Nationality: Italian
Born: 1918
Died: 1955
Races: 31
Wins: 13
Poles: 14
Championships: 1952, 1953
Milestones
1918: Born in Italy
1925: Father died in 1925 Grand Prix
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Alfa Romeo won their first ever Grand Prix in 1924 with the P2 model, driven by Antonio Ascari and their subsequent models remained the pace setters when the Formula One World Championship started in 1950. In this year, they achieved a massive feat, getting first, second and third in the Drivers Championship with Giuseppe Farina as champion in the Tipo 158.
In 1951, Ferrari began to catch up but Juan Manuel Fangio still won the championship by 6 points from the four Ferraris in the championship. This however, as to be their last season before they started concentrating on sports car racing.
In the mid 1970s their flat 12 sports car engine started to attract the interest of Formula One teams, who were watching Ferrari dominate the proceedings with an engine of similar configuration. A deal was done with Bernie Ecclestone to supply them to the Brabham team. The Tipo 177 made its debut in the Belgian Grand Prix in 1979.
As Brabham reverted to Ford power, the Alfa V12 was put into a new Tipo 179 chassis and, with Bruno Giacomelli and Patrick Depailler driving in 1980, the outlook was healthy. Unfortunately, Depailler was killed in testing at Hockenheim and from this point until they pulled out in 1985, they were never able to regain the success of their heyday.
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