Photo: Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake
This coming weekend will mark the end of the 2023 Formula 1 season. With the last race scheduled to take place in Abu Dhabi on November 26, the eyes of the world are affixed at the top of the standings. True, not much can happen in terms of who won this year's Drivers' Championship, but the battle is still a hot one for the runner-up.
As most of the motorsport world is getting ready to celebrate the end of another racing season, one of the teams that has been with us for the past six seasons officially called it quits. It's not entirely a surprise, but a reminder of how challenging it is to remain in this sport.
It's Alfa Romeo I'm talking about, which confirmed this week the race in Abu Dhabi will be its last. That's because the Italian carmaker's agreement with Sauber to run a team in F1 will come to an end, and it will not be renewed.
Alfa Romeo is one of the names that has been at the forefront of motorsport since the early days of the automobile, but made a name for itself particularly before the start of the Second World War.
The Italians got involved in Formula 1 in the 1950s, and acted as both a constructor and an engine supplier. It managed to with the competition's first-ever Drivers' World Championship, with Giuseppe Farina behind the wheel, and did the same the following year with Juan Manuel Fangio.
Alfa pulled out of Formula 1 in the mid-1980s, and it didn't return until 2018, when the efforts of iconic auto executive Sergio Marchionne resulted in a technical and commercial deal with Sauber.
In the six years that have passed since, the Alfa Romeo-Sauber cars (run by a team officially called Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake) were driven to various accomplishments by some of the best F1 drivers of recent times, including Charles Leclerc, Marcus Ericsson, Antonio Giovinazzi, and Kimi Raikkonen.
This season, Alfa relied on Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas, but the duo was unable to do much: Zhou is placed 18th in the drivers' standings before the start of the Abu Dhabi race, with just six points, while Bottas ranks 15th, with ten points.
To mark the retirement from F1, the cars of the Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake team will be wearing a special livery during the last race of the season, emblazoned all over with the number 6, a reference to how much time the carmaker was involved in the sport recently.
Elsewhere, an inscription reading "Alfa Romeo nei nostri cuori" (that's Italian for "Alfa Romeo always in our hearts") will be visible on the C43s.
Despite officially going out of the sport, Alfa's higher-ups do not rule out a return to the competition sometime in the future, but not before "the conditions are right."
It's Alfa Romeo I'm talking about, which confirmed this week the race in Abu Dhabi will be its last. That's because the Italian carmaker's agreement with Sauber to run a team in F1 will come to an end, and it will not be renewed.
Alfa Romeo is one of the names that has been at the forefront of motorsport since the early days of the automobile, but made a name for itself particularly before the start of the Second World War.
The Italians got involved in Formula 1 in the 1950s, and acted as both a constructor and an engine supplier. It managed to with the competition's first-ever Drivers' World Championship, with Giuseppe Farina behind the wheel, and did the same the following year with Juan Manuel Fangio.
Alfa pulled out of Formula 1 in the mid-1980s, and it didn't return until 2018, when the efforts of iconic auto executive Sergio Marchionne resulted in a technical and commercial deal with Sauber.
In the six years that have passed since, the Alfa Romeo-Sauber cars (run by a team officially called Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake) were driven to various accomplishments by some of the best F1 drivers of recent times, including Charles Leclerc, Marcus Ericsson, Antonio Giovinazzi, and Kimi Raikkonen.
This season, Alfa relied on Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas, but the duo was unable to do much: Zhou is placed 18th in the drivers' standings before the start of the Abu Dhabi race, with just six points, while Bottas ranks 15th, with ten points.
To mark the retirement from F1, the cars of the Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake team will be wearing a special livery during the last race of the season, emblazoned all over with the number 6, a reference to how much time the carmaker was involved in the sport recently.
Elsewhere, an inscription reading "Alfa Romeo nei nostri cuori" (that's Italian for "Alfa Romeo always in our hearts") will be visible on the C43s.
Despite officially going out of the sport, Alfa's higher-ups do not rule out a return to the competition sometime in the future, but not before "the conditions are right."
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