Alfa Romeo are one of the most successful car manufacturers in motor sport history with wins in all major disciplines including Rally, Endurance and Touring Car.
The majority of their success dates from the early days of racing from the 1910's to the 50's where, at times, they ruled the world.
Always patriotic and nearly always red, their cars and drivers were some of the most formidable in the world.
Their history in Formula 1 include the 1950 and 1951 Formula One World Championships.
Background
Alfa Romeo made their first racing car in 1913 and soon became one the the big names of sport at the time achieving success in GP's at Mugello and the Targa Florio with amongst other, drivers like Enzo Ferrari, Ugo Sivocci and Guiseppe Campari.
An Early appearance of the four leaf clover
It was Sivocci's Alfa, painted with the three leaf clover on a white background that would give the marque its racing emblem and good luck sign.
Prior to Formula One World Championship
Ascari leads at Spa
In 1923, Alfa Romeo lured designer Vittorio Jano away from the successful GP Manufacturers FIAT and with his cars, won the 1925 Automobiles World Championship winning 2 of the four rounds; at Spa-Francochamps and Monza with the Alfa Romeo P2. The car proved so dominant at times that at Spa, driver Antonio Ascari had time to enjoy a sandwich during his pit-stop on his way to victory.
In 1932, Jano produced the P3 which won 6 Grand Prix in its debut year with driver Tazio Nuvolari and Rudolf Caracciola but in 1933 the factory team closed.
Racing continued for the Alfa Romeo cars, transfered to Enzo Ferrari and his Scuderia Ferrari team. Enzo in charge of development of the cars continued the successes winning many GP including the high profile Italain and Spanish GP's.
1934 some the emergence of the German Silver Arrows which would dominate GP racing but victories stil came in the period upto the war for Nuvolari and Louis Chiron.
Alfa also dominated sports car and endurance racind during this time, winning the Targa Florio 6 times in a row, the Le Mans 24 Hour from 1931 - 34 and every Mille Miglia from 1928 - 38 (barring 1931).
After the war and with the absence of the German marques, Alfa dominated Grand Prix racing with their 158 that they continued to develop, their main competition coming from Maserati.
Formula One World Championship
1950
Farina leads Fagioli at the British GP
During 1950 The Alfa Romeo 158 was utterly dominant, winning every round except the Indianapolis 500 which it did not enter and the championship came down to a battle between its lead three drivers, Juan Manuel Fangio, Nino Farina and Luigi Fagioli.
Farina won the opening GP at Silverstone with Fagioli second whilst Fangio retired. Onto Monaco and Fangio this time won after Farina had spun out on lap 1 triggering a multi-car pile-up on the flooded Tabac corner.
At Bremgareten Fangio retired again with Farina winning his second race followed home by Fagioli and in Belgium Fangio won from Fagioli, with Farina bringing home a crippled car 4th.
Farina suffered car trouble again in France, finishing out of the points after leading whilst Fangio won from Fagioli ensuring the title lead coming into the season decider.
Farina in his winning Alfa
At Monza, Fagioli was an outside bet for the championship, with a string of seconds, the drop score system not favouring him. Farina would have to win with Fangio finishing down the order to seal the championship and he set off at great pace with Ferrari's Alberto Ascari in pursuit. Fangio was driving inteligently, just doing enough to take the title when he suffered car trouble and retired. He later took over a team-mates car and retired that too.
Farina was world Champion and Alfa Romeo would take the top three places in the standings.
The only time Alfa Romeo would not lead was for a handful of laps at Spa and Monza where cars with better fuel economy; Raymond Sommer in a Talbot-Lago and Alberto Ascari in a Ferrari, would pass them at pit-stops.
Season-by-season record
As works
| Year | Chassis | Engine | Tyre | No. | Drivers | Rounds | WCC Points | WCC Pos. | Report |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1950 | 158 159 |
158 L8 1.5 | P |  Juan Manuel Fangio
|
1–2, 4–7 | N/A | N/A | Report | |
 Giuseppe Farina
|
1–2, 4–7 | ||||||||
| Luigi Fagioli
|
1, 7–8 | ||||||||
 Reg Parnell
|
1, 3–5 | ||||||||
| Consalvo Sanesi
|
7 | ||||||||
| Piero Taruffi
|
7 | ||||||||
| 1951 | 159 | 158 L8 1.5 | P | Juan Manuel Fangio
|
1, 3–8 | N/A | N/A | Report | |
| Giuseppe Farina
|
1, 3–8 | ||||||||
| Consalvo Sanesi
|
1, 3–5 | ||||||||
 Emmanuel de Graffenried
|
1, 7–8 | ||||||||
| Luigi Fagioli
|
4 | ||||||||
| Felice Bonetto
|
5–8 | ||||||||
 Paul Pietsch
|
6 | ||||||||
| 1952–1978: Did not complete | |||||||||
| 1979 | 177 179 |
115-12 F12 3.0 1260 V12 3.0 |
G | 35 | Bruno Giacomelli
|
6, 8, 13, 15 | 0 | NC | Report |
| 36 | Vittorio Brambilla
|
13–15 | |||||||
| 1980 | 179 | 1260 V12 3.0 | G | 22 |  Patrick Depailler
|
1–8 | 4 | 11th | Report |
| Vittorio Brambilla
|
11–12 | ||||||||
| Andrea de Cesaris
|
13–14 | ||||||||
| 23 | Bruno Giacomelli
|
All | |||||||
| 1981 | 179C 179D |
1260 V12 3.0 | M | 22 |  Mario Andretti
|
All | 10 | 9th | Report |
| 23 | Bruno Giacomelli
|
All | |||||||
| 1982 | 179D 182 182B |
1260 V12 3.0 | M | 22 | Andrea de Cesaris
|
All | 7 | 10th | Report |
| 23 | Bruno Giacomelli
|
All | |||||||
| 1983 | 183T | 890T V8t 1.5 | M | 22 | Andrea de Cesaris
|
All | 7 | 10th | Report |
| 23 | Mauro Baldi
|
All | |||||||
As privateer
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | Tyre | Drivers | Rounds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1950 |  Privateer
|
8C-308 | 158 L8 1.5 | F | Johnny Mauro
|
3 |
| 1963 |  Otelle Nucci
|
Special | Giulietta L4 1.5 | D | Peter de Klerk
|
10 |
| 1965 | Otelle Nucci
|
Special | Giulietta L4 1.5 | D | Peter de Klerk
|
1 |
List of race wins
As works Constructor
As Scuderia Ferrari
| No. | Race | Driver |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1933 Italian Grand Prix |  Luigi Fagioli
|
| 2 | 1933 Spanish Grand Prix |  Louis Chiron
|
| 3 | 1934 Monaco Grand Prix | Guy Moll
|
| 4 | 1934 French Grand Prix | Louis Chiron
|
| 5 | 1935 German Grand Prix | Tazio Nuvolari
|
Statistics
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