ALFA ROMEO 182
Before its current tie-up with Sauber, Alfa Romeo hadn’t entered a team in Formula 1 since the early ‘80s. The 182 was its attempt to return to winning ways for the first time since the 1950s, but things didn’t quite go according to plan…
When Sauber announced its rebrand to become Alfa Romeo Racing for the 2019 season, the Italian marque became a Formula 1 constructor for the third time in the championship’s history. Alfa’s first term ended after two years, with two world titles. After a hiatus of 28 years – albeit punctuated by short spells as an engine supplier, most notably with Brabham in the late 1970s – Alfa Romeo was persuaded to re-enter as a full-time constructor. Design duties were handed to Alfa’s competition department Autodelta, led by ex-ferrari designer Carlo Chiti.
Chiti had got permission from Alfa Romeo to get the F1 project together as early as 1977, and began work on the stopgap 177 chassis, which made sporadic appearances in 1979, powered by Alfa’s flat-12 engine.
The 179 made its debut later in the year, equipped with the narrower V12 1260 engine – developed at the behest of Brabham, which was struggling to build an effective ground effects package around the sprawling flat-12. Alfa squeezed two-and-a-bit years out of the 179, reaching the podium for the first time at the end of 1981, courtesy of Bruno Giacomelli at the Caesars Palace Grand Prix in Las Vegas.
By 1982 the 179 was long in the tooth, and Alfa Romeo had swooped for Gerard Ducarouge to lead the design of its next car: the 182. Having been sacked by Ligier despite his designs collecting eight of Ligier’s nine F1 victories to that point, Alfa and Autodelta saw Ducarouge as the perfect person to bring the still-young project to the front of the grid.
Ducarouge’s first move was to persuade Alfa Romeo to invest in a carbon-fibre chassis. Mclaren had pioneered the use of carbon-fibre monocoques in 1981, and the favourable weight and strength advantages offered over the typical aluminium chassis sufficiently piqued Alfa’s curiosity. The geometry of the 179’s monocoque was largely retained, but reproduced in composite materials for a weight saving of around 20kg, increasing torsional stiffness in the process.
The normally aspirated V12 was also retained. Around 30bhp more powerful than Cosworth’s DFV, the 60-degree V-angle ensured Alfa’s unit was naturally balanced and narrower than the 90-degree DFV. But, like the flat-12 engine that preceded it, the V12 proved to be both bulky and thirsty.
The car wasn’t quite ready for the first round at Kyalami, meaning Alfa had to press the 179 into service one final time. But once the 182 made it onto the grid for round two at Jacarepagua, in Brazil, it proved to be competitive straight out of the box. Having re-signed the fast-but-furious Andrea de Cesaris to partner Giacomelli, Alfa threw its weight around the top half of the field, de Cesaris qualifying 10th.
Although the initial performance was encouraging, the 182 was a fragile beast. Giacomelli’s engine caught fire in Friday practice, while in the race de Cesaris hit trouble early as his undertray broke off after just 10 laps, so he called it a day shortly after. Giacomelli retired two laps later with a clutch issue, underlining the 182’s lack of reliability.
The 182’s strengths were best demonstrated at the next round at Long Beach. Thanks to the V12 engine’s torque, the Alfas could crucially get the power down well out of the slower corners, and the Michelin tyres began to enjoy a significant advantage as the circuit rubbered in. Up stepped de Cesaris, who promptly secured pole, with Giacomelli also in the mix in fifth. Although de Cesaris lost the lead, he remained in contention for the win until his car caught fire and, as his gaze caught sight of the smoke in his mirrors, he lost concentration and careened into the barriers before half-distance.
And the 182 proved its worth again in the similarly lowspeed corners of Monaco, although it had been upgraded to a Monaco-only B-specification with narrower sidepods and redesigned skirts to generate ground effect on the tight Monte Carlo streets. Giacomelli qualified third, but reliability issues struck once more. Having been plagued by misfires all weekend, Giacomelli suffered a broken stub axle after just four
laps and had to retire.
Monaco was a famously chaotic race, and Giacomelli was in with a good chance of victory – as was de Cesaris, who would have assumed the lead had his thirsty V12 not emptied the tanks of all its fuel. Regardless, he was classified third, giving the 182 its only podium finish.
A nimble car on the lowspeed circuits, the 182 also possessed good top-end power and demonstrated as such at Hockenheim, where de Cesaris piloted the second-fastest non-turbo car in qualifying while Giacomelli scooped up a pair of points after de Cesaris suffered with reliability issues after just nine laps of the race. The car was well-balanced in the chicanes and enjoyed good drive out of them, although once the turbo runners powered through hefty amounts of lag, Giacomelli observed they were able to “disappear” down the straights.
Alfa tried its own turbocharged engine – designated the 182T – in practice for the Italian Grand Prix. The turbo was fitted to a 1.5-litre V8. Capable of churning out 100bhp more than the normally aspirated V12, the new turbo V8 was preserved for the 182’s successor: the 183T. Heavily rooted in the 182’s design, the 183T claimed two podiums but, as Ducarouge left for Lotus, Alfa once more lacked the technical leadership it needed. Come the end of 1985, the Alfa name fell dormant in F1 – until now.
“ONCE THE 182 MADE IT ONTO THE GRID FOR ROUND TWO AT JACAREPAGUA, IN BRAZIL, IT PROVED TO BE COMPETITIVE STRAIGHT OUT OF THE BOX”