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CEO of Alfa Romeo, Jean-Philippe Imperato is elated with the relationship with his company currently have with Sauber amid rumours about a takeover by Audi in 2026. Currently, the carmaker giant Stellantis has an official naming deal with Sauber until the end of 2025. Imperato talked about how the company is dealing with the recession and other problems.
“It is now 2022,” Imperato said during Speed Week last weekend in the Austrian GP. “We are dealing with the recession and other current problems but I am planning a sponsorship of this kind every three years. At the moment I have no idea for 2026 but we will also cooperate with Sauber in 2023 and 2024.”
Alfa Romeo's CEO then talked about how they want to work with Sauber. “We have a long-term agreement, but this is evaluated annually. When we talk about working with Sauber, then yes. And when we talk about the return on investment, then yes and yes again," Imperato insisted.
Imperato also expressed about the Alfa Romeo drivers are happy with their cars. He said, “The cooperation with Sauber is going extremely well. I can see that Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu love their Alfas. We see clear progress from the team compared to 2021 and that's a positive story.”
We did have conversations with Audi, and we're not for sale: Brown
Similarly, Audi was reported to take over the Mclaren- Mercedes team as their entry into Formula One. But Mclaren racing CEO Zak Brown shut down the rumours as he clarified that their shareholders are committed to the British team.
Similarly, they are also committed to their future as the team is performing both on and off the track. Brown said, "No. Our shareholders are very committed to McLaren. We did have conversations with Audi, and we're not for sale.
"We're very committed to our future. We're doing really well on the track. Shareholders made substantial investments to give our team the resources we need to get back to the front. Commercially, we're doing really well, morale in the team is really good. We don't have any interest in selling the racing team,” Brown continued.