That represented the conclusion of a seven-year venture into F1 which had started in 1979 with the Autodelta designed-and-built Alfa Romeo 177 single seater.

This weekend Alfa Romeo returns as little more than the title sponsor of the Swiss-based Sauber F1 Team, that time though it returned as a full factory entrant, the brand having been absent with its own chassis since the end of 1951 when it signed out of F1 on a high after winning the first two FIA denoted championships.

Formed in 1963 by the flamboyant Italian engineer Carlo Chiti, Autodelta, Alfa Romeo’s competition division, eagerly eyed up a factory comeback to F1 after it had set the ball rolling having returned in a high profile manner by supplying engines to the Brabham team in 1976 and so in 1977 Alfa Romeo President Ettore Massacesi signed off on an in-house F1 project with Autodelta immediately starting work on its own car that year, hence its designation ‘177’.

Chiti was a famous race engineer who had previously enjoyed a rewarding F1 career that had included designing the 1961 F1 World Championship winning Ferrari 156 ‘Sharknose’ having earlier raised his profile assisting Vittorio Jano with the design of the equally successful 246 F1 in 1958. He had left Maranello during the infamous ‘Palace Coup’ but quickly returned to F1 with the shortlived and unsuccessful ATS project but then turned his attention to Autodelta.

Alfa Romeo's association with Brabham had started in 1976 with a Flat-12 engine that had been designed and built by Autodelta, a power unit that was also used in the 33TT12 and 33SC12 sportscars. This engine achieved a lot of success in sportscar racing and won the 1975 World Championship for Makes, albeit up against very minimal opposition.

The 2,995 cc Flat-12 engine (Alfa Romeo’s designation was 115-12), which produced 520 hp at 12,000 rpm, proved disappointing and unreliable, although Niki Lauda took two wins in 1978. The English team persuaded Autodelta to build a new V12 engine for 1979 which they upgraded to but with Brabham unimpressed by Alfa Romeo making its full scale comeback to the F1 grid during the course of that year, the whole deal fell apart towards the end of the season and the Bernie Ecclestone-owned team went back to using Cosworth power units.

The way was left clear for Autodelta to focus fully on its own project which had started back in 1977 and the new 177 enjoyed its first shakedown in May 1978 at Alfa Romeo’s Balocco test track with Vittorio Brambilla undertaking driving duties.

At that point the 177 chassis also appeared in pale blue as something of a ‘spy shot’, a colour associated with Autodelta that was often used on their mechanics' overalls, service vehicles, car transporters and most famously splashed across the nose of the 33/3 Spider racing sportscars.

Former double world champion Niki Lauda, who drove for Brabham during the 1978 season, was drafted in to give his opinion of the 177 during a test at Paul Ricard.

In the 177 the Flat-12 engine was mated to a Hewland-Alfa Romeo 6-speed manual gearbox. The car had a wheelbase of 2,740 mm and weighed in at 610 kg. For its early testing the car featured an expansive aero package with rear wing end plates incorporating scoops that swept forward and integrated into the top of the rear of the sidepods. Wide and low - the shape of the 177 perfectly reflected the stance of its low centre of gravity engine.

Early test results proved disappointing and that stalled plans for a debut at the Italian Grand Prix in 1978. In fact, Brambilla, driving a Surtees, was badly injured during that race in the incident that cost the life of Ronnie Peterson and was unable to continue as test driver for Autodelta with duties then falling to Giorgio Francia and later to Bruno Giacomelli.

The elaborate aero would be dropped for the 177’s debut with a much more conventional rear wing appeared instead while a prominent NACA duct in the nosecone would also disappear as the front end was reprofiled. Over winter changes included greatly expanded radiator cooling vents on the sidepods and changes to the front wings.

Almost two years old and ageing fast, the 177, which featured a riveted aluminium chassis and had been built around the Flat-12 engine, was ready to make his debut at the Belgian Grand Prix, held on 13 May at Zolder.

The problem was that when it had been designed and built the 177 was a contemporary design, but by the time its debut ticked round two years later Colin Chapman and his Lotus team had turned F1 aerodynamics upside down by introducing ground effect technology on the Lotus 78 and the Alfa Romeo single seater was now well behind the curve even before it lined up on the grid for the first time.

The car appeared at Zolder in all-red colours with the name of battery manufacturer Scaini displayed prominently on the nosecone and trade sponsors including tyre supplier Goodyear and fuel supplier Agip. The 177 was entered as #35.

