Alfa Romeo’s ‘Alfetta’ F1 car that ruled the world
At the dawn of the world championship, Alfa Romeo set the bar high with its 158 and 159 grand prix cars. Doug Nye tracks their success
Giuseppe Farina sits ready for the 1950 British GP, the first Formula 1 World Championship event. He would head an Alfetta 158 top four at the finish
SPITZLEY-Monkhouse collection
Taken from Motor Sport, December 2019
From 1946 to 1951 – for an entire generation of fans – Alfa Romeo’s works grand prix car – the immortal ‘Alfetta’ – set the gold standard. Through that period these 1500cc straight-eight supercharged cars were the standard-setters of their time. Even when the Alfa Corse factory team took a sabbatical from racing during 1949 and Ferrari blossomed to brief dominance, the Prancing Horse was widely regarded as just the understudy, merely keeping the legend’s seat warm while it took a financial breather.
Through those years – during which the old-established grand prix formula renamed (from 1948) as ‘Formula A’ or ‘Formula 1’ – the ever-developing series of Alfa Romeo Tipo 158/159 cars contested 42 top-flight races. They won 38 and reigned unbeaten through 1947-48 and 1950. Alfa Corse used the greatest drivers of its time, and it took an all-new 4½-litre unsupercharged V12 Ferrari to knock the ageing cars off their hard-won pedestal in 1951 – not that Alfa’s finest believed that was, in fact, the case…