on the situation.
“It’s important to achieve the points, looking at how Kimi’s pace was strong at the time,” he concluded.
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