Alfa Romeo-Sauber Should Welcome Andretti Purchase With Open Arms
Links to Michael Andretti could be the sign of a brighter future for the historic team.
The Sauber Formula One team entered the sport in 1993 and immediately scored points in their first race. JJ Lehto earned a fifth place finish in South Africa. It was a chaotic race in which only five cars saw the chequered flag, but Sauber were up and running.
Sauber were the original Red Bull team, having partnered with the drinks brand in 1995. Kimi Raikkonen was plucked from obscurity to debut with the team in 2001.
Sergio Perez, Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel all made their first F1 appearance with the team, too. As did Felipe Massa.
Robert Kubica debuted with the team in 2007 and won their first race in 2008.
In 2006, they were bought out by BMW and became the manufacturer’s works team. With Nick Heidfeld and Kubica they earned one pole position and 17 podiums.
BMW Sauber earned a very respectable third place in the Constructors standings in 2008 and challenged for the Drivers Championship with Kubica.
When BMW sold the team back to owner Peter Sauber in 2009, the budget shrank but the team were still competitive enough to score points semi-consistently.
By 2012 they were a front-running midfield car, competing with Mercedes in the Constructors standings.
Perez and Kamui Kobayashi earned four podiums, and the Mexican driver even had the pace to win in Malaysia before a mistake cost him the chance to overtake Fernando Alonso for the lead.
In 2019, the team began a partnership with Alfa Romeo that saw them licence the Italian manufacturer’s branding. That deal still exists to this day and was even extended earlier this year.
However, over the weekend, reports re-surfaced of Michael Andretti’s interest in buying the team.
Scott Mitchell of The Race reported the deal will likely amount to Andretti Autosport purchasing 80% of the team.
“Andretti is believed to be pursuing an 80% stake in Sauber’s ownership company Islero Investments, which would give it control of Sauber’s racing and engineering divisions.,” wrote Mitchell.
Andretti Autosport has competed in IndyCar and Formula E and are now looking to move into F1.
Michael Andretti, son of 1978 F1 world champion Mario Andretti, runs the team and is a former F1 driver himself. However, the American had much more success in IndyCar when behind the wheel, winning 42 races and a championship of his own.
But the Sauber team that he will be potentially taking over will require a lot of work to get back up the pecking order.
Alfa Romeo have had an extremely disappointing couple of seasons.
Despite coming eighth in 2019, the team picked up a decent points haul and even earned a fourth and fifth place finish in Brazil.
However, their eighth place finish in 2020 saw the team earn only eight points and they currently sit in ninth in the 2021 standings with a measly seven points.
The recent Turkish Grand Prix was a fine example of how this team is currently wasting golden opportunities for points finishes. With their current performances, they have essentially gifted Williams their eighth place standing.
During the latest race weekend Antonio Giovinazzi was told by the team to let Raikkonen aside as the Finn had much better pace. Giovinazzi, fighting for his seat at the team for 2022, refused and maintained position.
To the Italian’s credit, he did find some extra pace, but Raikkonen stayed on his heels for the rest of the race.
But, crucially, the team failed to inform Giovinazzi that they were about to be lapped on the penultimate lap, thus making it their actual last lap.
This meant that Giovinazzi was unable to overtake Esteban Ocon for 10th place due to the 27-year old recharging his battery in anticipation of one last push on the final lap.
This lack of communication is embarrassing for a team at this level. It is no one-off either. Their season has been plagued by bad luck, poor decision making and a total failure to take advantage of any chaos that surrounded them.
Take, for example, the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Only 13 cars were classified as legal finishers of the race and Alfa Romeo managed to bring home both cars, yet they finished in 10th and 13th.
Raikkonen was given a 10-second penalty for an unsafe release in the pit lane, an easily avoidable error from the team.
Giovinazzi received a 10-second stop-go penalty for speeding in the pit lane.
Both of these mistakes were costly. Meanwhile, Williams scored a double points finish which is how they leaped into eighth in the Constructors standings.
With Raikkonen set to retire at the end of the season, to be replaced by Valtteri Bottas, there is a chance for the team to totally reset going into the 2022 season.
But, of all the teams, they look most likely to miss out in any potential shake ups that the new regulations may bring.
Haas have partnered up with Ferrari, essentially replacing Sauber as the manufacturer’s B-team. Williams have made great strides this season and look like a well organised outfit that knows how to maximise their potential.
Aston Martin, Alpine and Alpha Tauri all have much better facilities and bigger budgets.
Sauber are in danger of losing ground with their competitors. They need the expertise of someone like Andretti to turn the ship around.
Sauber have had many ups and downs over their near 30-year history. They’ve taken many different sizes and forms — and they may still retain the Alfa Romeo or Sauber name under Andretti, for all we know.
Now looks as good a time as any for change. Not many teams have survived in F1 as long as Sauber have, but it’s not too late for the team to turn things around.
They have great potential, as their history indicates. It’s now time for someone to show them how to best use that potential to their advantage.
