Sauber team rebranded ahead of 2019 season

PARIS: Sauber will be rebranded as Alfa Romeo Racing for the forthcoming Formula One season.

The Sauber name has been part of the sport's make-up for the past quarter of a century after Peter Sauber ran his first entry in 1993.

But it will now effectively disappear from the grid after the Swiss team announced they have been dropped ahead of the new campaign which kicks off in Melbourne next month.

Kimi Raikkonen, the 2007 world champion, and Antonio Giovinazzi will race for the re-branded outfit this year.

Giuseppe Farina won F1's first world championship driving an Alfa Romeo in 1950, before Juan Manuel Fangio claimed the first of his five titles racing for the Italian car manufacturer a year later.

After a 33-year absence from the sport, Alfa Romeo became title sponsor for the cash-strapped Sauber team last season.

Sauber finished eighth in the 2018 constructors' championship.

Alfa Romeo are due to roll out their car on the morning of the first winter test, which gets under way in Barcelona on February 18.

The Independent