Former F1 driver Jenson Button recently questioned Ferrari WEC driver Antonio Giovinazzi's claim that winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans was bigger than racing in F1. This was a bold call from the former Alfa Romeo F1 driver, who is currently doing decently in the WEC.
While speaking to Endurance Info1, Giovinazzi opened up about his time with Ferrari's WEC team, explaining how great the team was feeling after winning the 24 hours of Le Mans 2023. He said:
"Winning in Le Mans is bigger than driving in F1."
Since the statement was quite bold, considering that he is the newest F1 driver who has shifted to motorsports, it blew up on social media platforms. Apart from fans, a familiar and famous face of Jenson Button popped up with his reply as well.
Replying to formularacers's post, the former F1 world champion initially agreed that winning the longest endurance race is definitely better than just driving in F1. However, he threw a question at Giovinazzi about whether it was bigger than winning in Formula 1. Button wrote:
"Bigger than driving in F1 yes but bigger than winning in F1?"
Jenson Button particularly pinpointed the feeling of winning an F1 race, claiming it was a bigger achievement than a win at Le Mans.
Antonio Giovinazzi did not win any race or even clinch a podium finish in his F1 career. He was only associated with Alfa Romeo and never got the chance to step up to Ferrari's F1 team.
Antonio Giovinazzi compares F1 car to Ferrari's 499P WEC car
Antonio Giovinazzi recently spoke about his Ferrari 499P WEC car and also compared it to an F1 car which he drove until 2021. As quoted by Top Gear, Giovinazzi stated that the feeling of a race car is not too different when it comes to an F1 or WEC Hypercar.
However, he did point out the 'laziness' of 499P due to its 200kg extra weight.
‘‘To be honest, the driving style is not much different from an F1 car. It’s a racing car so you drive it the same way. Of course, it’s 200kg heavier [than an F1 car] so you can feel this under braking, the change of direction on the car is more lazy," said Giovinazzi.
The Italian driver, along with his Ferrari teammates Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado, is currently third in the WEC Hypercar category.