Giovanni Lavaggi
| Born |
18 February 1958 Augusta, Italy |
|---|---|
| Formula One World Championship career | |
| Nationality |
 Italian |
| Active years | 1995–1996 |
| Teams | Pacific, Minardi |
| Entries | 10 (7 starts) |
| Championships | 0 |
| Wins | 0 |
| Podiums | 0 |
| Career points | 0 |
| Pole positions | 0 |
| Fastest laps | 0 |
| First entry | 1995 German Grand Prix |
| Last entry | 1996 Japanese Grand Prix |
Giovanni Lavaggi (born 18 February 1958) is an Italian racing driver.
A nobleman by background, Lavaggi raised the money to buy ten Formula One Grand Prix drives, for Pacific and Minardi, debuting on July 30, 1995. In 1995 he was the only driver not to finish any of the F1 races that they started. He scored no championship points and was never close to the car's performance limits, being described as "desperately slow" by Jonathan Palmer, although he did well in his forays in sportscar racing.
His Formula One career started in 1992, where he tested for the March team.
Lavaggi was 1993 Interserie champion and won the 1995 Daytona 24 Hours, as well as scoring two wins in the FIA Sportscar Championship. Prior to Formula One Lavaggi made two starts and failed to qualify for two additional races in CART for Euromotorsport and Leader Cards Racing.
Lavaggi races under the banner of his own Lavaggi Sport (formerly known as GLV Brums) sportscar racing team, which in 2007 started building and racing its own Le Mans Prototype, the Lavaggi LS1, in the Le Mans Series.
He was nicknamed "Johnny Carwash" (a liberal translation of his name from Italian to English, John Washing) by people in the paddock; US talk show host David Letterman helped bring the nickname to popular attention.
In the city of Catania, a major road has been dedicated to his uncle: Via Giovanni Lavaggi (Giovanni Lavaggi Road). He was a famous war pilot killed in 1941 on the same airplane with Italo Balbo.
() (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.)
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