Alfa Romeo

Alfa Romeo
Full Name	Alfa Romeo SpA (1950-51) Autodelta (1979) Marlboro Team Alfa Romeo (1980-83) Benetton Team Alfa Romeo (1984-85)
Base	Milan, Italy
Founder(s)	Nicola Romeo Alexandre Darracq
Noted Staff	Vittorio Jano Gioacchino Colombo Carlo Chiti
Noted Drivers	Tazio Nuvolari Giuseppe Farina Juan Manuel Fangio
Formula One World Championship
Years Active	1950-1951, 1979-1985
Debut	1950 British Grand Prix
Races Competed	110
Constructors' Championships	0
Drivers' Championships	2 (1950, 1951)
Wins	10
Poles	12
Fastest Laps	14
Final race	1985 Australian Grand Prix

Alfa Romeo was a Grand Prix racing team that competed in Formula One from 1950 to 1951 and again in 1979 to 1985. Alfa Romeo won the first Automobile World Championship in the history of automobile racing, and their drivers won the first two European Championships. The team later won the Drivers' Championship twice with Giuseppe Farina in 1950 and Juan Manuel Fangio in 1951.

History

Origins

Alfa Romeo had been competitive in Grand Prix racing both before and after The Second World War. Shortly after A.L.F.A was founded the company began motor racing. They competed in the 1911 Targo Florio with two 24 HP models. Alfa's first succes came in 1913 when Nino Franchini finished second in the Parma-Poggio Berceto race in a 40-60HP.

In 1923 designer Vittorio Jano joined Alfa from Fiat and designed cars that led to success into the late 1930's. Jano was sacked when they began loosing.

World Manufacturers' Championship

In 1925 Alfa Romeo won the first Automobile World Championship in the history of automobile racing. Over 4 rounds the Alfa Romeo P2; designed by Jano, won the European Grand Prix at Spa and the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, and hence incorporated the laurel wreath in their logo.

European Championship

See also: Scuderia Ferrari

The 1931 season saw the intorduction of the AIACR European Drivers' Championship. Despite not winning a single championship race Alfa driver Ferdinando Minoia was crowned the first European champion. Fellow Alfa drivers Tazio Nuvolari and Giuseppe Campari shared a victory at the first championship event in Italy. Alfa Romeo cars also won a further 6 non-championship Grands Prix. For 1932 Jano produced the P3 which won its first race driven by Nuvolari at the Italian Grand Prix. The P3 entered 5 more Grands Prix that year which were shared by Nuvolari and Rudolf Caracciola. Nuvolari secured the team's second European Drivers' Championship with two wins, while Caracciola won the third and final race of the championship.

The Alfa Corse factory team closed for 1933 and they locked the cars in the factory. Eventually they were transferred to Enzo Ferrari's now privatised 'factory' team Scuderia Ferrari. P3s then won six of the final 11 events of the season including the final 2 major Grands Prix in Italy and Spain. In 1934 Louis Chiron won the French Grand Prix in the P3 whilst the German Silver Arrows dominated the other 4 championship events. However the P3s won 18 of the 35 Grands Prix held throughout Europe. 1935 was even tougher, the P3 was simply outclassed by the remorseless Silver Arrows, but Tazio Nuvolari gave it one of the most legendary victories of all time by winning the 1935 German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring. In total the P3 managed 16 victories during 1935.

For 1936 the Alfa Romeo 12C was introduced. The car suffered poor handling and as a result Vittorio Jano resigned from the team at the end of the year. In 1938 Alfa Romeo decided to return to racing. They made Enzo the new Direttore Sportivo of Alfa Corse, after buying the shares of the Scuderia Ferrari in 1937 and transferring, from January 1, 1938, the official racing activity to Alfa Corse. Three new cars were designed for the new season, the 308, 312 and 316. However they were not a great success. Instead, the new car for the 1500 cc class, the 158 voiturette, designed in 1937 and first raced at the Coppa Ciano in August 1938, proved much more successful.

Nuvolari at the 1932 Italian GP

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Post war

After the war and with the absence of the German marques such as Mercedes, Alfa dominated Grand Prix racing with their 158 car that they continued to develop, their main competition coming from Maserati.

