The Italian car manufacturer Alfa Romeo has a long history in Formula One, dating back to 1950, and was recently running on the grid under Alfa Romeo F1, managed by Sauber between the 2019 and 2023 seasons.
Notable Team Members and Drivers
Giuseppe “Nino” Farina: Farina was another legend of the sport, becoming the first-ever driver to win the Formula One World Championship in 1950. He drove the Alfa Romeo 158 to victory that year, securing the championship at the 1950 Italian Grand Prix at Monza.
Juan Manuel Fangio: Arguably one of the greatest racing drivers of all time, Fangio drove for Alfa Romeo during the 1950 and 1951 seasons. He won the 1951 World Championship with Alfa Romeo.
Valtteri Bottas: After returning to F1 as a commercial partner in 2019, Bottas joined the team in 2022, bringing his experience from his time with Mercedes, signing a multi-year contract with the team
Zhou Guanyu: In 2022, Zhou made history as the first Chinese driver in Formula 1, bringing a huge new fanbase from his native country to the sport and the team.
Alfa Romeo has competed in F1 in various eras as both a constructor and engine supplier from 1950 to 1987, then with their logo featuring on Ferrari cars in 2015 before becoming a title sponsor with Sauber in 2018 and then the full renaming of the Sauber team beginning in 2019.
In the early years of F1 and Alfa Romeo’s involvement in the sport, their works-team drivers won the first two World Drivers’ Championships in the pre-war Alfetta with Giuseppe “Nino” Farina in 1950 and Juan Manuel Fangio in 1951. Even with these great successes, the brand withdrew from Formula One after the end of the 1951 season, when the Italian government declined to finance the costly design of a new car to succeed the 13-year-old 158 model.
Although Alfa Romeo had no official presence in F1 during the 1960s, several teams independently developed Alfa Romeo engines to power their cars. In the early 1970s, Alfa provided Formula One support for works driver Andrea de Adamich, supplying adapted versions of their 3-litre V8 engine from the Alfa Romeo Tipo 33/3 sports car to power Adamich’s McLaren (1970) and March (1971) entries. However, none of these engine combinations scored championship points.
In the mid-1970s, Alfa engineer Carlo Chiti designed a flat-12 engine to replace the T33 V8, which successfully took the 1975 World Sportscar Championship. Bernie Ecclestone, then owner of the Brabham Formula 1 team, persuaded Alfa Romeo to supply this engine free for the 1976 Formula One season. Although the Brabham-Alfa Romeo’s first season was relatively modest, during the 1977 and 1978 World Championships, their cars took 14 podium finishes, including two race victories for Niki Lauda.
By 1979, Alfa Romeo’s sporting department, Autodelta, had returned to the grid as a works team, but this second period as a constructor was less successful than their first in the early 1950s. Between the company’s return and its withdrawal as a constructor at the end of 1985, Alfa works drivers did not win a race, and the team never finished higher than sixth in the World Constructors’ Championship. During this time, the team’s engines were also supplied to Osella from 1983 to 1987, but they scored only two World Championship points.
After another lengthy break from the sport, the Alfa Romeo logo returned to Formula One in 2015, appearing on the Scuderia Ferrari cars. In late 2017, Alfa Romeo announced that it would become a title sponsor for Sauber from 2018 and had entered into a technical and commercial partnership with the team. Alfa Romeo returned to the sport when Sauber was renamed at the beginning of 2019.
At the end of the 2023 season, Alfa Romeo left as a partner to Sauber, who became the Stake F1 Sauber Team for 2024 and 2025, a team who would eventually become the full-works Audi F1 team in 2026, marking not only the end of Alfa Romeo’s relationship with F1 again but Sauber’s too.
Alfa Romeo Formula One World Championship Records
| First entry | 1950 British Grand Prix |
|---|---|
| Races entered | 214 |
| Constructors’ Championships | 0 |
| Drivers’ Championships | 2 (1950, 1951) |
| Race victories | 10 |
| Podiums | 26 |
| Points | 199 |
| Pole positions | 12 |
| Fastest laps | 16 |
| Final entry | 2023 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix |
Alfa Romeo Drivers’ Champions
The following drivers won the Formula One Drivers’ Championship for Alfa Romeo.
| Driver | Nationality | Championship Year |
|---|---|---|
| Giuseppe Farina | Italian | 1950 |
| Juan Manuel Fangio | Argentine | 1951 |
Alfa Romeo Constructor Championship Results
The World Constructor’s Championship was not awarded until 1958.
| Year | Name | Car | No. | Drivers | Points | WCC | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1950 | Alfa Romeo S.p.A. | 158 | — | Juan Manuel Fangio Giuseppe Farina Luigi Fagioli Reg Parnell Piero Taruffi Consalvo Sanesi | — | |||
| 1951 | Alfa Romeo S.p.A. | 159 | — | Juan Manuel Fangio Giuseppe Farina Luigi Fagioli Felice Bonetto Toulo de Graffenried Consalvo Sanesi Paul Pietsch | — | |||
| 1952–1978: Alfa Romeo did not compete as a constructor | ||||||||
| 1979 | Autodelta | 177 179 | 35. 36. | Bruno Giacomelli Vittorio Brambilla | 0 | NC | ||
| 1980 | Marlboro Team Alfa Romeo | 179 | 22. 22. 22. 23. | Patrick Depailler Vittorio Brambilla Andrea de Cesaris Bruno Giacomelli | 4 | 11th | ||
| 1981 | Marlboro Team Alfa Romeo | 179B 179C 179D | 22. 23. | Mario Andretti Bruno Giacomelli | 10 | 9th | ||
| 1982 | Marlboro Team Alfa Romeo | 179D 182 | 22. 23. | Andrea de Cesaris Bruno Giacomelli | 7 | 10th | ||
| 1983 | Marlboro Team Alfa Romeo | 183T | 22. 23. | Andrea de Cesaris Mauro Baldi | 18 | 6th | ||
| 1984 | Benetton Team Alfa Romeo | 184T | 22. 23. | Riccardo Patrese Eddie Cheever | 11 | 8th | ||
| 1985 | Benetton Team Alfa Romeo | 185T 184TB | 22. 23. | Riccardo Patrese Eddie Cheever | 0 | NC | ||
| 1986–2018: Alfa Romeo did not compete as a constructor | ||||||||
| 2019 | Alfa Romeo Racing | C38 | 7. 99. | Kimi Räikkönen Antonio Giovinazzi | 57 | 8th | ||
| 2020 | Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen | C39 | 7. 99. | Kimi Räikkönen Antonio Giovinazzi | 8 | 8th | ||
| 2021 | Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen | C41 | 7. 88. 99. | Kimi Räikkönen Robert Kubica Antonio Giovinazzi | 13 | 9th | ||
| 2022 | Alfa Romeo F1 Team Orlen | C42 | 24. 77. | Zhou Guanyu Valtteri Bottas | 55 | 6th | ||
| 2023 | Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake | C43 | 24. 77. | Zhou Guanyu Valtteri Bottas | 16 | 9th | ||
