Alfa Romeo in Formula One
Encyclopedia
Alfa Romeo participated in Formula One, as both a constructor and engine supplier, from to .
World Championship in a 158
with supercharger
, in 1951 Juan Manuel Fangio
won while driving an Alfetta 159
(an evolution of the 158 with a two-stages compressor). The Alfetta's engines were extremely powerful for their capacity: in 1951 the 159 engine was producing around 420 bhp 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). In 1952, facing increased competition from their former employee, Ferrari, 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. Surprisingly, Alfa Romeo involvement in racing was made with a very thin budget, using mostly pre-war technology and material during the two seasons. For instance the team won two championships using only nine pre-war built engine blocks.
engines in cars such as the LDS
Mk1 and Mk2 "Specials", Cooper
s and De Tomaso
s.
In the end of 1960s Alfa Romeo was developing a new V8 engine for its racing cars, this engine was tested briefly in Cooper T86C F1-3-68 by Lucien Bianchi. Alfa Romeo briefly returned to Formula One for the 1970
and 1971 seasons
with a V8 engine based on their sportscar unit. In 1970 the unit was mainly entrusted to Andrea de Adamich
, a long time Alfa driver, in a third works McLaren. The combination often failed to qualify and was uncompetitive when it did run in the races. In 1971 a similar arrangement saw de Adamich run most of the second half of the season in a works March
car, with a similar lack of success.
For 1976 Bernie Ecclestone did a deal for the Brabham Formula One team to use Alfa Romeo engines based on their new flat-12
sports car unit, designed by Carlo Chiti
. The engines were free and produced a claimed 510 bhp against the 465 bhp of the ubiquitous Cosworth DFV. However, packaging the engines was difficult - they had to be removed in order to change the spark plug
s - and the high fuel consumption
engine required no fewer than four separate fuel tanks to contain 47 imp gal (214 l; 56 US gal) of fuel. Murray's increasingly adventurous designs, like the BT46
which won two races in 1978, were partly a response to the challenge of producing a suitably light and aerodynamic chassis around the bulky unit. When aerodynamic ground effect
became important in 1978, it was clear that the low, wide engines would interfere with the large venturi
tunnels under the car which were needed to create the ground effect. At Murray's instigation Alfa produced a narrower V12
design in only three months for the 1979 season, but it continued to be unreliable and fuel inefficient.
permission to start developing a Formula One car on their behalf. The partnership with Brabham finished before the end of the season. The Alfa Romeo 177
made its debut at the 1979 Belgian Grand Prix
. 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 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 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. The team's best season being the 1983 season
when the team achieved 6th place in the constructors' championship. The team was effectively outsourced to Euroracing in 1984, with works engines being supplied by Autodelta
.
. When Fiat took control of Alfa Romeo, the deal was cancelled (ostensibly due to negative remarks by Arnoux about the engine) and Ligier had to use Megatron
(ex BMW) engines for the entire 1987 season.
Alfa also supplied engines to the small and unsuccessful Italian Osella
team from 1983 to 1988. Normally aspirated (1983) and turbo (1984–1987) engines were used. In the beginning, Alfa also offered some technical input to the small Turin
team; the 1984 Osella (the model FA 1/F) was based on the 1983 works Alfa Romeo 183T, indeed the first chassis was a lightly reworked 183T. All the following Osella models up to the FA 1/I in 1988 had their origins in the initial Alfa design.
By 1988, the last turbo season, Alfa was fed up with the negative publicity generated by Enzo Osella's cars, so the Milan
-based manufacturer prohibited the further use of its name in connection with the engine. The 1988 engines were simply dubbed "Osella V8". At the end of that season, the relationship finished, ending Alfa Romeo's involvement in Formula One.
In 1985 Alfa Romeo started a V10 Formula One engine project, in anticipation of the upcoming rules forbidding turbo engines. The engine was targeted to be used with Ligier Formula One cars. This was the first modern V10 Formula One engine, followed soon by Honda and Renault engines. In its first stage the 3.5 litre engine produced 583 hp and the last version from 1986 could produce 620 bhp at 13300 rpm. After the co-operation with Ligier was cancelled the engine was available to the 164 Pro Car project.
In 1988 Alfa Romeo (Fiat Group) bought Motor Racing Developments Ltd. (otherwise known as the Brabham F1 team) to build a chassis for a new ProCar series. The car developed was V10
powered Alfa Romeo 164 ProCar (Brabham BT57) and was planned to race in a special racing series (as a support event to Formula One Grands Prix).
