The team that won the first two world championships, left immediately, and came back twenty-eight years later.
Seasons
1950–1985
Identities
2
Race wins
10
Titles
0 CWC · 2 WDC
Identity timeline
Each bar is a name this entry raced under. Select one to jump straight to its written history.
Alfa Romeo has two entirely separate works spells in Formula One, split by nearly three decades, plus a later era of engine supply and badging that runs through the Sauber lineage.
Written history by identity
1950 — 1951
1950–1951: the Alfetta and the first champions
Alfa Romeo SpA
Two drivers' titles with the Alfetta 158/159.
The pre-war Alfetta 158, hidden from bombing during the war, was so far ahead of the 1950 field that Alfa Romeo won eleven of the first twelve championship races. Nino Farina took the inaugural title in 1950 and Juan Manuel Fangio the first of his five in 1951.
With Ferrari's unsupercharged 4.5-litre cars closing in and the Italian government refusing funds for a new design, Alfa Romeo withdrew at the end of 1951 rather than risk losing.
1979 — 1985
1979–1985: the works return
Autodelta / Alfa Romeo
Works return with flat-12 then turbo V8 power.
Alfa Romeo returned as an engine supplier to Brabham in 1976 and then as a constructor from 1979 through its Autodelta competition department, later run by Euroracing.
The cars were fast in a straight line and fragile everywhere else. Bruno Giacomelli led at Watkins Glen in 1980 before retiring, and Andrea de Cesaris took pole at Long Beach in 1982, but no wins came. Alfa withdrew as a constructor after 1985.
Reference material used to compile and verify the Alfa Romeo SpA lineage data on this page. GridXTrax is an independent fan archive; follow the links to check any figure at source.