“Storie Alfa Romeo” Fourth Episode: Alfa Romeo becomes first constructor to win Formula 1 Championship

The bond between Alfa Romeo and Formula 1 is inscribed in the history of Grand Prix racing: Alfa Romeo won the Grand Prix Championship in the inaugural edition of F1 in 1950, with Nino Farina on board an Alfa Romeo Grand Prix Tipo 158 "Alfetta", a success repeated in 1951 by Juan Manuel Fangio in the Alfetta 159

Race number One Thousand

May 13 marks the anniversary of the very first Formula 1 Grand Prix race ever… launching one of the great sporting myths of our time. The launch of this event (in 1950, at Silverstone) was celebrated by the International Federation in Shanghai on 14 July 2019 (on the occasion of the one thousandth race) and now on 13 May 2020, on the occasion of Formula 1’s seventieth birthday.
Two very different eras face to face: in 1950 crash helmets were still optional, there was no television, and the spectators were entirely distributed on foot alongside the racing track. Today the Formula 1 “circus” is an ultra-technological global industry, transmitted to reach millions TV and web viewers every season.
Only two things are common to both eras: the passion of the public, and Alfa Romeo… which returned to Formula 1 in 2018 together with the Sauber team, and as from 2020 will compete under the name Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN.
Alfa Romeo just wasn’t the same without Formula 1. And maybe Formula 1 wasn’t quite the same without Alfa Romeo.

The Alfetta 158

The 1938 Alfetta was a technological jewel. The 8-cylinder straight-line engine with a single-stage compressor and a triple-body carburettor was developed by Gioacchino Colombo, head of the design department, who was determined to make it powerful, ready for instant acceleration and absolutely reliable. The distribution was driven by a double overhead camshaft.
The use of light alloys (elektron for the monobloc, nickel-chromium steel for the crankshaft) enabled engine weight to be reduced to as low as 165 kilograms. The gearbox was mounted in the rear, in a block with the differential. This was the famous "transaxle" scheme, taking up less space and providing an optimal distribution of weight between the two axles: a solution that the brand will later use in its road car series.
The Second World War then ruptured the research thread, and brought the evolution of Alfa Romeo cars to a shuddering halt: but the technical solutions envisaged by the project were sophisticated enough to be still valid in the post-war period… and, in some cases, to the present day.

The Flight to Abbiategrasso

The links between pre- and post-war Alfa 158 models were not just a matter of similar design, there was also a physical continuity: the post-war models were literally the same as the the pre-war ones, which had been hidden to await the end of the war.
Imagine the scene: 1943, Milan is occupied, round-ups and arrests increase day by day. A small number of Alfetta 158s remain in storage inside the Portello factory, but risk being carried away as spoils of war. Various Alfa Romeo technicians and labourers decide they must must be removed. They begin clandestine planning and preparing to carry them away in trucks. Various passionate Alfa admirers volunteer to hide one… including the speedboat champion Achille Castoldi, who had set a world speed record in 1940 using an Alfa Romeo 158 engine.
But a problem arose. Just as the convoy of trucks was about to depart, a Wehrmacht patrol appeared with their weapons at the ready. Fortunately, the Alfa test driver Pietro Bonini was Swiss, and had lived in Berlin for some years. Speaking confidently in perfect German and waving a safe-conduct authorization he tranquilized the commander and saved the day. The trucks departed. The 158 models were then taken to garages and farm sheds, to be hidden behind false walls or heaps of logs… to wait for better times.

The launch of F1

Not long after the end of the war, those same Alfetta 158 models were brought back to Portello and carefully restored and prepared to return to racing. And racing meant winning, even though circuits and championships were in a fragmented and provisional condition. Between 1947 and 1948, Nino Farina came first in the Gran Prix of the Nations in Geneva, Varzi was first in the Valentino Grand Prix in Turin, and Tossi tore the competition to shreds to triumph in the Gran Premio of Milan. The message was loud and clear: Alfa Romeo was still the car to beat.
The British Grand Prix at Silverstone in 1950 was the first of the eight races that constituted the first FIA Formula 1 World Championship. Countries that had been at war with one another only a few years earlier were united in a single sporting event: it was a historic moment. And it turned out to be a historic triumph for Alfa Romeo.
The first four places on the starting grid were occupied by four Alfetta 158 models. Giuseppe “Nino” Farina conquered the pole position, the fastest lap and the final victory. Second came Luigi Fagioli, and third Reg Parnell. The first F1 podium was monopolized by Alfa Romeo.

The 3 Fs Team

The 158’s combination of outstanding speed, handling and reliability made it the ultimate achievement of motorcar technology of the moment. At its first launch in 1938, it had a 1.5-liter engine with a 185 horsepower compressor. For its second launch, after the war, the compressor became dual-stage and the engine reached 275 HP… and by 1950 it had reached 350 HP (at 8,600 rpm). Thanks to its extreme lightness, its weight/power ratio was only 2 kg / HP… a value in line with today's super sports car series.
Technical superiority brings victories. For the press, Farina, Fangio and Fagioli became the “the 3Fs team”, an unbeatable trio which demolished all rivals. The three Alfa Romeo aces won all the Grand Prix races they took part in, ending on the podium twelve times and achieving five fastest laps. As Giuseppe Busso, Alfa Romeo designer and collaborator of Colombo, put it later, “Our main problem was deciding which of the three drivers should win any given race”.
On 3 September 1950, for the Monza Grand Prix, Alfa Romeo tried out the technical resources of the Alfetta 159, actually developed for use in the following year’s Championship. The new Alfetta made its debut with a victory. At the wheel was Nino Farina… who thus became the first ever Formula 1 World Champion.

The Alfetta 159

The following year, the championship was resolved only in the last race, at the end of a long duel between Alfa Romeo and Ferrari. After 17 years, the phenomenal Alfetta engine was reaching the end of its potential for further development… but during the 1951 races the technicians managed yet again to wring out the last drops of extra power and reach the milestone of 450 horsepower. Thanks to this final effort, and to its extraordinarily talented drivers, the 159 triumphed in the GPs of Switzerland, Belgium, France and Spain, with eleven podium finishes and the fastest lap in all seven of the races.
The “3 Fs” and their victories became mythical, and ended up by carrying Alfa Romeo to the silver screen. The two most powerful Italian producers of the time (Dino De Laurentis and Carlo Ponti) chose the biggest stars of the moment (Amedeo Nazzari and a stunning Alida Valli) for the leading roles in “Ultimo Incontro” (English version, “Last Meeting”), a film set on Formula 1 racetracks and in the offices of the Alfa Romeo Racing Team. The writer Alberto Moravia collaborated on the script.
The film was released on 24 October 1951, and four days later Juan Manuel Fangio – driving the legendary Alfetta 159 – won the Spanish Grand Prix and thereby became World Champion. The second consecutive victory. Alfa Romeo had won the first two Formula 1 World Championships in history… at which point it could retire from Formula 1 unbeaten and devote itself instead to producing unbeatably beautiful road and sports cars.

Turin, 12 May 2020