The car was constructed by Alfa Romeo's racing department Autodelta, and featured a Carlo Chiti designed Alfa Romeo flat-12 engine which had been used earlier in the Alfa Romeo 33TT12 and 33SC12 sports cars. In 1976 this engine was supplied to Brabham and the deal continued until 1979.
The 177, the designation of which was derived from the fact that its design was commenced in 1977,[3] was a bulky car finished in the handsome dark red colour adopted by Autodelta. The 177 featured a riveted aluminium chassis, with front suspension by upper rocking arms, lower wishbones and inboard-mounted coil spring/damper units. The rear suspension featured parallel lower links, single top links, twin radius rods and outboard coil spring/damper units.[4]Bruno Giacomelli had won the 1978 European Formula Two Championship in a March[5] and was hired to drive the new Alfa Romeo 177; he used this car at Belgian and French Grands Prix.
The Alfa Romeo 179 with a new V12 engine was ready for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza so Giacomelli drove the new car while the 177 was raced by Vittorio Brambilla. Both drivers raced the 179 thereafter.
Racing history
Bruno Giacomelli - Zolder 1979
Giacomelli qualified the car strongly at Zolder for the Belgian Grand Prix, lining up in 14th place, only two seconds off the pole-time of Jacques Laffite's Ligier, and ahead of more experienced competitors, most notably both McLaren cars. A poor start left him in 18th place on lap 1, but he slowly made his way through the field through the misfortune of others, only losing ground to the McLaren of John Watson, surging through the pack from his lowly grid position. He had made it to 13th position by lap 21 with the Shadow of Elio de Angelis chasing hard. De Angelis tried to pass at the chicane, but clumsily clouted the Alfa Romeo, damaging Giacomelli's rear wing and putting both cars out of the race.
The team missed the Monaco Grand Prix a fortnight later, but returned in France for the race at Dijon-Prenois. Giacomelli's qualifying pace was not so strong, and he started the race in 17th place, nearly 3.5 seconds behind Jean-Pierre Jabouille's pole time in the Renault. Another poor start put him 20th at the end of lap 1, although he quickly passed Jan Lammers's struggling Shadow. He once again slowly picked up places as others fell by the wayside, and by lap 20 he had regained 17th. However the car seemed to suffer from a lack of pace in the next phase of the race, and Giacomelli was passed by Riccardo Patrese and Jochen Mass of Arrows, Héctor Rebaque in the Lotus and his old foe de Angelis in quick succession, dropping to 20th by lap 26. He slowly started to pick up the pace again, and was able to finally re-pass de Angelis on lap 51, and the pair moved up the order as other cars fell out, eventually lying 16th and 17th. The two Italians continued to fight for the remainder of the race, being lapped five times by leader Jabouille in the process. With Jabouille already having crossed the finish line, lap 75 would be their last lap, and de Angelis passed Giacomelli with mere yards of the race remaining to take 16th place from him at the death.
After the disappointments of the team's first two races, Alfa Romeo skipped the next four and arrived at Monza for the Italian Grand Prix in September with a two-car team for the first time. Giacomelli was driving the new 179 while Vittorio Brambilla was hired to drive the 177. Brambilla had been out of F1 for a year after injuries sustained at Monza the previous year, in the same crash that killed Ronnie Peterson. Brambilla, who had been at the wheel of a Surtees that day, qualified a lowly 22nd, four seconds off Jabouille's pole time and over half a second behind Giacomelli in the new car. Although Emerson Fittipaldi and de Angelis passed him on lap 11, in general his position improved through the race as others hit trouble, including Giacomelli, who spun off on lap 29, leaving Brambilla's 177 as the sole Alfa representative. Although he was passed late on by Alan Jones, fighting through the pack after his early troubles in the Williams, some other retirements allowed him to finish a creditable 12th, only a lap behind Jody Scheckter's winning Ferrari. This would remain Alfa's best result of the season, even though new 179s were provided for both drivers in the remaining two races.
The 179 would take over permanently as the team attempted a full campaign in 1980, so these three races remain the 177's only impact on the F1 record books.
The 1978 Italian Grand Prix was the 14th motor race of the 1978 Formula One season. It was held on 10 September 1978 at Monza. It was marred by the death of Ronnie Peterson following an accident at the start of the race.
