Alfa Romeo F1 Team Logo

Historic

Alfa Romeo

Italian

  • Alfa Romeo Official Name
  • n/a Base
  • 1950 F1 Debut
  • n/a Team Boss
  • n/a Technical Chief
  • 0 World Championships

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 entry1950 British Grand Prix
Races entered214
Constructors’ Championships0
Drivers’ Championships2 (1950, 1951)
Race victories10
Podiums26
Points199
Pole positions12
Fastest laps16
Final entry2023 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Alfa Romeo Drivers’ Champions

The following drivers won the Formula One Drivers’ Championship for Alfa Romeo.

DriverNationalityChampionship Year
Giuseppe FarinaItalian1950
Juan Manuel FangioArgentine1951

Alfa Romeo Constructor Championship Results

The World Constructor’s Championship was not awarded until 1958.

YearNameCarNo.DriversPointsWCC
1950Alfa Romeo S.p.A.158Juan Manuel Fangio
Giuseppe Farina
Luigi Fagioli
Reg Parnell
Piero Taruffi
Consalvo Sanesi
1951Alfa Romeo S.p.A.159Juan 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
1979Autodelta177
179
35.
36.
Bruno Giacomelli
Vittorio Brambilla
0NC
1980Marlboro Team Alfa Romeo17922.
22.
22.
23.
Patrick Depailler
Vittorio Brambilla
Andrea de Cesaris
Bruno Giacomelli
411th
1981Marlboro Team Alfa Romeo179B
179C
179D
22.
23.
Mario Andretti
Bruno Giacomelli
109th
1982Marlboro Team Alfa Romeo179D
182
22.
23.
Andrea de Cesaris
Bruno Giacomelli
710th
1983Marlboro Team Alfa Romeo183T22.
23.
Andrea de Cesaris
Mauro Baldi
186th
1984Benetton Team Alfa Romeo184T22.
23.
Riccardo Patrese
Eddie Cheever
118th
1985Benetton Team Alfa Romeo185T
184TB
22.
23.
Riccardo Patrese
Eddie Cheever
0NC
1986–2018: Alfa Romeo did not compete as a constructor
2019Alfa Romeo RacingC387.
99.
Kimi Räikkönen
Antonio Giovinazzi
578th
2020Alfa Romeo Racing OrlenC397.
99.
Kimi Räikkönen
Antonio Giovinazzi
88th
2021Alfa Romeo Racing OrlenC417.
88.
99.
Kimi Räikkönen
Robert Kubica
Antonio Giovinazzi
139th
2022Alfa Romeo F1 Team OrlenC4224.
77.
Zhou Guanyu
Valtteri Bottas
556th
2023Alfa Romeo F1 Team StakeC4324.
77.
Zhou Guanyu
Valtteri Bottas
169th

Alfa Romeo Drivers

Driver Nationality Current/Last Team F1 Debut Status
Italian Ferrari 1950 British Grand Prix Died, F1 Legend
Argentine Maserati 1950 British Grand Prix Died, F1 Legend
Italian Sauber 1980 Canadian Grand Prix Died
American Ferrari 1968 United States Grand Prix F1 Legend
Italian Benetton 1977 Monaco Grand Prix Retired
American Arrows 1978 Argentine Grand Prix Retired
Finnish Alfa Romeo 2001 Australian Grand Prix F1 Legend
Italian Sauber 2017 Australian Grand Prix Retired
Polish Alfa Romeo 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix Retired
Monégasque Ferrari 2018 Australian Grand Prix Current
Chinese Sauber 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix Current
Finnish Sauber 2013 Australian Grand Prix Current

Previous/Next Team Names

Team Nationality Debut Season Status
Sauber Swiss 1993 Current