Next 12 months you gained’t see the Alfa Romeo model on the Formula 1 grid. The automaker returned to the game for the 2018 season, however its partnership with Sauber ended final month after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
The group will as an alternative resurrect its Sauber identify for the 2024 season, formally calling itself the Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber, after signing a sponsorship cope with the streaming platform Kick.com. The automobile shall be known as the Kick Sauber C44. The Sauber identify may not stick round for lengthy because the group will develop into the new factory Audi endeavor for the 2026 season.
Audi’s arrival on the grid will coincide with substantial adjustments deliberate for F1’s engine and chassis laws. Sauber will proceed to make use of Ferrari engines till 2026, when Audi arrives with its personal energy unit. The German automaker’s new CEO, Gernot Dollner, lately reaffirmed the corporate’s commitment to join F1 in two years.
Sauber first entered F1 in 1993, working beneath its personal identify till 2006 when it turned BMW Sauber. The pair break up in 2009, however the group competed beneath the identify for the 2010 season. In 2011, it dropped BMW, competing with the Sauber identify till partnering with Alfa Romeo in 2018, working beneath the identify Alfa Romeo Sauber. In 2019 it dropped the Sauber identify altogether, turning into Alfa Romeo Racing.
While Alfa Romeo gained’t return to the grid subsequent 12 months, its drivers, Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu, will. Every group is coming into the brand new season with the identical driver lineup. Bottas ended the 2023 season in fifteenth with 10 factors, whereas Zhou completed with 6 factors in 18th place. Alfa got here in ninth within the Constructors’ Championship forward of last-place Hass.
