CHELSEA have gone into partnership with the Sauber F1 team - with their cars about to sport the Champions League finalists' crest for the first time at next week's Spanish Grand Prix.

Kamui Kobayashi, of Japan, and Mexico's Sergio Perez are the current drivers for the F1 outfit.

The club believe the tie-up will increase their world-wide exposure and branding potential - an ambition aired more forcibly during the reign of former chief executive Peter Kenyon.

At the Chinese Grand Prix earlier this month, the slogan 'Out of the blue' featured on Sauber F1 team cars, and 'True Blue' continued the tease at the Bahrain race, leaving fans guessing as to its meaning.

The image above features a 'Welcome Chelsea FC' message on the Sauber F1 team car, which will be used during testing in Italy this week.

The club say the new partnership is focused on ways to enhance sporting and business performance. This includes the exchange of knowledge in sport science, launching joint commercial initiatives, merchandising, events, marketing and linked sponsorship opportunities.

Chelsea chief executive Ron Gourlay said: 'This is an innovative partnership that will see a football club link up with an F1 team like never before, 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.

"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.

"Their 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."

Monisha Kaltenborn, CEO of the Sauber F1 Team, said: "A partnership like this between Formula 1 and football has never existed before in this form. 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."

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