Top 5 Worst performing Fittipaldi Automotive Drivers


Top 5 Worst performing Fittipaldi Automotive drivers
List by Brian Cotnoir

Some of the best drivers in the world have hailed from the South American nation of Brazil.  Drivers such as Ayrton Senna, Nelson Piquet, and Emerson Fittipaldi won multiple championships and dominated F1 for decades.    In 1975 Wilson Fititpaldi, the brother of two-time Formula 1 champion, Emerson Fittipaldi started his own F1 team; Fittipaldi Automotive.  Fittipaldi Automotive was the first and so far only Brazilian-based Formula 1 team.  The team ran mostly a single car entry, but did eventually grow into a 2 car operation.  The team mostly fielded drivers from Brazil—most notably Emerson Fittipaldi—but was also the launching ground for the career of another (future) World Champion.

5.)  Emerson Fittipaldi, 5 Seasons, 37 Championship Points Scored, 2 Podiums

Two-time Formula 1 Drivers World Champion Emerson Fittpaldi joined the team that shared his name, in their second season of existence.   For the first four seasons he raced with a team, he raced a mostly single car entry.  Occasionally, he’d have his fellow countryman Ingo Hoffmann run the South American Grand Prix’s (Brazil and Argentina).   Fittipaldi scored two podiums while driving for the team.  His best finish was a 2nd place at his home Grand Prix in 1978, which he lost to Ferrari’s Carlos Reutemann.  Emerson Fittipaldi would leave the team he started with his brother, after the 1980 season to focus on a career in CART.  He would eventually go on to win a Championship in 1989, and would become a two-time winner of the Indianapolis 500.  

Those Yellow racing livery's looked so good

4.)  Keke Rosberg, 2 Seasons, 6 Championship Points Scored, 1 Podium

Keke Rosberg was the only full-time non-Brazillian driver for Fittipaldi Automotive.   He scored a 3rd place finish in his debut race for the team at the 1980 Argentine Grand Prix; that unfortunately would be the only points finish for Fittipaldi Automtive.  He was teamed up with Emerson Fittipaldi for his first season, and in his second season he was teamed up with Chico Serra.  Both drivers struggled to qualify for races that season and Rosberg would leave the Fittipaldi Automotive to go drive for Williams in 1982, and would win the first and only Drivers Championship of his career.


3.)  Ingo Huffman, 0 Championship Points Scored, DNQ 50% of races entered

I am cheating a little bit on this list here by including Ingo Huffman, because he only ever entered 6 Grand Prix’s and failed to qualify for 3 of them, but he still entered more races than any other part-time driver for Fittipaldi Automotive   Hoffman was teamed up with his fellow countryman, Emerson Fittipaldi for parts of 1976 and 1977.   He entered 4 races his first season, but only qualified for the Brazilian Grand Prix.  The following season, Hoffman only entered the opening two rounds in Argentina and Brazil.   Hoffman scored a 7th place finish in his final ever F1 start, and never raced in F1 again.


2.)  Wilson Fittipaldi, 1 Season (1975), 0 Championship Points Scored, 1 DNS, Best Finish of 10th place at the United States Grand Prix

After two lackluster seasons at Brabham, Wilson Fittipaldi started his own Formula 1 team.  His only season with the team he failed to score any championship points with the team.   He had a DNS at the Austrian Grand Prix, and stepped aside in the Italian Grand Prix to let Arturo Merzario run for the team.   Wilson Fittipaldi’s best finish for the team was a 10th place at the United States Grand Prix, which was also his last start in Formula 1.  The following season Wilson stepped out of the driver’s seat and into a managerial role with the team, and his brother Emerson joined the team, and would be the team’s most successful driver.


1.)  Chico Serra, 2 Seasons, 1 Championship Point Scored, Best Finish 6th place at the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix.

Chico Serra raced two seasons for Fittipaldi Automotive and failed to qualify for 14-of-the-29 race he entered for the team.   Serra’s best finish was a 6th at the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix; the only championship point he would score in F1.  He ran a single car entry for Fittipaldi Automotive in 1982, which was also the team’s final season.  The team would eventually shutdown due to lack of financial support.  Serra would run a handful of race the following season for Arrows, but never raced again in Formula 1 after that.  



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Top 10 Most Iconic Paint Schemes in NASCAR Cup History

Image
The Top 10 Most Iconic Paint Schemes in NASCAR Cup History An Article by Brian Cotnoir I’ve talked about the Best Paint Schemes in Cup History, I’ve talked about the Best Paint Schemes in Xfinity History, and now today I’d like to present you the 10 Most Iconic Paint Schemes in NASCAR Cup History. 10.) Citgo, Wood Brothers Racing The Wood Brothers are one of the oldest teams in NASCAR, and in the late 80’s early 90’s they left quite the impression on NASCAR fans with the Citgo Paint Scheme which was piloted by drivers Dale Jarret, Morgan Shepherd, and Michael Waltrip.   Citgo eventually left the wood brothers and sponsored Jeff Burton at Roush Racing, but it was a truly iconic sponsor with that famous number twenty-one 9.)    Skoal Bandit, Harry Gant Harry Gant earned the nickname “Mr. September” when he won 4 straight Winston Cup Races (and two Busch Series) races in September of 1991, and he did it all behind the wheel of the Iconic Skoal Bandit race car.
Read more

Top 10 Ugliest Paint Schemes in NASCAR History

Image
Top 10 Ugliest Paint Schemes in NASCAR History By: Brian Cotnoir I’ve talked about the Best Paint Schemes in NASCAR, and now I’m here to talk about the Ugliest.   Sometimes a paint scheme looks bad because of whose sponsoring the car, and other times it’s a real bad color combination, but whatever the reason these are some of the most hideous Paint Schemes to have ever graced a NASCAR track. 10.)   Dave Marcis, Prodigy paint scheme This one is so ugly, that it’s kind of cool.   For me the big issue is the combination of Purple & Green, and the Neon Orange numbers make it a little better, but this car is still looks like a disaster. 9.)     Joey Logano, AAA Insurance paint scheme Joey Logano has had a number of awesome paint schemes while driving for Roger Penske, however this red, white, and blue monstrosity is not one of them.    I think Logano and Penske should call AAA Insurance and see if they can use their policy to give this paint scheme a complete
Read more

Top 10 NASCAR drivers who never won a Cup Series Championship

Image
Top 10 NASCAR drivers who never won a Cup Series championship By: Brian Cotnoir           NASCAR has been around for over 70 Years now and over those seven decades we’ve had many fantastic drivers.    Petty, Earnhardt, Waltrip, Yarborough, Gordon, and Johnson are all great drivers and all have won multiple championships in their illustrious careers,   Just between Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt Sr, Jimmie Johnson, and Jeff Gordon they have won more than 1/3 of all NASCAR Cup Series Championships, but there are dozens of NASCAR drivers who came close to scoring that illusive title, but just couldn’t pull it off.   These are the Top 10 NASCAR drivers who never won a Cup Series Championship. 10.)   Ernie Irvan Ernie “Swirvin” Irvan was my first favorite driver in NASCAR.   He was one of the best drivers of the early 1990’s driving for top tier teams like Morgan-McClure and Robert Yates Racing.    Irvan even won the 1991 Daytona 500, but as the decade went on his career suff
Read more