Success, 1950-1951
In 1950 Nino Farina won the inaugural Formula OneFormula One
Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...
World Championship in a 158
Alfa Romeo 158/159 Alfetta
The Alfa Romeo 158/159, also known as the Alfetta , is one of the most successful racing cars ever produced. The 158 and its derivative, the 159, took 47 wins from 54 Grands Prix entered. It was originally developed for the pre-World War II voiturette formula and has a 1.5 litre straight-8...
with supercharger
Supercharger
A supercharger is an air compressor used for forced induction of an internal combustion engine.The greater mass flow-rate provides more oxygen to support combustion than would be available in a naturally aspirated engine, which allows more fuel to be burned and more work to be done per cycle,...
, in 1951 Juan Manuel Fangio
Juan Manuel Fangio
Juan Manuel Fangio , nicknamed El Chueco or El Maestro , was a racing car driver from Argentina, who dominated the first decade of Formula One racing...
won while driving an Alfetta 159
Alfa Romeo 158/159 Alfetta
The Alfa Romeo 158/159, also known as the Alfetta , is one of the most successful racing cars ever produced. The 158 and its derivative, the 159, took 47 wins from 54 Grands Prix entered. It was originally developed for the pre-World War II voiturette formula and has a 1.5 litre straight-8...
(an evolution of the 158 with a two-stages compressor). The Alfetta's engines were extremely powerful for their capacity: in 1951 the 159 engine was producing around 420 bhp 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). In 1952, facing increased competition from their former employee, Ferrari, 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. Surprisingly, Alfa Romeo involvement in racing was made with a very thin budget, using mostly pre-war technology and material during the two seasons. For instance the team won two championships using only nine pre-war built engine blocks.
Alfa Romeo as an engine supplier, 1961-1979
During the 1960s, several minor F1 teams used Alfa Romeo straight-4Straight-4
The inline-four engine or straight-four engine is an internal combustion engine with all four cylinders mounted in a straight line, or plane along the crankcase. The single bank of cylinders may be oriented in either a vertical or an inclined plane with all the pistons driving a common crankshaft....
engines in cars such as the LDS
LDS (automobile)
LDS is the name given to various single seater racing specials built for the South African Formula One Championship. The "specials" were built by Louis Douglas Serrurier, hence the name. The Mark 1 and Mark 2 models were based on Cooper designs, whilst the Mark 3 was based on the Brabham BT11...
Mk1 and Mk2 "Specials", Cooper
Cooper Car Company
The Cooper Car Company was founded in 1946 by Charles Cooper and his son John Cooper. Together with John's boyhood friend, Eric Brandon, they began by building racing cars in Charles' small garage in Surbiton, Surrey, England in 1946...
s and De Tomaso
De Tomaso
De Tomaso Automobili SpA is an Italian car-manufacturing company. It was founded by the Argentine-born Alejandro de Tomaso in Modena in 1959. It originally produced various prototypes and racing cars, including a Formula One car for Frank Williams' team in 1970. The company developed a reputation...
s.
In the end of 1960s Alfa Romeo was developing a new V8 engine for its racing cars, this engine was tested briefly in Cooper T86C F1-3-68 by Lucien Bianchi. Alfa Romeo briefly returned to Formula One for the 1970
1970 Formula One season
The 1970 Formula One season included the 21st FIA Formula One World Championship season, which commenced on March 7, 1970, and ended on October 25 after thirteen races...
and 1971 seasons
1971 Formula One season
The 1971 Formula One season included the 22nd FIA Formula One World Championship season, which commenced on March 6, 1971, and ended on October 3 after eleven races.-Season summary:...
with a V8 engine based on their sportscar unit. In 1970 the unit was mainly entrusted to Andrea de Adamich
Andrea de Adamich
Andrea Lodovico de Adamich is a former racing driver from Italy. He participated in 34 World Championship Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on 1 January 1968. He scored a total of 6 championship points...
, a long time Alfa driver, in a third works McLaren. The combination often failed to qualify and was uncompetitive when it did run in the races. In 1971 a similar arrangement saw de Adamich run most of the second half of the season in a works March
March Engineering
March Engineering was a Formula One constructor and manufacturer of customer racing cars from the United Kingdom. Although only moderately successful in Grand Prix competition, March racing cars enjoyed much better achievement in other categories of competition including Formula Two, Formula Three,...
car, with a similar lack of success.
