Now that the Maurizio Arrivabene finds himself unemployed for the 2019 season, having been booted from the team in favor of the team’s Chief Technical Officer, he will be looking for a new role. While most rumors suggest that the Italian will be moving to a management role on the Juventus football team, newly emerging speculation suggests that a Sauber move may be in the cards.
Although it’s only rumors at this point, the German publication Auto Bild has reported that Arrivabene may be arriving at Sauber in 2019. It’s believed that Arrivabene could leverage his contacts at Ferrari and Fiat to land a role on the team, which is now sponsored by Alfa Romeo (a Fiat subsidiary).
The team recently hired former Renault team principal Frédéric Vasseur for the role of Team Principal in 2017, shortly after the sale of the team to Longbow Finance. However, he now serves as the team’s Managing Director and CEO as well as Team Principal. With some more cash flow from Alfa Romeo, the team may be looking to turn over the role of Team Principal to someone new.
Further long-term suggestions that Alfa Romeo could be returning to Formula One as a manufacturer in the years to come (by either rebranding Sauber or creating a separate venture) could mean that Arrivabene would help head that transition.
Racing Clothesline reached out to Sauber for comment, but they did not respond before this article was published.