In the cockpit came Giacomelli. The 27-year-old had first shot to F1 paddock attention after winning the prestigious F3 support race in Monaco in 1976 and in 1978 became the first Italian driver to win the European F2 championship after finishing fourth the year before in his rookie year. He made his F1 debut with McLaren in 1977 competing in one grand prix and took in a further five with the British team over the next year, albeit without any memorable results.

At the Belgian Grand Prix, where Jacques Laffite (Ligier) took pole and Jody Scheckter (Ferrari) won on his way to the title, Alfa Romeo acquitted itself well qualifying fourteenth out of twenty-four cars and ahead of both McLarens amongst others. At the green lights Giacomelli made a bad start and lost four places but he climbed to P13 after 21 of the 70 laps. However, Elio De Angelis punted him while trying to overtake, causing rear damage to the 177 and Giacomelli was out of the race.

The team then skipped the Monaco Grand Prix a week later but returned for the French Grand Prix at the start of July and this time Giacomelli qualified the 177 in P17. There was another poor start but Giacomelli once again set about clawing his way up through the tail enders before he suffered power issues and dropped back, later making up some lost ground to finish where he had started in P17, 5 laps adrift of the winning Renault of Jean-Pierre Jabouille.

With little to show from its first two races, Autodelta skipped the next four rounds to focus on getting a new design of car built so it could run its new V12 engine. That engine would debut at the Italian Grand Prix in the new ‘179’ chassis with Giacomelli upgraded to hand this new car/engine combination its debut.

However, the 177 wasn’t quite finished and it was also entered as the factory team expanded to two cars for the first time – running two different cars with two different engines.

Vittorio Brambilla, who had been out of action for a year following injuries sustained at Monza the previous year was drafted in to drive and he qualified the 177 on the penultimate row of the grid in P22 with Giacomelli four places and half a second ahead of him in the new 179.

Now 42 years old, Brambilla, who was born in 1937, was entering the twilight of his racing career having reached F1 in 1974 but never having made the break into a top team, his grand prix career starting with March before moving on to Surtees in 1976.

The car would also recive a change of livery with prominent white sections appearing to give it a fairly balanced red and white livery. With the car racing in anger on home soil for the first time there were national flag stripes applied up the middle of the nosecone, across the top of the sidepods and down the centre of the engine cover as well as short flashes along the outer edges of the front and rear wings. The racing number also recieved a tweak, becoming #36.

In the race Brambilla, known affectionately to local fans as the “Monza Gorilla” due to his highly aggressive driving style, did a very steady job to work his way up the pack and after Giacomelli spun off on lap 28 the 177 was left as the only surviving Alfa Romeo in the race, crossing the line in P12 having completed 49 laps, one lap less than Scheckter’s winning Ferrari.

That would be the third and final race for the 177 and the Flat-12 engine as for the closing grands prix of the season both drivers were equipped with the new 179 chassis.

The 177 would make a final competitive appearance almost immediately after the Italian GP, this time in a non-championship F1 race at Imola, the ‘Dino Ferrari Grand Prix’, the event being held in close proximity to Monza in order to allow the circuit to meet the criteria to qualify for holding a grand prix the next year.

This time there were flashes of promise as Brambilla qualified the 177 an impressive P6 on the grid and he came home eventually in P9, having completed 39 laps, one lap down on the winner, having survived being hit from behind during the race, again, in a somewhat ironic twist, by de Angelis.

The race was also notable as it was the final time that the Brabham team used Alfa Romeo engines, Niki Lauda winning the race in his Alfa-powered BT48; it was the team’s only win with the Alfa-powered BT48 and was also the Austrian’s final race before he quit the sport. The new 179 was also entered in the hands of Giacomelli, who also took turns in the 177 during the practice sessions, but itretired with engine problems after just 4 laps.

Three world championship races, that resulted in one DNFs one P12 and one P17, would be the small mark that the 177 left on the record books of F1. In terms of results that wasn’t a lot to talk about but as the racecar that heralded the much-anticipated comeback of Alfa Romeo into F1 it has punched above its weight in the history books and amongst Alfisti as well as F1 fans it’s become an shining icon and a very fondly remembered – as well as highly recognisable – racecar.

Today Alfa Romeo 177-001 is part of the official museum collection in Milan.