Alfa Romeo Back in F1...Can only dream

[Denny164l]

You know I was looking at the Alfa F1 car from the 80s it had a Rough start but It did manage to finish in the top 4 in one of the years and do to all the rules just had to drop out But I ask myself WHY cant Alfa Bring back the v10s the V8s of their days just for competition you guys are probably saying to yourselves Because of FIAT, well yea I guess so I think if Alfa ever went back to F1 I think they'll a good job but then again why would FIAT race a Ferrari against a Ferrari Im pretty sure if Alfa ever did go back FIAT would fit the car with a ferrari v12, But it would be awsome if Alfa brought back that v10 and put it in their F1 car and compete that would be awsome. Alfa Romeo in F1 again man that would be soo cool man, and competeing again in the DTM that would be sweet also But what do you guys think. ALFA ROMEO..el Ferarri dil Pobri VIVE ITALIA.....

[Romeo85]

First off new rules state I believe that next years cars are going to be powered by a v8. Though Fiat does own a share of Ferrari I dont believe they own a controlling share. So if Fiat wanted to get into F1 I dont think they would worry all that much about Ferrari. They would most likely get either the chassis or engine built by Ferrari but I doubt both. Would make it basically a Ferrari with Alfa badge.

[velocedoc]

Considering FIATS finances at the moment of just trying to stay in business, this is a dream only. We know that most of what made Alfa Romeo was winning races and developing race engineering that made the rivals try to keep up. I would love to see an Alfa Romeo badged car back in F1 whether it is someone else's chassis doesn't matter. Why not bring back the Maserati F1 cars? Ferrari builds the chassis and each company provides their own engines. Consider it an in house horsepower competition?

[Enrico]

I would welcome it. There is now a situation where drivers are more important than the cars and drivers have become mobile billboards.
It is sad that drivers are remembered for their performances but winning cars get a nod.

The one exception seems to be Ferrari. Italian audience do not care that much about drivers, only about Ferrari. I rather like that and it is a pity there are not more traditional brands to support like Maserati, Alfa Romeo etc.

I have heard a rumour that Penske are thinking about returning to F1. That would be great because Penske would be one of the few true racing teams on the grid.

I would like to ban energy drink advertising in F1 but that's a different story..

[Damien_Ireland]

I would be with ye all in saying that it would be great to see Alfa back in F1 they make some very nice cars back in the 80's.

I think, that Ferrari might throw a wobbler if they even had a sniff of more competetion look at what they did to Manardi in one of the races blocking them using their old car even though they didn't have a chance in hell to keep up with them.

But still, I could be completely wrong, lets hope that we will see someday another Alfa F1 car.

[velocedoc]

Alfa wins races (or used to)-why not have a European NASCAR using home bred cars? I could see the Alfa doing very well with the proper development by private entities. Isn't the holy grail of racing to top out over 200 mph? Imagine an Alfa sedan doing 200+ mph! Now that would be a ride!
Christopher Boles

[Enrico]

Alfa Romeo doesn’t exist as an entity and the competition department
(Autodelta.Alfa Corse) has been closed a long time ago.
Also Alfa’s R&D is no more but Alfa Romeo received Maserati from
sister company Fiat and old Alfa’s engineers who used to work in Arese
for Alfa have been set to work for Maserati.
Maserati does have a competion department and Fiat/Alfa Romeo are
quite keen using this facility to develop touring cars etc instead of the
more expensive route with N-Technology.

I doubt if we would ever see an Alfa Romeo enter a F1 race but Le Mans
does seem highly possible in the not so near future. Especially because Maserati has its focus on endurance racing so something is bound to happen. I expect an Alfa Romeo at Le Mans
in 2008. Who knows what can happen after they have raced in Le Mans. most teams in F1
are calling for smaller budgets...maybe some teams in F1 drop out...

[velocedoc]

Sad commentary on the history of Alfa Romeo's racing heritage to hear that nothing exists of what once was. I suspect that the off road racing program is defunct as well? Alfa was winning in the class with the cars.
Alfa/Maserati an old rival is now co-joined to produce something. Racing is innovation so maybe we will see something interesting come from this marriage.
Christopher Boles

[Duby]

Hi All
I Think You All Got It Wrong .
Fiat Are Controling Every Thing In Motor-sport And They Spkit It Like That -
F-1 : Ferrari
Rally : Fiat
Touring Cars : - Alfa Romeo
Le Man & Endurance : Maserati

Fiat Will Not Give Any Officall Team To Race Against Other "home" Team . Even Lancia Are Out For Now .

[75evo]

I hope Alfa concentrates on Touring Cars. That IMHO is their strongest point. Besides, I think it is cheaper that most other forms of professional racing.

[Desert Tortoise]

This is really a non-question. The reality is that Alfa will not come anywhere near modern F1 because there is almost no financial benefit from doing so.

When Alfa produced the finest cars in the world and commanded the highest prices for their vehicles, their participation in grand prix racing was clearly justified. That's why Ferrari is there today, but Alfa Romeo is no longer the Alfa Romeo of pre-war days and they do not need to fly Italy's flag the way they did back in the late 40s and early 50s when they punished the world.

They also do not have the budgetary resources that Honda and Toyota have to develop new teams with new technology. BMW is in much the same position, but they have been in F1 for some time and are not developing a team from scratch the way Toyota is. Keep in mind that Toyota has a budget that's probably larger than Ferraris, but they still finish in the middle of the pack time after time. Alfa doesn't have Toyota's money by a long shot, so they don't have a chance to even compete with the middle of the pack if they tried to develop their own team with their own engine the way Toyota has.

If they were to race a team at the back of the grid with someone else's engines, they would look pathetic. Keep in mind that Alfa can still point to its gloried history. Putting an F1 car out there and watching it get pummelled would do nothing good for Alfa's corporate image, but would leave people noticing that they are not the company they used to be.

They can, however, race in other FIA series and come out looking pretty good. Duking it out with BMW is good for their image, even if they've been taking some loses lately.

Consider what Chevy did with its IRL program. They were getting beaten too often by Honda and Toyota. The exposure was bad, so they left IRL but kept racing in other series. And then consider what Jaguar did in F1, and the message to Alfa is pretty clear. Stay out of F1 or you'll be roadkill for sure.

There is talk of Penske and other teams stepping in to the mix sometime after 2007. That's when costs should come down, but keep in mind Penske is not a works team. Penske would be more like a Jordan/Midland or a Red Bull team. He'll be using someone else's engines in his team's cars and hoping for a few podiums. The works teams of Ferrari, McLaren/Mercedes and others need wins and they've got the budgets to get them. The reductions in costs allow more teams to enter F1 but it doesn't mean more teams are going to be at the front with Ferrari and the others.

So even with the reduced costs, I don't see Alfa jumping back into F1. There is just no clear benefit to doing so.