Despite strong French overtones and presentation times less than a week apart, the respective media conferences of the Groupe Renault and Stellantis could not have been more different. The former, unveiled on January 14th by CEO Luca de Meo, had style but little substance. The latter took place five days later, chaired by Carlos Tavares – CEO of the alliance formed by PSA (Peugeot, Citroen, Opel, Vauxhall) and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles – was just the opposite.
Both men are new to their roles. De Meo replaced the disgraced former Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn last July, while Tavares, PSA CEO since 2014, officially took over the helm from Stellantis after transatlantic shareholder approval for the alliance was given earlier this month. Before joining Peugeot, Tavares was COO and number two at Ghosn at Renault.
Renault’s presentation (discussed in detail here) was followed three days later by an interview with an Italian daily newspaper. Renault is partly owned by the French state, but de Meo is Italian.
The topics apparently surprised the Alpine F1 Team. So much so that on the morning of January 17th, the team’s media department extracted the confirmation of Davide Brivio’s appointment as race director in a publication made up of no more than five paragraphs with no images or media contact details …
Three days later, the same newspaper reported that Renault had talks about a technical partnership with Sauber, which currently drives Ferrari engines as Alfa Romeo. The news surprised Maranello as Scuderia believed they had the basis for an extension with the Swiss team, which was later confirmed in both operations. In fact, only formal approval of the agreement remains open from 2022-25.
Sauber, who operates Alfa Romeo, will extend its Ferrari deal. Me Meo was apparently misled or not updated by the team’s executives. It is known that Ferrari contract partner Haas had informed Renault of a possible partnership before he extended and expanded his contract with Ferrari. F1 hopeful Panthera is also looking for an alliance and has thrown out feelers with the French company. But all conversations between Sauber and Renault were at most fleeting and anything but advanced.
The Ferrari-Sauber expansion, which will be confirmed shortly, opens up a number of fascinating possibilities, not least that Stellantis can take over the team – as described here. In the simplest case, the agreement would see a continuation of the current supply of a complete “rear end” – engines, transmissions, associated electronics and hydraulics, as well as rear suspensions and components.
Given the F1 regulations of 2022 that encourage sharing of certain parts, it is believed that the agreement will provide for mutual collaboration, especially as Sauber has full manufacturing facilities. In contrast, with no wind tunnel or manufacturing capacity, Haas will increasingly rely on Ferrari technologies when allowed. To this end, Ferrari has set up a customer technology department.
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Elkann isn’t a huge F1 fan, but he understands his worth. Alfa Romeo, which used to be part of the FCA stable, recently renewed its paint and title partnership with Sauber until the end of 2021. Therefore, a decision has to be made sooner rather than later. Whether the goalkeepers of the legendary Milanese brand are satisfied with the fact that they are slipping around on a solid eighth place in the championship – as they have been since 2017 – is another question.
Although Ferrari and Stellantis are separate legal entities and are listed under the tickers RACE and STLA, respectively, they are “connected” at the top through the joint large-scale holding company Exor, chaired by John Elkann. While there are indications that the offspring of the Agnelli family – viewed as Italy’s industrial “royalty” – is not a hardcore F1 fan, there is no doubt that he understands the brand value of motorsport.
In contrast, before switching to engineering, Tavares had ambitions to race professionally and has since participated in over 500 amateur events, including rally and single-seaters. If he wants to acquire Sauber as a Halo project for Stellantis, he will likely find ears in Turin. Should that happen, the next question is that of the brand. The alliance owns Alfa Romeo and Maserati, both with famous F1 pedigrees.
“Motorsport is dead if it is not electrified,” said Imparato. Although Alfa Romeo is the logical brand should Stellantis take over Sauber, the move in the form of CEO Jean-Phillipe Imparato, who was transferred from Peugeot to Alfa Romeo from Tavares last week, could face an obstacle due to management reassignments. Although the Frenchman has competed in classic competitions, his career history suggests he is ambivalent about racing, having previously diverted sports budgets for road car projects.
In 2019 he told Autocar magazine: “It is completely crazy to ask for 200 million euros for a future motorsport program. We have committed ours [sporting] Budget elsewhere for at least three years. We shall see after that. One thing is certain: motorsport is dead if it is not electrified. “
While budget ceilings and F1 revenue may bring the cost of F1 well below those amounts, it would take a significant effort to get Alfa Romeo into F1 on its own – while the company would need mountains of cash to own the current two-model Alfa Romeo expand rich and revitalize both the Giulia and the Stilfserjoch.
Imparato confirmed Peugeot last year a WEC hypercar entry for 2022. In WEC circles, however, it is said that Imparato resolutely rejected the project until it was convinced that it would cost less than 30 million euros and the battery sponsor Total would pay a large portion of the total bill. Sources suggest that despite the low cost of entry, the final decision was not an easy one, allowing Alfa Romeo to run well from F1 under Imparato.
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That would make Maserati another potential F1 brand within Stellantis. The question, however, is whether Elkann would like its premium Italian brands to compete against each other. He, not Tavares, controls Ferrari, and while Alfa Romeo rides happily on Ferrari’s back, the question of whether Maserati does so is more complex. In addition, Stellantis’ current ‘pedigree’ does not provide for an autonomous motorsport department.
Could ex-Renault team boss Abiteboul be on Tavares’ radar? However, Tavares appointed a number of ex-Renault colleagues to leading Stellantis positions last week, including Thierry Koskas, briefly president of Renault Sport and thus former managing director of the Renault F1 team, Cyril Abiteboul Chef at the time as chief marketing officer. In fact, Abiteboul worked with Tavares for a decade before he left Renault and was separated from Renault two weeks ago.
It doesn’t take much imagination to join the dots: Exor oversees Stellantis and Ferrari, who have a long-term technical partnership with Sauber. Alfa Romeo’s trademark deal expires later this year, a well-connected F1 executive from the company is available, Stellantis is set to make a splash around the world, and Sauber is said to be up for sale as its value has been increased by the need for potential F1 entrants to pay a dilution protection fee of USD 200 million.
On the other hand, such a project could face opposition from the executive – be it Alfa Romeo or Maserati – while the other 12 brands in the Stellantis stable would not benefit equally from Formula 1. The mere fact that imaginary points can be easily connected is no guarantee that F1 will follow; For the same reason, Stellantis owes it to its shareholders to explore the reach F1 could bring to this new global alliance.
There is no doubt that some of it bubbles with Stellantis and Sauber. Whether this will become an F1 corporate project – under whatever brand name and Stellantis itself not discounted – will likely become clearer at the start of the season.
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