Having been thrown in the deep end when Pascal Wehrlein declared himself not fit enough to race on Saturday morning, the Italian put in a 'super-sub' performance across Saturday and Sunday.

He only narrowly missed out on a Q2 berth, and finished his debut race in a solid 12th spot, completing the full race distance.

But the GP2 runner-up did admit to being a little too conservative during the race on Sunday.

Giovinazzi explained that his experience on the high-deg GP2 tyres led to him 'taking it easy' during his 40-lap stint to the finish on the supersofts for fear of needing to make a second stop, especially after being compromised with a flat spot during the first stint on the soft.

"I would say the GP2 car is quite different with the deg in the tyres, it's a little bit worse than F1," he said.

"For this I was taking it easier in the beginning of the run, because in GP2 with supersoft it was possible to only do seven or eight laps and then you need to box.

"I was supposed to do half the race [in the second stint], so I thought I'd take it easy because I didn't want to take another pitstop.

"I took it really easy, just to understand the tyres and understand the car. This was the target for me, just to understand the car more and have the experience from the tyres and the car."

The Ferrari reserve driver also admitted that he was a little disappointed to fall just two spots short of scoring a point on debut, but said it was a good feeling to be the best rookie at the finish despite having had so little time to prepare.

"Yesterday I was just two tenths from Q2, and today just two positions to the points," he said.

"To be on top of the rookie drivers, with the preparation I had before – nothing – I think was a pretty good weekend."