REPORTS: Alfa Romeo Looking to Ditch Ferrari F1 Engines for Mercedes in Bombshell Update

Valtteri Bottas’ future with Mercedes has been hanging in balance ever since George Russell made his impression at the Sakhir GP last season. Consequently, there was a paper talk going around the paddock claiming Bottas had initiated discussions with Alfa Romeo regarding the 2022 F1 seat, potentially replacing Kimi Raikkonen.

However, reports have claimed that Alfa Romeo aren’t only looking to pursue a Mercedes driver but also their engine as well.

Alfa Romeo, which falls under the ownership of Sauber Motorsports AG, have been one of the prime customers of Ferrari for 12 years, which could soon come to an end.

Alfa Romeo switching to Mercedes engines?

The performance out of Ferrari’s engines have been in the decline since the 2020 season, which has significantly affected Alfa Romeo’s seasonal targets. Although the Scuderias did manage to develop a decent power unit for 2021, it doesn’t seem enough for the Italian outfit to challenge the mid-field pack.

Hence, according to F1-Insider, Sauber’s owner, Rausing, is keen on terminating the relationship with Ferrari and switching to the title contender, Mercedes.

As of now, Alfa Romeo are evaluating all possible options, and are seemingly reluctant in signing a new contract with Ferrari. Hence, if the talks with Mercedes do go through perfectly, Alfa Romeo could rise up to be the fifth F1 team to sport a Mercedes power unit at the back.

Also, the fact that Ola Källenius, head of Mercedes-Benz, is also one of the board members of the Rausing family-owned Tetra Laval group, is going to bolster the chances of Mercedes and Alfa Romeo reaching an agreement sooner than expected.

Fortunes set to take a wild turn?

Alfa Romeo have been one of the poorest performing F1 teams of this season, only ahead of Haas. The Italian outfit, at one point, were looking stronger than Williams.

However, the latter’s back-to-back show at Hungaroring and Spa meant that they leap-frogged past Alfa Romeo in the constructors’ standings.

Hence, with a potential Bottas-Ilott line-up on cards for 2022 along with a Mercedes engine at the back, Sauber could return to their real form, which stormed the mid-field pack during the early 2010s. But will these speculations turn out to be true in reality?

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