(CNN) -- The mystery behind the peculiar inscriptions "Out of the Blue" and "True Blue" which first appeared on Sauber engine covers at the Chinese Grand Prix has finally been revealed.
The Swiss Formula One team has joined forces with English football club Chelsea in an innovative marketing ploy aimed at attracting a global audience -- and boost sponsorship.
It's the first such partnership between the sports, and from next week's Spanish Grand Prix all Sauber cars will be emblazoned with the slogan "Welcome Chelsea FC."
Chelsea, owned by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, already has an international fanbase but can now also capitalize on the following of Sauber's drivers -- Mexican Sergio Perez and Kamui Kobayashi of Japan.
Michael Schumacher in the modern Silver Arrow while Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg takes the wheel of the 1955 model.
The Silver Arrow rises again
Susie Wolff, 29, joined Williams F1 as a development driver in April.
Formula One's Susie Wolff
Likewise, the Sauber logo will soon be plastered on advertising boards at Chelsea's Stamford Bridge stadium in London and on walls in the club's interview areas.
The multi-million-dollar organizations will share merchandise sales, advertising space and even sports scientists.
"A partnership like this between Formula One and football has never existed before in this form, yet there are numerous commonalities and possible synergies. In either case we are talking about team sport at the highest -- and international -- level," said Sauber chief executive Monisha Kaltenborn.
"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."
F1 fans will get their first live glimpse of the new Sauber C3Is stamped with the Chelsea logo at the Circuit De Catalunya from May 11-13.
"We felt that this Swiss team, the fourth oldest of the existing teams, reflects our own ideals perfectly," Chelsea chief executive Ron Gourlay said.
"In a year when Chelsea celebrates 20 seasons as a Premier League team, Sauber does so as a Formula One team. We share many philosophies when it comes to how the respective organizations 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.
Abramovich has bankrolled Chelsea since buying it in 2003, but the club now has to start paying its own way under European football's new financial fair play rules.
"This partnership will benefit us both greatly, with the potential to create unique commercial opportunities," Gourlay said.
"It is a shared vision to unite the two most attractive sports in the world."
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China Grand Prix champion Nico Rosberg is the first Mercedes driver to win a Formula One race since Juan Manuel Fangio in Italy in 1955.
The two Germans will return home this weekend and help launch the new season of the DTM touring car series at Hockenheim.
Fangio, pictured in second place, races the original Silver Arrow at the Buenos Aires track in 1955. The Argentine didn't disappoint his home crowd, later taking the title.
Fangio is mobbed by fans after winning the 1955 Italian Grand Prix. The racing legend had 24 wins and five world championships in a career spanning almost 20 years.
Fangio and Schumacher are the only drivers to have won three successive world championships, a feat Sebastain Vettel is hoping to match this year.
In Shanghai for the 2012 Chinese Grand Prix in April, Wolff with the Williams F1 team (L-R): Pastor Maldonado, Wolff, Bruno Senna and fellow development driver Valtteri Bottas.
At a DTM touring car presentation in Wiesbaden, Germany.
Signing autographs for fans -- in 2010, Wolff finished ahead of David Coulthard and Ralph Schumacher in the DTM championship.
With husband Toto Wolff, a Williams F1 board member.
In the driver's seat: Wolff with tennis player Mansour Bahrami at the 2010 Laureus Sports Awards in Abu Dhabi.
At the 2006 DTM championship in Germany. In motorsport, Wolff says, you have to put up an emotional wall. "My family say when they see me on a race weekend, I'm a different person."
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