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For first time in 30 years, Italy’s Alfa Romeo will return to Formula 1

The Local Italy
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For first time in 30 years, Italy’s Alfa Romeo will return to Formula 1
Alfa Romeo will get back on track. Photo: Michael Buckner/Getty Images North America/AFP

Alfa Romeo will once more race in Formula 1, the Italian car maker announced on Wednesday, after it agreed a sponsorship deal with Swiss team Sauber.

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The new Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team will make its debut in the 2018 season, the first time that the company has competed on an F1 track in more than 30 years.

“Alfa Romeo fans will once again have the opportunity to support an automaker that is determined to begin writing an exciting new chapter in its unique, legendary sporting history,” said Sergio Marchionne, CEO of Alfa Romeo’s parent company, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.

The partnership is technical as well as commercial, the companies said in a statement, and has already been agreed for more than one year.

The 2018 car, emblazoned with Alfa Romeo’s snake-and-cross logo, will be powered by another Italian legend of motorsport: Ferrari, which has supplied Sauber with racing engines for many years.

Alfa Romeo, founded in Milan in 1910, dominated Grand Prix racing in the early 20th century. In 1950 Italian driver Nino Farina drove its Alfetta to victory at the very first Formula 1 championship.

After its early success the company competed on and off, but finally withdrew as a constructor in 1985. Next season’s return will be its first direct involvement in F1 since then. 

   
   Nino Farina in his Alfa Romeo in 1952. Photo: STF/AFP

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