Formula One

1950

Farina won the opening race in Britain while Fagioli and Reg Parnell finished second and third. Fangio retired with engine trouble. At the next race in Monaco Farina trigged a nine car pile up at the flooded Tabac corner while Fangio, who had got a better start and missed the carnage, went onto win the race. Farina and fangio headed to Switzerland joint first in the Championship. Farina and Fagioli scored a one-two while once again Fangio suffered an engine failure.

At Spa for the Belgian Grand Prix Fangio fought back to win his second race of the year ahead of Fagioli. Farina sturggled but managed to secure a fourth place which would be important in the championship battle. After making an amazing start at the French Grand Prix Farina retired gifting victory to Fangio ahead of Fagioli. The championship would go down to the final race, all three of the Alfa drivers having a chance to win it.

At Monza Fagioli was the least likely to secure the crown; he had a series of second places and the points system did not favour him. For Farina to win the championship he had to finish first and Fangio had to finish third or lower. Farina took the lead follwed by Ascari, but Fangio was driving perfectly doing just enough for him to secure the championship when on lap 22 he suffered a gearbox problem. He took over the car of Tarufii and began to race again but on lap 35 had to retire again gifting Farina the championship.

In non-championship races Fangio took a further four wins and two seconds from eight starts.

Farina at the British GP

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1951

In 1951 Alfa continued their dominance with Juan Manuel Fangio winning the championship while driving the new Alfetta 159 (an evolution of the 158 with a two-stage compressor). The Alfetta's engines were extremely powerful for their capacity: the new 159 engine was producing around 420 bhp (310 kW), but this was at the price of a fuel consumption of 125 to 175 litres per 100 km (1 mpg–U.S. / 2 mpg–imp). The rival Ferraris were able to capitalize on this inefficiency, particularly at Silverstone. Although the Alfas won four races, three for Fangio and a single win for Farina, Ferrari's three victories spelled the end of their dominance.

In 1952 Alfa Romeo, a state-owned company, decided to withdraw after a refusal of the Italian government to fund the expensive design of a new car to compete against the Ferrari team. Surprisingly, Alfa Romeo's involvement in Formula One was made with a very thin budget, using mostly pre-war technology and material during their two dominant seasons, such as using only nine pre-war built engine blocks.

Farina at the 1951 Belgian GP

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1977 - 1979

Between 1951 and 1977 Alfa Romeo only participated as an engine supplier to teams such as Brabham. This second Alfa works Formula One project was never truly successful during its existence from the middle of 1979 until the end of 1985.

During 1977, and after some persuasion by Chiti, Alfa Romeo gave Autodelta permission to start developing a Formula One car on their behalf. Thus named the Alfa Romeo 177, the car made its debut at the 1979 Belgian Grand Prix. The engine partnership with Brabham had finished before the end of the season.

1980 - 1982

During this period Alfa Romeo achieved two pole positions, Bruno Giacomelli led much of the 1980 United States Grand Prix before retiring with electrical trouble, three 3rd places, two 2nd places and one fastest lap. They also

Andrea de Cesaris driving for Alfa Romeo in 1982

endured tragedy when their driver Patrick Depailler was killed testing for the 1980 German Grand Prix at the Hockenheimring.

In 1981 they had the services of Mario Andretti, but continued to be dogged by poor reliability. After a restructuring of Autodelta, the team operations and design of the car were outsourced to Euroracing in 1982, with the works engines still being supplied by Autodelta.

1983 - 1985

The team's best season was 1983 when the team switched to the turbocharged 890T V8 engine and achieved 6th place in the constructors' championship, largely thanks to two second place finishes for Andrea de Cesaris.

While the turbocharged 890T proved competitive in 1983, the more powerful and fuel efficient engines from BMW, Ferrari, Renault, TAG-Porsche and Honda, plus the FIA imposed 220 litre fuel limit with no re-fueling allowed during pit stops during 1984, saw the decline of the Euroracing Alfa Romeo team as a competitive force in Grand Prix racing. Riccardo Patrese's third place finish at the 1984 Italian Grand Prix being the last podium finish for the team, with both Patrese and Eddie Cheever often failing to finish races throughout 1984 and 1985 due to running out of fuel.

Alfa Romeo pulled out of Formula One as a constructor following the final race of the 1985 season in Australia.

