Alfa Romeo return to F1 with Sauber
The Alfa Romeo name will return to F1 with Sauber in 2018 after the two parties agreed a wide-ranging technical partnership.
The Swiss team will officially be known as Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team with the Italian car maker to be their new title sponsor as part of a multi-year deal.
Sauber are powered by Ferrari engines and Sergio Marchionne, the chairman of the Maranello marque and the Fiat-Chrysler empire, had been keen to see the Alfa Romeo brand return to F1 for the first time since 1985.
The partnership is being billed as ‘strategic, commercial and technological cooperation between Alfa Romeo and the Sauber F1 Team’.
Sauber are still to confirm their driver line-up for 2018, but Ferrari-backed Charles Leclerc and Marcus Ericsson are the most likely pairing. Both are running in this week’s post-season Abu Dhabi test.
“This agreement with the Sauber F1 Team is a significant step in the reshaping of the Alfa Romeo brand, which will return to Formula 1 after an absence of more than 30 years,” said Marchionne in a statement.
