2019 Review – Alfa Romeo: A Failed New Start

For its return to Formula 1, Alfa Romeo partnered with Sauber. In 2017, the Swiss team completed one of its worst seasons. A significant rebound occurred during the 2018 season, marked by strong performances from the Vasseur/Leclerc duo for the team, then called Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team. Alfa Romeo was only a sponsor. This year, it is the Alfa Romeo Racing team. Since 1989, the Italian team had not acted as a full-fledged constructor. A return promising great things with a historically significant name and rather positive pre-season testing.

For 2019, we expected this team to continue its efforts and validate the progress made a few months earlier. There are several reasons for this. On one hand, Frédéric Vasseur successfully restructured the team in 2018 according to his approach. On the other hand, the arrival of Alfa Romeo, which is actually a disguised acquisition by Ferrari in this team. Thus, despite the loss of the talented rookie Charles Leclerc, the team will have Kimi Räikkönen back as the star driver. A return to roots for the Finn. A guarantee of safety and experience for the team. The unknown remains with the second driver, Antonio Giovinazzi, placed here by Ferrari and who has everything to prove.

At the beginning of the season, the results are promising, with Räikkönen scoring points in each of the first four races. If both drivers manage to consistently finish in the Top 10, Alfa Romeo’s return to F1 will not be missed. However, from the fifth race, which marks the return to Europe, we notice the shortcomings of the car, and the rest of the season becomes increasingly difficult. In fact, it takes until the ninth race for Antonio Giovinazzi to score his first point. Regularly lagging in qualifying, against a teammate who isn’t an expert in this area either, the Italian fails to set the right pace in the race and causes his team to lose valuable points.

The disqualification of the two cars in Germany for non-compliance with the starting system marked the beginning of a long period of drought and underperformance. It wasn’t until the penultimate Grand Prix of the season in Brazil that the two Alfa Romeos were well placed. A double 4th and 5th place at the end of the season, which, despite the specific circumstances of this race, boosted team morale significantly. Indeed, with two races remaining in the championship, Alfa Romeo was in ninth and penultimate place.

Finally, Alfa Romeo finished 8th out of 10 in the 2019 campaign with 35 points. That’s just 7 points more than the Haas team, which had a disastrous year. Yet, at the start of the season, there was hope for a battle for sixth place with Racing Point and Toro Rosso.

The return of the Italian team was ultimately painful, and despite the partnership with Ferrari, the car wasn’t competitive enough. Additionally, Antonio Giovinazzi had a difficult start to the season, struggling to find pace. Let’s hope the winter break brings the much-needed solutions and that the team finally delivers strong performances.