- A Formula One driver has hit out at the sport after he lost his seat for the next season.
Alfa Romeo driver Antonio Giovinazzi has been replaced by China's Guanyu Zhou for the 2022 season.
A Formula One driver has hit out at the sport, calling it "ruthless," and saying "money rules" after losing his seat for next year.
Antonio Giovinazzi is currently a driver for Alfa Romeo, but it was announced on Tuesday that the Italian will be replaced by Formula 2 driver Guanyu Zhou, who will become the first Chinese driver to race in motorsport's premier discipline.
Giovinazzi has raced for Alfa since 2019 and scored 14 points in his debut season. However in this campaign, he has recorded just one point and is 18th in the drivers' standings, hindered by the second-slowest car on the
Autosport claims that one of the reasons behind the decision was an eagerness to expand into the Chinese market.
It also said that F1 CEO Chase Carey hoped that Zhou would be able to have a similar impact as Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez have had in the Netherlands and Mexico respectively.
Giovinazzi, however, has hit out at the decision and hinted that he believes money is corrupting the sport.
"F1 is emotion, talent, cars, risk, speed. But when money rules it can be ruthless," he tweeted.
"I believe in the surprise of an unexpected result, of big or small victories achieved thanks to one's commitment."
The 27-year-old sent the tweet alongside a picture of him as a child in a Ferrari toy F1 car and said: "If this was my first picture on a F1, the last still has to be taken."
Zhou is currently second in the F2 championship having spent three seasons in the F1 feeder series. Some believe that his commercial appeal and the money he will bring to Alfa Romeo are the main reasons he has been selected next season, but team boss Fred Vasseur told Autosport it was not all about money.
"I think for the company, for current sponsors work, for the nine other teams, for F1 in general, it's a huge opportunity," he said.
"Performance is not based on one single pillar, it's always a combination of speed, collaboration with the team, collaboration with the team mate, the financial side. And for the development of the company, I think it's a good step forward."