Complete Formula One World Championship results

See also: Alfa Romeo Grand Prix results

(key) (results in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Chassis	Engine(s)	Tyres	Drivers	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Points	WCC
1950	Alfa Romeo 158	Alfa Romeo S8 (s/c)	P		GBR	MON	500	SUI	BEL	FRA	ITA										n/a	n/a
				Juan Manuel Fangio	Ret	1		Ret	1	1	Ret
				Nino Farina	1	Ret		1	4	7	1
				Luigi Fagioli	2	Ret		2	2	2	3
				Reg Parnell	3
				Piero Taruffi							Ret
				Consalvo Sanesi							Ret
1951	Alfa Romeo 159	Alfa Romeo S8 (s/c)	P		SUI	500	BEL	FRA	GBR	GER	ITA	ESP									n/a	n/a
				Juan Manuel Fangio	1		9	1	2	2	Ret	1
				Nino Farina	3		1	5	Ret	Ret	3	3
				Luigi Fagioli				1
				Felice Bonetto					4	Ret	3	5
				Toulo de Graffenried	5						Ret	6
				Consalvo Sanesi	4		Ret	10	6
				Paul Pietsch						Ret
1952 – 1978: Alfa Romeo does not compete as a team.
1979	Alfa Romeo 177 Alfa Romeo 179	Alfa Romeo F12 Alfa Romeo V12	G		ARG	BRA	RSA	USW	ESP	BEL	MON	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	CAN	USA		0	NC
				Bruno Giacomelli						Ret		17					Ret		Ret
				Vittorio Brambilla													12	Ret	DNQ
1980	Alfa Romeo 179	Alfa Romeo V12	G		ARG	BRA	RSA	USW	BEL	MON	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	CAN	USA			4	11th
				Bruno Giacomelli	5	13	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	5	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret
				Patrick Depailler	Ret	Ret	NC	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret
				Vittorio Brambilla											Ret	Ret
				Andrea de Cesaris													Ret	Ret
1981	Alfa Romeo 179	Alfa Romeo V12	M		USW	BRA	ARG	SMR	BEL	MON	ESP	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	CAN	CPL		10	9th
				Bruno Giacomelli	Ret	NC	10	Ret	9	Ret	10	15	Ret	15	Ret	Ret	8	4	3
				Mario Andretti	4	Ret	8	Ret	10	Ret	8	8	Ret	9	Ret	Ret	Ret	7	Ret
1982	Alfa Romeo 179 Alfa Romeo 182	Alfa Romeo V12	M		RSA	BRA	USW	SMR	BEL	MON	DET	CAN	NED	GBR	FRA	GER	AUT	SUI	ITA	CPL	7	10th
				Bruno Giacomelli	11	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	11	7	9	5	Ret	12	Ret	10
				Andrea de Cesaris	13	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	3	Ret	6	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	10	10	9
1983	Alfa Romeo 183T	Alfa Romeo V8 (t/c)	M		BRA	USW	FRA	SMR	MON	BEL	DET	CAN	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	EUR	RSA		18	6th
				Andrea de Cesaris	DNQ	Ret	12	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	8	2	Ret	Ret	Ret	4	2
				Mauro Baldi	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	6	Ret	12	10	7	Ret	Ret	5	Ret	Ret	Ret
1984	Alfa Romeo 184T	Alfa Romeo V8 (t/c)	G		BRA	RSA	BEL	SMR	FRA	MON	CAN	DET	DAL	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	EUR	POR	11	8th
				Riccardo Patrese	Ret	4	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	12	Ret	10	Ret	3	6	8
				Eddie Cheever	4	Ret	Ret	7	Ret	DNQ	11	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	13	9	Ret	17
1985	Alfa Romeo 185T Alfa Romeo 184TB	Alfa Romeo V8 (t/c)	G		BRA	POR	SMR	MON	CAN	DET	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	BEL	EUR	RSA	AUS	0	12th
				Riccardo Patrese	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	10	Ret	11	9	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	9	Ret	Ret
				Eddie Cheever	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	17	9	10	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	11	Ret	Ret

[a] ^ The Constructors Championship was not awarded until 1958.

[b] ^ Indicates a shared drive.

References

1. http://www.statsf1.com/en/alfa-romeo.aspx
2. http://www.grandprix.com/gpe/con-alfa.html
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfa_Romeo_in_Formula_One