Column | The dark path beckoning Alfa Romeo

With a difficult season in 2021 wrapped up, the team at Hinwil will be wanting to put it all behind them & focus solely on the upcoming 2022 season. However, with their business focuses and strategic decision, the difficulty may be spiking for the Swiss-Italian team. We take a look at the troubles which may plague them into the future.

Drivers

For the coming 2022 season, Alfa Romeo has made a complete overhaul of its driver lineup. With the retiring Kimi Raikkonen & exiting Antonio Giovinazzi, ex-Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas and young talent Guanyu Zhou have been brought to guide the team into the future.

When it comes to controversial driver lineup decisions, Alfa Romeo took the award last season. The Valtteri Bottas deal was a simple one for both parties: Bottas could enter and finally become a true “team leader” with his experience & knowledge at the front of the field, while Alfa Romeo would benefit from a driver who is hungry to prove his doubters wrong. However, the other seat was held in limbo for quite some time, before eventually being the last confirmed seat on the grid. Zhou became a frontrunner for the seat, while also reportedly bringing in much larger funding. Based on this & the balance of expected performance in comparison to Giovinazzi, the Italian was removed from the team after three years of service to allow the rookie to take his place. It was also a complex decision, due to young Sauber talent Theo Pourchaire competing in F2. If he has a breakout season, then the difficulty in organising the two racing seats will go even higher.

Andretti

In the lead up to the US Grand Prix, rumours began to circulate about Andrett Autosport seeking a stake within the Sauber Group which owns and operarates the Alfa Romeo F1 Team. Talks began to heat up, with more reports of a serious consideration being made with the two parties. However, the deal was broken off, due to some technicalities of responsibility within the deal. Late on Friday night, Andretti confirmed  that they have applied to the FIA to field a new F1 team in the 2024 season. 

For over two decades, the Sauber/Alfa Romeo team has competed in F1, cementing it as a modern stalwart on the grid. Thus, it’s certainly a concerning sign to see controlling stakes being entertained by them, possibly hinting at a possibility for exit from the sport altogether. With the upcoming budget cap set to tighten, Alfa Romeo will need to ensure that their finances are as efficiently set up as possible to make sure that they can pull back into the midfield battle. While the reported funding from Zhou should help calm whatever financial obligations they may be facing, it may be a very early sign that things are not going so well for the Hinwil outfit.

What now?

Alfa Romeo is seemingly in both driver & financial confusion at the worst possible time. Drivers will need a longer period of time to adapt to these cars due to their newer aerodynamic and handling effects, meaning that if teams want year-on-year growth, they may need to keep their lineup for a longer time period. With that, Alfa Romeo will also need to balance managing two drivers with a hot prospect waiting in the wings, one which they brought through the ranks themselves. From a financial standpoint, if the team missteps or are unable to fully utilise their resources, they will lag further behind again & struggle to claw back, with more teams capable of meeting the budget cap, pulling away from the less fortunate teams. 

Whatever issues Alfa Romeo is facing, they will need to fix quickly.