In addition to AlphaTauri, Formula 1 will also say goodbye to Alfa Romeo in 2023. The F1 teams will continue to exist, but will have different names. It is not yet known what Red Bull’s sister team will be called, but Alfa Romeo will become Sauber again. Fortunately, the departure from F1 does not mean that Alfa Romeo is done with motorsport, because they want to drive Le Mans again.
Motorsport.com talk to Jean-Philippe Imparato, the big boss of Alfa Romeo. He is the first to address the rumor that Alfa would like to switch to the Haas F1 team. No way, according to Imparato: ‘We were not interested in a copy and paste project like with Sauber. Then we would have become one of those companies that stick stickers on the carriage.’
He also talks about the fruitful collaboration with Sauber Motorsport. It was also a good move financially, according to Imparato: ‘I would say it was the best investment in history. We can say that when it comes to image, we get twenty back for every euro we spent.’
Alfa Romeo searches and finds motorsport outside F1
‘Alfa Romeo has nothing to do with the rally world, the Stellantis group already has two brands in Formula E [DS en Maserati red.] and so the focus shifted to the WEC, a world where Alfa Romeo has great memories,” says Imparato. The brand therefore wants to participate in the World Endurance Championship, of which the 24 Hours of Le Mans is part.
After the F1 success in the 1950s, Alfa Romeo thought it was time to also win in sports cars. A new company called Autodelta was founded and a car called 33 was built. In 1967 the 33 won its first race directly. To celebrate, a road car was released called the Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale.
Three years later, Alfa Romeo 33/3 participated with four teams in the 24-hour race in Le Mans. One was driven by the Dutch Toine Hezemans. Not one Alfa made it to the finish. 56 years after the unveiling of the 33 Stradale, Alfa Romeo decides to honor the car with a modern version. There were 33 made, each sold for 3 million euros.
Will the new Alfa Romeo at Le Mans be a 33 again?
Unfortunately it doesn’t seem like it. Despite the fact that the Alfa boss emphasizes that he ‘cannot announce anything at the moment’, Imparato is clearly aiming for a collaboration with Peugeot. The Stellantis brother competed in the WEC last year with the striking, rear wingless 9X8. He was not very successful, with a third place in Monza as the best result.
Imparato says about the collaboration: ‘Of course that is a scenario that we have evaluated. […] When we return to the track, we will do so with the support of Stellantis’ motorsport projects and because Peugeot is already in the WEC, collaboration is of course possible. Maybe the paths of the two projects run parallel to each other, because at the end of the day we are the same family.’
For the time being, we do not yet know if and when Alfa Romeo will enter the WEC. “We will do that when we have completed the planning and evaluation of the investment,” says the Alfa Romeo boss. You almost wonder whether there will be enough starting places for all those brands that want to participate during the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
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