After eight seasons with Ferrari, and having been the last man to claim a drivers’ title for the team, Kimi Raikkonen will not be wearing red for the 2019 Formula 1 season.

Instead the Finnish driver will return to the Sauber team that gave him his F1 debut back in 2001. The move effectively marks a swap between Raikkonen and current Sauber driver Marcus Ericsson.

“Signing Kimi Raikkonen as our driver represents an important pillar of our project, and brings us closer to our target of making significant progress as a team in the near future,” said Sauber Team Principal Frederic Vasseur.

Meanwhile the second seat in the Sauber team will be filled by Ferrari reserve driver Antonio Giovinazzi to race alongside Kimi Raikkonen in an all-new line-up.

Sauber said the Italian, who has raced twice and carried out driving duties in several tests and FP1 sessions for the Swiss team, will take Charles Leclerc’s seat at the team, with the 20-year-old moving in the opposite direction and set to become one of the youngest drivers in the Ferrari’s history.

Giovinazzi said: “This is a dream come true, and it is a great pleasure to have the chance to race for this team. As an Italian, it is a huge honour for me to represent a brand as iconic and successful as Alfa Romeo in our sport.

“I would like to thank the Scuderia Ferrari and the Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team for giving me this great opportunity. I am very motivated and cannot wait to start working towards achieving great results together.”