Sauber aims to celebrate 500th GP in style - Vasseur

Alfa Romeo is hoping to 'celebrate in style' at this weekend's Turkish Grand Prix as the team, which was originally formed as Sauber, prepares for its 500th race.

The Switzerland-based outfit was set up by Peter Sauber in 1993 after success in sportscars and has raced under a variety of names since then, as an independent, a works team for BMW and most recently as Alfa Romeo.

Frederik Vasseur, who is the Alfa Romeo team boss and also Sauber Motorsport CEO, said: "The 500th race for the team is an important milestone, one that shows the incredible heritage of this outfit.

"We are now in a very small group in the company of some of the most historical teams in the sport and that shows the strength of our project."

The team's high point came in 2008 when, racing as BMW, Robert Kubica led home a one-two with team-mate Nick Heidfeld at the Canadian Grand Prix. The team would end the year third in the constructors' standings, a result that remains an overall best.

Recent years have seen them racing at the back but performances have improved through this year and the team's 499th race saw them take a first double points finish of the season with Kimi Raikkonen ninth and Antonio Giovinazzi tenth.

And Vasseur added: "As an independent team for most of our history, we have shown that it’s possible to build a long-term project and we are confident the best is yet to come – the next 500 races will be even better.

"It would be nice to celebrate this occasion in style with another good performance, especially after the double points finish we scored in Imola, which was a big confidence boost for the team.

"The progress we have made is a positive, as is scoring points in three of the last five races, but we know there is a lot more work to do before we are where we expect us to be."

Raikkonen, who rejoined the team in 2019 after making his F1 debut with the outfit in 2001, added: "I am not very interested in numbers, but it’s a big milestone, especially for all the people who have been working for the team in all these years."

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