Designer Mario Tollentino made a deliberate choice with the 182's aerodynamic philosophy. At a time when ground-effect tunnels were largely unrestricted in their dimensions, Tollentino opted for smaller tunnels that did not pass through the rear drive halfshafts. Only the lower suspension control arms intruded into the low-pressure area beneath the car, creating a cleaner and more efficient airflow path than many rival designs of the period.
The Alfa Romeo V12 engine produced approximately 540 hp at 12,000 rpm, providing competitive power output in the final seasons before the turbocharged era swept away naturally aspirated machinery.
Alfa Romeo ran three distinct models across the 1982 season. The 179D appeared in two entries early in the year, the core 182 accounted for 28 entries, and the narrower 182B was entered twice. The 182B variant was first tested at the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix at Zolder; this version was 12 centimetres narrower than the standard 182 and incorporated a new exhaust system and revised side skirts.
At the Italian Grand Prix, Alfa Romeo debuted a turbocharged variant of the 182 chassis, designated the 182T. This car carried a V8 turbocharged engine and was tested by Andrea de Cesaris during the race weekend, though it did not take part in the race itself. The 182T was derived from the 182D development version and represented Alfa Romeo's first steps toward the turbocharged technology that would dominate Formula One in the coming seasons. The 182T was subsequently converted into one of five 183T cars for the following year.
The 182 made its race debut at the 1982 Brazilian Grand Prix, opening a season in which the Alfa Romeo team fielded both Andrea de Cesaris and Bruno Giacomelli as its drivers.
The season's most prominent moment came early, at the third race at Long Beach in California. De Cesaris claimed pole position at an average speed of 141.331 km/h, underscoring the pace that the 182 could generate in qualifying trim. That qualifying performance demonstrated that the car had genuine one-lap speed even if race reliability remained a persistent challenge.
The best race result of the 182's campaign arrived at Monaco, where de Cesaris placed third to take the team's only podium of the season. Monaco's twisting street circuit suited the 182's characteristics, and de Cesaris managed the race well enough to claim a result that ranked as one of Alfa Romeo's stronger showings during the turbulent early 1980s.
The 182 was built around a monocoque chassis and carried the Alfa Romeo 3.0-litre V12 engine producing around 540 hp. The car used conventional aerodynamic solutions for 1982, with the distinctive ground-effect sidepods that were standard for the period, though Tollentino's choice to use smaller tunnels distinguished it from some rivals.
The 182 occupies a transitional place in Alfa Romeo's racing history. It was one of the final naturally aspirated cars the company would campaign before the turbocharged 183T era arrived, and it marked the closing stages of Alfa Romeo's directly contested works Formula One programme from that period. The brief experiment with the 182T turbocharged variant at Monza pointed directly at the direction the team would take in 1983 and beyond. The pole position at Long Beach and the podium at Monaco stood as the high-water marks of a season in which the car showed flashes of genuine competitiveness amid the increasingly turbocharged field.
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