Alfa boss signs up to another year of F1, confirms sports car

Alfa Romeo boss Jean-Philippe Imparato has signed the company up to Formula One for another year in 2023 and revealed the Italian carmaker will definitely be launching its rumoured sports car in 2023.

He said that he was pleased with the Alfa team’s progress so far. The Italian manufacturer has an unorthodox arrangement in the top tier of motorsport, effectively acting as title sponsor for the independent Sauber team in Switzerland. “The return on investment in F1 is 10 times what we could have done elsewhere,” Imparato explained. "The results in 2022 show a positive story for us.”

Imparato hinted at the car various times during his discussion with journalists about Alfa Romeo’s long-term strategy and move to an all-electric line-up by 2027. It’s likely to be a last blast for a purely combustion powered Alfa, and will be one of the first projects from head of design Alejandro Mesonero-Romanos, who is busy working on a new signature look for the company. “He’s not sleeping very much at the moment,” said Imparato of the Spanish designer who joined Alfa Romeo from Seat in 2021. 

Imparato was speaking following parent company Stellantis revealing its financial results for the first half of 2022 yesterday. No specific results were given for Alfa, but Imparato said that his part of the industry behemoth had already contributed more to the company coffers than in the whole of 2021, which bodes well for further investment. “I want to demonstrate that we are steadily at the right level of performance,” he said. "That’s very important, because if I don’t make money I can’t even imagine asking Carlos for anything.” 

Other titbits included a small SUV arriving in 2024 and a large crossover aimed at the US market that is planned for 2027. Imparato also hinted at an electric supermini along the same lines as the Vauxhall e-Corsa and Peugeot e-208, but said that his first priority as CEO was to establish Alfa’s premium credentials within the Stellantis portfolio. 

Former Peugeot boss Imparato moved to head up Alfa Romeo in January 2021 following the merger of the Peugeot Group and FCA to form Stellantis.