Flat-12
A flat-12 is an internal combustion engine in a flat configuration, having 12 cylinders.The flat-12 is wider than a V12...
sports car unit, designed by Carlo Chiti
Carlo Chiti
Carlo Chiti was an Italian racing car and engine designer. Chiti is best known for his long association with Alfa Romeo's racing department....
. The engines were free and produced a claimed 510 bhp against the 465 bhp of the ubiquitous Cosworth DFV. However, packaging the engines was difficult - they had to be removed in order to change the spark plug
Spark plug
A spark plug is an electrical device that fits into the cylinder head of some internal combustion engines and ignites compressed fuels such as aerosol, gasoline, ethanol, and liquefied petroleum gas by means of an electric spark.Spark plugs have an insulated central electrode which is connected by...
s - and the high fuel consumption
Fuel efficiency
Fuel efficiency is a form of thermal efficiency, meaning the efficiency of a process that converts chemical potential energy contained in a carrier fuel into kinetic energy or work. Overall fuel efficiency may vary per device, which in turn may vary per application, and this spectrum of variance is...
engine required no fewer than four separate fuel tanks to contain 47 imp gal (214 l; 56 US gal) of fuel. Murray's increasingly adventurous designs, like the BT46
Brabham BT46
The Brabham BT46 was a Formula One racing car, designed by Gordon Murray for the Brabham team, owned by Bernie Ecclestone, for the 1978 Formula One season. The car featured several radical design elements, the most obvious of which was the use of flat panel heat exchangers on the bodywork of the...
which won two races in 1978, were partly a response to the challenge of producing a suitably light and aerodynamic chassis around the bulky unit. When aerodynamic ground effect
Ground effect in cars
Ground effect is term applied to a series of aerodynamic effects used in car design, which has been exploited to create downforce, particularly in racing cars. This has been the successor to the earlier dominant aerodynamic theory of streamlining...
became important in 1978, it was clear that the low, wide engines would interfere with the large venturi
Venturi effect
The Venturi effect is the reduction in fluid pressure that results when a fluid flows through a constricted section of pipe. The Venturi effect is named after Giovanni Battista Venturi , an Italian physicist.-Background:...
tunnels under the car which were needed to create the ground effect. At Murray's instigation Alfa produced a narrower V12
V12 engine
A V12 engine is a V engine with 12 cylinders mounted on the crankcase in two banks of six cylinders, usually but not always at a 60° angle to each other, with all 12 pistons driving a common crankshaft....
design in only three months for the 1979 season, but it continued to be unreliable and fuel inefficient.
Return to Formula One, 1979-1985
During the 1979 Formula One season, and after some persuasion by Chiti, Alfa Romeo gave AutodeltaAutodelta
Autodelta SpA was the name of Alfa Romeo's competition department. Established in 1961 as Auto-Delta, the company was started by Carlo Chiti, a former Alfa Romeo and Ferrari engineer, and Ludovico Chizzola, an official Alfa Romeo dealer. The team was officially made a department of Alfa Romeo on...
permission to start developing a Formula One car on their behalf. The partnership with Brabham finished before the end of the season. The Alfa Romeo 177
Alfa Romeo 177
The Alfa Romeo 177 was a Formula One car used by the Alfa Romeo team during the 1979 Formula One season, debuting at the 1979 Belgian Grand Prix.The car's name is derived from the fact that the design was commenced in 1977....
made its debut at the 1979 Belgian Grand Prix
1979 Belgian Grand Prix
- Classification :- Notes :* Lap Leaders: Patrick Depailler 25 laps ; Jacques Laffite 12 laps ; Alan Jones 16 laps ; Jody Scheckter 17 laps .-Standings after the race:Drivers' Championship standings...