The 1979 Italian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 9 September 1979 at Monza. It was the thirteenth race of the 1979 World Championship of F1 Drivers and the 1979 International Cup for F1 Constructors.
The 1980 British Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Brands Hatch on 13 July 1980. It was the eighth round of the 1980 Formula One season. The race was held over 76 laps of the 4.207-km (2.614-mile) circuit for a total race distance of 319.73 km.
The 1980 Italian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 14 September 1980 at the Autodromo Dino Ferrari in Imola, Italy. It was the twelfth race of the 1980 World Championship of F1 Drivers and the 1980 International Cup for F1 Constructors.
The 1981 Dutch Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Zandvoort on 30 August 1981. It was the twelfth race of the 1981 Formula One World Championship.
The 1981 Italian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Monza on 13 September 1981. It was the thirteenth race of the 1981 Formula One World Championship.
The 1982 Austrian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Österreichring on 15 August 1982. It was the thirteenth race of the 1982 Formula One World Championship.
The 1983 European Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Brands Hatch on 25 September 1983. It was the fourteenth race of the 1983 Formula One World Championship.
The 1981 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 35th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1981 Formula One World Championship for Drivers and the 1981 Formula One World Championship for Constructors, which were contested concurrently over a fifteen-race series that commenced on 15 March and ended on 17 October. Formula One cars also competed in the 1981 South African Grand Prix, although this was a Formula Libre race and was not part of the Formula One World Championship.
The 1980 Formula One season was the 34th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1980 World Championship of Drivers and the 1980 International Cup for F1 Constructors, which were contested concurrently from 13 January to 5 October over a fourteen-race series. The season also included one non-championship race, the Spanish Grand Prix.
The 1979 Formula One season was the 33rd season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1979 World Championship of F1 Drivers and the 1979 International Cup for F1 Constructors which were contested concurrently over a fifteen-round series which commenced on 21 January 1979, and ended on 7 October. The season also included three non-championship Formula One races. Jody Scheckter of Scuderia Ferrari won the 1979 World Championship of F1 Drivers while Scuderia Ferrari won 1979 International Cup for F1 Constructors. Gilles Villeneuve made it a 1–2 for Ferrari in the championship, concluding a successful second half of the 1970s for Ferrari. Alan Jones finished the season strongly for Williams, finishing third in the championship and with teammate Clay Regazzoni scoring Williams's first ever Grand Prix win as a constructor. Scheckter's title was Ferrari's last drivers' title for 21 years, before Michael Schumacher won five consecutive titles for the team between 2000 and 2004.
Bruno Giacomelli is a retired racing driver from Italy.
Vittorio Brambilla was a Formula One driver from Italy who raced for the March, Surtees and Alfa Romeo teams. Particularly adept at driving in wet conditions, his nickname was "The Monza Gorilla", due to his often overly aggressive driving style and sense of machismo. He won one Formula One race during his career, the 1975 Austrian Grand Prix, held in the wet.
The 1980 United States Grand Prix West was a Formula One motor race held on March 30, 1980, at Long Beach, California. It was the fourth round of the 1980 Formula One season. The race was the fifth United States Grand Prix West and the sixth street race to be held at Long Beach. The race was held over 80 laps of the 3.251-kilometre circuit for a total race distance of 260 kilometres.
The 1982 Detroit Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on June 6, 1982, in Detroit, Michigan.
The 1982 United States Grand Prix West was a Formula One motor race held on April 4, 1982, at the temporary street circuit at Long Beach, California.
The 1980 United States Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on October 5, 1980 at the Watkins Glen Grand Prix Race Course in Watkins Glen, New York. This event was also referred to as the United States Grand Prix East in order to distinguish it from the United States Grand Prix West held on March 30, 1980 in Long Beach, California.
The Alfa Romeo 179 is a Formula One car which was used by the Alfa Romeo team from 1979 to 1982. The 179 made its debut at the 1979 Italian Grand Prix, replacing the flat-12 engined Alfa Romeo 177. During its lifespan there were many versions and 179D version was used for the last time at the 1982 South African Grand Prix.
The 1980 Australian Grand Prix was a motor race held at Calder Park Raceway in Victoria, Australia on 16 November 1980.
Willibert "Willi" Kauhsen is a German former racing driver and racing team owner from Eschweiler in Aachen, Germany.
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Bruno Giacomelli 
