Sauber F1: Into the future with Alfa and Ferrari
FORMULA 1 A new era begins for the Sauber F1 Team. Alfa Romeo becomes title sponsor, Ferrari supplies the latest drive system in 2018 and places two of its drivers with the team from Hinwil. The return of Alfa Romeo to Formula 1, which FCA Group boss Sergio Marchionne had already promised in 2015, will be realized in the form of the partnership with the Sauber [...]
The return of Alfa Romeo to Formula 1, which FCA Group CEO Sergio Marchionne had already promised in 2015, will be realized in the form of a partnership with the Sauber F1 Team. This will operate as the Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team for at least three years from 2018.
The legendary brand was last represented as a works team in the premier class of motorsport in 1985, but was a long way from the glory of the glorious 1950s. The private Osella team continued to use Alfa Romeo's no longer competitive V8 turbo engines until the middle of the 1988 season.
Ferrari supplies the latest drive technology
The next Sauber C37 may have Alfa Romeo written on it, but it still has Ferrari technology inside. In contrast to the previous season, the latest drive system from Maranello (engine and gearbox) can be used again.
In the future, the Sauber F1 Team should therefore have similarly good technical prerequisites as HaasF1, another Ferrari customer, or Force India, which sensationally finished fourth in the 2017 World Championship and gets its drive system from Mercedes GP.
The technical partnership goes hand in hand with the signing of 20-year-old Monegasque Charles Leclerc as a new driver. This year's high-flyer in the FIA Formula 2 will be sponsored by Ferrari. Leclerc replaces the German Pascal Wehrlein.
Although the Swede Marcus Ericsson achieved less in 2017 than his Mercedes protégé, he is linked to Sauber owners Longbow Finance via his main sponsors.
Antonio Giovinazzi is allowed to take the wheel in free practice at six Grands Prix. The 23-year-old Italian is the official third driver and was already deployed in spring 2017 in Australia and China as a replacement for the injured Pascal Wehrlein.
