Cars
Formula One World Champion
This article highlights the story of the Alfa Romeo 158, a technologically advanced car built in 1937 and developed under the guidance of Enzo Ferrari, which won the first ever Formula One World Championship in 1950.
The first Formula One World Championship in 1950 was won by a car built in 1938. It seems far-fetched today, when the single-seaters change radically from one year to the next, but the magnificent work of Alfa Romeo with the creation of the 158 under the guidance of Enzo Ferrari, served as the basis for the development of the 159, only apparently identical. A car that allowed the "Biscione" to win its first two Formula One World Championships with Nino Farina and Juan Manuel Fangio behind the wheel.
Built in Modena under the watchful eye of Enzo Ferrari in 1937 the “Alfetta” 158 was so technically advanced it won the first ever F1 World Championship in 1950!
The 158 project, a name derived from the simple combination of engine capacity and the number of cylinders (1,500cc, 8 cylinders), was developed in 1937 following the introduction of the new regulations for single-seaters in 1938 that established a maximum displacement of 1.5 litres for supercharged cars and 4.5 litres for normally aspirated ones. Alfa Romeo saw the potential to build a more agile, higher performance car in the “Voiturette” class than the pre-war Grand Prix cars and entrusted the construction of the 158 to Scuderia Ferrari in the Viale Trento and Trieste plants in Modena.
