Alfa Romeo CEO Jean-Philippe Imparato has revealed that sponsorship talks with the Haas Formula 1 team broke down as it didn’t want to be another “sticker”.
After pulling out as a constructor at the end of 1985, Alfa Romeo returned to F1 with the Sauber-run outfit on a multi-year technical and commercial agreement in 2018.
One year later the Italian marque became the side’s title sponsor, but that arrangement has come to a close ahead of the Hinwil squad’s transition to a works Audi entry from 2026.
However, rumours surfaced that Alfa Romeo was eyeing potential options to remain in F1, leading to reports that Haas Team Principal Guenther Steiner had met with Imparato.
When asked in June about Haas partnering with Alfa Romeo, Steiner said: “A lot of people [are] telling that to me, the only ones which haven’t told me that yet is Alfa Romeo.
“Obviously, they are looking into what they are doing in the future, and I think they came to see us, to see how they are doing – an introduction, nothing else.
“Obviously there was nothing to hide, we just said hello and that was it. And I don’t know what they are doing in the future.”
But that speculation failed to materialise into an agreement, with Imparato now detailing that Alfa Romeo wanted to avoid a replica of the tie-up it had retained with Sauber.
“We weren’t interested in aiming to do a copy/paste operation in the style of the one done with Sauber,” Imparato told Autosport.
“It would have led us to become one of those who put stickers on bodywork. It would no longer have been new and we wouldn’t have been part of a story.
“We started looking at something else, quickly reaching a conclusion.
“Alfa Romeo has nothing to do with the world of rallying, the Stellantis group already has two brands involved in Formula E, and so the focus has shifted to the WEC, a world in which Alfa Romeo has lived in the past wonderful experiences.”
The Italian automotive company will instead divert its focus in motorsport to the World Endurance Championship, where it could potentially strike an alliance with Peugeot.
“The WEC world is experiencing a moment of great interest, and when there is a lot of euphoria it becomes difficult to understand what level of investment is necessary to aim for the highest goals,” Imparato explained.
“We saw in 2015 [in LMP1] that uncontrolled cost escalation ultimately rebounds, so we took some time to understand how this will all play out.
“I believe it is correct to have a clear picture and know precisely what you are facing before launching into a project.”
“Obviously it’s one of the scenarios we evaluated. There are already houses within the Stellantis group whose sports programmes are in close contact, for example, DS and Maserati in Formula E.
“When we return to the track we will do so with the support of Stellantis’ motorsport projects, and as Peugeot is already present in the WEC obviously co-operation is more than possible.
“Then perhaps the two projects may have parallel paths in other aspects, but in the end we are in the same family.
“However, I would like to clarify that at the moment we are not yet able to confirm anything. We will do so when we have completed the planning and evaluation of the investment.”
