Giovanni Lavaggi (born 18 February 1958) is an Italian racing driver. Despite Lavaggi being a nobleman by background, he couldn’t count on personal financial resources; therefore he started racing only at the age of 26. Nevertheless, he managed to reach the top class of motorsport, racing in Formula One in ‘95 and ‘96. First approach to F1 was in 1992 when, being a mechanical engineer, he was official test driver for March F1 team. In 1995, he drove for Lotus-Pacific only for 4 races in which he was forced to retire due to gearbox problems. In the second part of 1996 racing season, he joined Minardi Team for 6 races. His best result was a 10th place at Hungaroring, which was the second best result of the year for Minardi team. With the current point scoring system, that result could have earned him 1 point in the F1 world championship.

Racing career

Lavaggi's racing career started in 1984, inspired by Henry Morrogh who judged him the best student he ever had at his racing school. That year he was official driver of the constructor Ermolli in “Formula Panda” Italian championship where he classified second, winning more races than any other driver.