. 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 this period Alfa Romeo achieved two pole positions, Bruno Giacomelli
Bruno Giacomelli
Bruno Giacomelli is a former racing driver from Italy.He won one of the two 1976 British Formula Three Championships and the 1978 Formula Two championship. He participated in 82 Formula One grands prix, debuting on September 11, 1977...
led much of the 1980 United States Grand Prix
1980 United States Grand Prix
The 1980 United States Grand Prix was a Formula One race held on October 5, 1980 at the Watkins Glen Grand Prix Race Course in Watkins Glen, New York...
before retiring with electrical trouble, three 3rd places, two 2nd places and one fastest lap. They also endured tragedy when their driver Patrick Depailler
Patrick Depailler
Patrick André Eugène Joseph Depailler was a racing driver from France. He participated in 95 World Championship Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on 2 July 1972. He also participated in several non-Championship Formula One races.Depailler was born in Clermont-Ferrand, Puy-de-Dôme. As a child, he...
was killed testing for the 1980 German Grand Prix
1980 German Grand Prix
The 1980 German Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Hockenheimring on August 10, 1980. It was the ninth round of the 1980 Formula One season...
at the Hockenheimring
Hockenheimring
The Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg is an automobile racing track situated near the town of Hockenheim in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, located on Bertha Benz Memorial Route. Amongst other motor racing events, it biennially hosts the Formula One German Grand Prix...
. In 1981 they had the services of Mario Andretti
Mario Andretti
Mario Gabriele Andretti is a retired Italian American world champion racing driver, one of the most successful Americans in the history of the sport. He is one of only two drivers to win races in Formula One, IndyCar, World Sportscar Championship and NASCAR...
, but continued to be dogged by poor reliability. The team's best season being the 1983 season
1983 Formula One season
The 1983 Formula One season included the 34th FIA Formula One World Championship which commenced on March 13, and ended on October 15 after fifteen races. Nelson Piquet won the World Drivers' Championship, his second Formula One title and the first one ever won by a driver using a turbocharged engine...
when the team achieved 6th place in the constructors' championship. The team was effectively outsourced to Euroracing in 1984, with works engines being supplied by Autodelta
Autodelta
Autodelta SpA was the name of Alfa Romeo's competition department. Established in 1961 as Auto-Delta, the company was started by Carlo Chiti, a former Alfa Romeo and Ferrari engineer, and Ludovico Chizzola, an official Alfa Romeo dealer. The team was officially made a department of Alfa Romeo on...
.
Time after constructor years
For the 1987 season, Alfa Romeo made a deal to supply engines to Ligier. A Gianni Tonti designed twinturbo 1500 cc straight-4 was tested in a Ligier JS29 by René ArnouxRené Arnoux
René Alexandre Arnoux is a retired French racing driver who is a veteran of 12 Formula One seasons...
. When Fiat took control of Alfa Romeo, the deal was cancelled (ostensibly due to negative remarks by Arnoux about the engine) and Ligier had to use Megatron
Megatron (engine)
The BMW M12/13 turbo 1500 cc 4-cylinder turbocharged Formula One engine, based on the standard BMW M10 engine introduced in 1961, powered the F1 cars of Brabham, Arrows and Benetton and won the world championship in 1983....
(ex BMW) engines for the entire 1987 season.
Alfa also supplied engines to the small and unsuccessful Italian Osella
Osella
Osella is an Italian racing car manufacturer and former Formula One team based in Volpiano near Turin, Italy. They participated in 132 Grands Prix between 1980 and 1990...
team from 1983 to 1988. Normally aspirated (1983) and turbo (1984–1987) engines were used. In the beginning, Alfa also offered some technical input to the small Turin
Turin
Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...
team; the 1984 Osella (the model FA 1/F) was based on the 1983 works Alfa Romeo 183T, indeed the first chassis was a lightly reworked 183T. All the following Osella models up to the FA 1/I in 1988 had their origins in the initial Alfa design.
By 1988, the last turbo season, Alfa was fed up with the negative publicity generated by Enzo Osella's cars, so the Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
-based manufacturer prohibited the further use of its name in connection with the engine. The 1988 engines were simply dubbed "Osella V8". At the end of that season, the relationship finished, ending Alfa Romeo's involvement in Formula One.
In 1988 Alfa Romeo (Fiat Group) bought Motor Racing Developments Ltd. (otherwise known as the Brabham F1 team) to build a chassis for a new ProCar series. The car developed was V10
V10 engine
A V10 engine is a V engine with 10 cylinders in two banks of five with a distinct exhaust note.- Mechanics :The V10 is essentially the result of mating two even-firing straight-5 engines together. The straight-5 engine shows first and second order rocking motion...
powered Alfa Romeo 164 ProCar (Brabham BT57) and was planned to race in a special racing series (as a support event to Formula One Grands Prix).