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The Italian manufacturer, Alfa Romeo, has been in the motorsports business for quite some time. The team currently participates as Alfa Romeo F1 Team Orlen while being operated by Sauber Motorsport AG. The Hinwil-based team has competed in F1 both as a constructor and as an engine supplier.
Alfa Romeo drivers got their hands on the first two Drivers' Championships, back in 1950 and 1951 with Nino Farina and Juan Manuel Fangio respectively. Since then, the team had stayed away from the sport as competitors, only supplying engines sporadically up until 1985, getting very little success as constructors.
Then in 2015, their logo was back in F1 after 30 years, appearing on the Scuderia Ferrari cars. Later, in 2017, the team announced that they were to become title sponsors for Sauber in 2018, and in early 2019, Sauber Motorsport AG changed its name to Alfa Romeo Racing, as the team returned to the sport as official competitors. The company has used Ferrari engines in its cars ever since.
Alfa Romeo uses Ferrari 066/7 engines in their cars. The engine was also used by Scuderia Ferrari and Haas in the 2022 season. The engine started the season on a strong footing as Ferrari often set the fastest lap times during pre-season testing in Barcelona and Bahrain. As the season progressed, it helped Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz secure multiple wins and podiums.
The team will remain in F1 with Ferrari engines until 2026.
Valtteri Bottas pleased with Alfa Romeo after 2022 F1 season
Although mechanical failures at the start of the season impacted Valtteri Bottas' 2022 season, he made up for the lost points by the time the season finale approached. The Hinwil-based team finished P6 in the standings, which was decent given that the next competitor was a fast one, McLaren.
At the end of the season, the Finn stated that he was pleased with the team, saying:
"I am really pleased for the team. It's an important result and you can see what it means for everyone of us."
Bottas felt that the team had made some decent progress since the winter testing in early March. He stated that there is 'plenty to look forward to' in the upcoming season and that the work they have done this year will help them grow.
Bottas, along with his teammate Zhou Guanyu, managed to help the team reach P6 in the Constructors' Championship in the 2022 F1 season. It will be interesting to see what the 2023 season will have in store for the team.
