Alfa Romeo ends the Sauber partnership at the end of the 2023 season

Alfa Romeo says they will end their sponsorship to accept Sauber when their current standings expires at the end of the 2023 Formula 1 campaign.

The famous Italian brand returned to Formula 1 in 2018 through a technical and commercial partnership, and in the summer of 2021 announced a multi-year extension with “annual evaluations”.

Last month, they chose to continue until 2023 “given the promising results of the first half of the season, both in terms of performance, marketing and positive collaboration with the team”.

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But ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix, with about a season and a half remaining on the current agreement, Alfa Romeo took the opportunity to set a deadline for its relationship with Sauber.

“As the economic and industrial transformation of the brand will take place in 2022, Alfa Romeo will now evaluate among the many opportunities on the table, and decide which will be the best to maintain the long-term strategy and positioning of the brand,” they said in a statement.

Alfa Romeo, which currently operates Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu, Sixth place in the constructors’ championship (They finished ninth last year) with 51 points.

F1 reporter Lawrence Barretto says…

“The Alfa Romeo association has been very beneficial to the F1 team brand and the financial support that has helped boost performance, while the Italian brand is happy with the benefits it has brought to the car company.

“It’s never great to lose a major sponsor, especially one whose name resonates so often in motorsports and the motorsport sector, not least because it means removing the flow of funding.

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“However, I understand that the Sauber-managed team is confident in their future in the short and medium term, with more details about their plans to be revealed when there is more to say.”