Sauber has announced that it has entered into a new and innovative partnership with the British Premier League club Chelsea FC. At the Chinese and Bahrain Grands Prix the inscriptions "Out of the Blue" and "True Blue" on the engine covers of the Sauber C31 aroused curiosity, now the alliance with the "blue" club is official.

The Sauber C31 sporting the blue logo of Chelsea FC will be seen for the first time at the Spanish Grand Prix, 11th -13th May 2012.

"A partnership like this between Formula One and Football has never existed before in this form," said Monisha Kaltenborn, Sauber CEO, yet there are numerous commonalities and possible synergies. In either case we are talking about team sport at the highest - and international - level. The Sauber F1 Team and Chelsea FC are dealing with many of the same sporting and commercial topics and we want to strengthen each other in these areas. We are looking forward to exploiting these opportunities, and we congratulate Chelsea on making it to the final of the Champions League."

"This is an innovative partnership that will see a football club link up with a Formula 1 team like never before," added Chelsea Chief Executive Ron Gourlay, "bringing together two of the world's biggest sports and uniting our fans. We felt that this Swiss team, the fourth oldest of the existing teams, reflects our own ideals perfectly.

"In a year when Chelsea celebrates 20 seasons as a Premier League team, Sauber does so as a Formula 1 team. We share many philosophies when it comes to how the respective organisations are run, from the development of young talent to constantly striving for success. Sauber's philosophy towards grassroots development has produced some of the best drivers in F1, which mirrors our dedication to develop promising young football talent through our Academy.

"This partnership will benefit us both greatly, with the potential to create unique commercial opportunities. It is a shared vision to unite the two most attractive sports in the world. We look forward to working closely with the Sauber F1 Team and wish them the very best of luck for the remainder of the Formula 1 season."

At team level the new partnership is focused on synergies and ways to enhance performance in business and sporting matters. In concrete terms, this includes the sale of merchandising articles and exchange of knowledge in the area of sport science. Both partners will support each other by featuring the other partner's logo and thus benefit from a significant market presence outside their original sport. Chelsea FC will present the Sauber F1 Team logo at home matches on advertising boards at the stadium and on interview walls. Conversely, the football club benefits from Formula One's television reach which, compared with the Premier League, is much higher and more international. Particularly in Asia Formula One enjoys enormous TV presence and, not least thanks to Sergio Perez, is currently captivating more and more fans in Latin America as well.

Accordingly, the combination of both platforms at the sponsoring level is highly attractive especially for international brands. In addition, existing sponsors of both partners profit from joint events.