Emerson Fittipaldi

Emerson Fittipaldi (born 12th December, 1946 in São Paulo, Brazil) is a Brazilian automobile racing driver who is most famous for his appearances in Formula One.

Formula One

1976-1978: Fittipaldi/Autodelta

Fittipaldi shocked the Formula One paddock ahead of the 1976 season by joining his brother Wilson's eponymous team. Despite qualifying for all races he entered for the team in this time period and occasionally running competitively, he often hampered by bad luck of his own making and thus was unable to score points on any occasion. Fittipaldi was involved in a serious accident with Alan Jones at the Dutch Grand Prix in 1977 in which Jones suffered transmission failure on the pit straight on lap 67, causing his Williams to slow down rapidly. Fittipaldi, who was directly behind him, slammed into the rear of the Williams. This incident caused Fittipaldi to suffer two broken legs, and as a result he was ruled out of racing until early 1978.

Fittipaldi returned to the grid three races in, coming back strongly with a sixth place finish at the 1978 Spanish Grand Prix.