The Alfa Romeo 179 is a Formula One car which was used (in different variants) by the Alfa Romeo team from 1979 to 1982. The 179 made its debut at the 1979 Italian Grand Prix.
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1980 Alfa Romeo Tipo 179 This car was driven by Andrea de Cesaris in the US and Canadian Grands Prix.
Powered by a 3 litre V12 engine the cars were substantially modified as the season progressed. Initially the Tipo 179 had outboard rear brakes as well as a modified rear suspension, improved aerodynamics, a stiffened monocoque, carbon fibre body panels and titanium suspension parts.
This car achieved little success, its best result being fifth place in Argentina and Germany when driven by Bruno Giacomoelli."
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"After winning the first two Formula 1 World Championships in 1950 and 1951, Alfa Romeo withdrew from single seater racing to focus on the new road car line-up and various sports cars. In the following years, works racing was abandoned, but the Milanese firm offered plenty of support for privateers racing their products. When Autodelta was established as Alfa Romeo's racing department halfway into the 1960s, the company was completely back into racing.
Autodelta focussed on GT and sportscar racing in the first ten years of its existence and did so with considerable success. A similarity in sportscar/prototype and Formula 1 regulations made the V8 engine used in the Tipo 33 a potential Grand Prix engine. Various F1 racers did in fact use the engine, but with no real factory support or success. Autodelta first entered Formula 1 in 1976 as an engine supplier for the Brabham team.
After the withdrawal from sportscar racing, Autodelta could completely focus on constructing a Grand Prix racer of their own. After thorough testing the Alfa Romeo 177 made its debut at the 1979 Belgian Grand Prix. Its driver was Bruno Giacomelli, who had just won the Formula 2 championships with an unprecedented eight victories. Power for the 177 came from the same flat-12 unit used by Brabham in the previous seasons. The extensive testing and Brabham experience resulted in an impressive pace, but no finishes were recorded in the three races it was used.
One of the main reasons the 177 was abandoned after only three outings was its engine configuration. Ground effects had completely taken over and a flat engine did not allow for large under-body Venturis because of its considerable width. At the Monza Grand Prix Alfa Romeo's second car of the season was unveiled. To accommodate large Venturis, a newly designed 60 degree V12 engine was fitted in the 179. Whereas the 177 was livered in Alfa Romeo's characteristic dark red, the 179 featured sponsor colours and markings.
During the 1979 season, the 179 was never on the pace and only managed to finish once, last and one lap down from the winner. Autodelta worked hard throughout the winter to increase the car's competitiveness and reliability. In the first race of the 1980 season, Giacomelli proved that Autodelta succeeded in the latter with a fifth place finish. In the following races some of its reliability was apparently sacrificed for speed, with the 179 improving in qualifying every race, but rarely finishing. In the final race of the season Giacomelli managed to qualify the 179 on pole, but again failed to finish. Alfa Romeo finished last in the constructor's championship with 2 points.
To decrease the cars' cornering speeds, the sliding skirts, which were a key element of the ground effect setup, were banned at the end of the 1980 season. Many teams tried to circumvent the regulations, by fitting their cars with adjustable hydro-pneumatic dampers. The mandatory skirt-ground-clearance of 60 mm could only be measured when the car was parked in the pits. When driving the car including the now static skirts could be lowered, achieving a similar result as with sliding skirts.
To accommodate the adjustable dampers, Autodelta modified the cars and at the beginning of the 1981 season they were known as 179C. The constant adapting to changed regulations did not help the team's development program. On the track the 179C rarely matched the speed of its Naturally Aspirated competitors and was easily outpaced by Turbo-charged Ferraris and Renaults. The lower D variant or the fully carbon-fibre 179F did not fare any better and the V12 engine was abandoned in favour of a Turbo-charged V8 unit."
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