1. Alfa romeo can be considered one of the brands that contributed to the birth of the Formula 1 championship.
The first participation of the brand took place on the occasion of the first Formula 1 championship.
In 1950 Nino Farina won the inaugural edition of Formula One on an Alfa Romeo 158 supercharged, winning 6 Grand Prix at 7.
2. The next edition of the championship was also won by Alfa Romeo, with Juan Manuel Fangio on a 159, where he won 4 awards at 8.
3. In 1952, IRI, the public administration that owned Alfa Romeo, decided to withdraw the Formula 1 team from being unable to support the expensive planning of the new car model needed to compete with the Ferrari.
4. From 1961 to 1979, Alfa Romeo did not appear as a factory but only as a supplier of engines, equipping the Cooper, De Tomaso
and McLaren by Andrea De Adamich. However, these collaborations were not very lucky.
5. At this time, Alfa also collaborated with Bernie Ecclestone, owner of Brabham, who agreed with Alfa Romeo for the supply of engines from 1976 to 1979.
The engines, designed by Carlo Chiti, were 12-cylinder boxers and produced a power of 510 bhp versus the 465 bhp of the winning Cosworth DFV.
6. In 1979, Alfa Romeo returned to Formula 1 as a factory, still maintaining its role as a Brabham engine supplier. In the Grand Prix of Belgium in 1979 the Alfa Romeo 177 debutted, driven by Bruno Giacomelli.
7. Despite investment and engineering innovations, the track record was disappointing. Only two poles, three thirds and two seconds. Best placing, a sixth place among the factories in 1983.
8. From 1983 to 1988, Alfa Romeo participated in Formula 1 only as a motors supplier and technical support for the Osella team and Ligier.
Noteworthy is the first modern V10 engine made in 1985 for Ligier. After that, the alfa withdrew from the Formula 1 championship.
9. But the experience gained from alfa in the engines and, in particular, in the innovations introduced with the V10 alfa romeo did not end in forgetting.
In 1996, Ferrari introduced its first V10 engine, and in the team of engineers who made it there was also the ing. Pino d'Agostino, who had previously signed the Alfa Romeo V10.
10. In 2017, Sergio Marchionne announced the return of the Alfa Romeo brand in Formula 1 for the 2018 season as the main sponsor of the Sauber team,
with which the Italian brand will also carry on technological, technical and commercial cooperation, making available not only financing but also alfa technicians for the tuning of the car.
