After five years running under the name of the Italian car giant, the original name of the team comes back to formal prominence for 2024 along with an increased sponsorship tie-up; But AlphaTauri's expected new name still seemingly being kept under wraps though on FIA entry list
Friday 15 December 2023 11:48, UK
Alfa Romeo is no more in terms of a Formula 1 team name after the Sauber-run outfit confirmed their own name will return to the team’s title for 2024.
The Switzerland-based Sauber team, which has been on the F1 grid since 1993, had handed their naming right over to Italian car brand Alfa Romeo since 2019 but that deal ended at the end of this year.
With two years to go until Audi officially arrives at the team, when they will undergo another wholesale rebrand as the German car giant's new factory outfit for F1's new engine regulation era, Sauber have revealed how they will appear in the intervening 2024 and 2025 seasons.
Australian streaming platform Kick.com has secured chassis naming rights, meaning next year's C44 car will be called the Kick Sauber, while the full team name will be Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber, with casino and sports betting platform Stake staying on as title sponsor.
"Sauber has always been about innovation, breaking the mould and defying convention," said Sauber team representative Alessandro Alunni Bravi.
"The partnership with Kick.com is the latest and boldest display of the philosophy that drives us. Kick.com is redefining the way live streaming is done and they will adopt the same disruptive approach in the world of Formula 1."
The Sauber-operated outfit - whose history of name changes includes running as BMW-Sauber in 2006-2009 when the car marque held majority control for what remains the team's most-successful era - endured a disappointing 2023 season and slipped from sixth to ninth in the constructors' standings.
Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu stay on for a third season as team-mates as part of a rare unchanged F1 grid for 2024.
But what about the other anticipated team name change for 2024, AlphaTauri?
Although the Sauber news was timed to coincide with the release of the FIA's official F1 entry list for 2024 on Friday morning, which lists all 10 teams and 20 drivers, there was no such announcement from Red Bull's junior team.
On the entry list, AlphaTauri were still listed under their current formal name, Scuderia AlphaTauri, of the past four seasons although with the initials 'RB' added at the end. The chassis name was also cryptically simply stated as 'RB'.
The Italian-based team have previously confirmed they are changing identity for 2024 and so it appears likely that the effective status quo on the current FIA list is merely a placeholder ahead of a more formal launch of a new identity by the team next year.
'RB' could relate to 'Racing Bulls', the new name that the team have been widely speculated to be taking up, or simply Red Bull, the team's owners.
F1 teams can, and have, changed official team names and even drivers in the time between the publication of the official entry list for a new season and the actual start of the racing campaign several months later.
24 races in 2024! Watch every round of next season live on Sky Sports F1, starting with the Bahrain Grand Prix from February 29-March 2. Stream F1 on Sky Sports with NOW
