Alfa Romeo 179

The Alfa Romeo 179 was a Formula 1 racing car, which was used by the Italian car manufacturer Alfa Romeo from 1979 to 1982 in different versions in the World Cup.

The Alfa Romeo 179 replaced mid-1979 Alfa Romeo 177 and was with Bruno Giacomelli at the wheel of his racing debut at the Italian Grand Prix. Giacomelli retired on lap 28 after a spin. The end of 1979 decided to team leadership of Alfa Romeo, with a two - driver team to contest the entire Formula 1 season 1980. As a teammate of Giacomelli Frenchman Patrick Depailler was committed. The team led by Alfa Romeo was aware that rapid progress could not be achieved, and developed a conventional ground- effect vehicle. The 179 was fast, but very susceptible to defects. In particular, the in-house 12 -cylinder engine caused many failures. Middle of the season, the team suffered a severe setback when Depailler testing at Hockenheim was killed. From the Grand Prix of the Netherlands came Vittorio Brambilla as a substitute in the team. At the last race of the season, the USA the Grand Prix in Watkins Glen, Giacomelli put the 179 on the pole position in the race but fell again with engine failure.

For the 1981 season, the 179 has been thoroughly revised, however, turned out during the year that the durability of the 3- liter engine could not be improved. Team boss Carlo Chiti committed dissatisfied with Lotus Mario Andretti and hoped for a noticeable increase of the team. Andretti reached in the race car now known as the 179C in the first race of the season in Long Bach fourth place, but the three World Championship points were the only points of the US- American in 1981. Was not until the last race of the year in Las Vegas reached Giacomelli with the third rank the first podium finish.

Andretti left the team after only a year, and in 1982 went Alfa Romeo with the D version of the 179 and Andrea de Cesaris as the second driver at the start. The problems remained the same: fast car, few target arrivals. Overall, it was possible to take the 179 in 61 Grands Prix starts only 14 world championship points.

A special version of the 179 was the 179T. The vehicle was used as a test car for the V8 turbo engine, the Alfa Romeo 182 was used later.