Alfa Romeo have been in Formula One in two separate eras as an engine supplier, not including their return from 2019-2023.
First Era (1950–1951): Driver’s Titles and First Withdrawal
Alfa Romeo created the biggest milestones in Formula One history, as they were both the first team to win a Grand Prix with Giuseppe Farina in 1950, but also the first team to win a World Driver’s Championship also with Farina that year.
After a second title win in 1951 with legendary Argentine Juan Manuel Fangio, Alfa Romeo pulled out of F1 at the end of the year due to a change in regulations.
Second Era (1976–1987): Brabham, a Factory Team, Osella
Their second era in Formula One was in the 1970s. After brief periods of involvement in the 60s and early 70s with the likes of Andrea de Adamich, Alfa Romeo began providing engines for Brabham in 1976. Success did not come initially. Brabham went from finishing second in the constructors standings with Ford-Cosworth power to finishing in ninth in the constructors with Alfa Romeo power.
Form did improve though, as in 1977, Carlos Pace scored one podium and Hans-Joachim Stuck scored two podiums. Their best season post-1951 was in 1978 when they won twice with Niki Lauda, although that was more-so due to the ‘fan car’ in Sweden and Mario Andretti being penalised in Monza.
Alfa Romeo then decided to create a factory team, their first fully fledged since 1951. There was little success. In six and a bit seasons, they took two poles (1980 United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen with Bruno Giacomelli and the 1982 US West Grand Prix with Andrea de Cesaris) and five podiums (one in 1981 with Giacomelli, one in 1982 with de Cesaris, two in 1983 with de Cesaris and one in 1984 with Riccardo Patrese), but failed to win a race. At the end of 1985 they left F1.
Whilst they had a factory team, they also had a customer team in Osella, although Osella were a backmarker with little funding, and so they only scored two points with a fifth in Dallas in 1984 with Piercarlo Ghinzani. They scored another fifth that year in Monza with Jo Gartner but no points were awarded to him as he was their ‘second entry’ in a ‘one entry’ team. Alfa Romeo left F1 at the end of 1987 as naturally-aspirated engines returned and turbo-charged engines were banned from 1989. Osella did use their engines in 1988 but re-badged them as Osella.
Alfa Romeo did return in 2019 with Sauber, but used Ferrari engines. They left F1 at the end of 2023.