Wilson Fittipaldi Jr.  Appreciation by Roman Klemm 

The world of motorsport has just received sad news. Wilson Fittipaldi, the older brother of two-time F1 world champion Emerson, died on 23 February 2024 in his native Sao Paulo at the age of 80. The Brazilian had long suffered from a type of Parkinson's disease, underwent several complicated surgeries and had been hospitalised since Christmas.

Wilson ‘Tigrao’ Fittipaldi, who is three years older, has always seemed a bit more robust than his brother ‘Mouse’ Emerson. However, he served as a role model for his younger sibling until Emerson was allowed to start racing cars.

The progress of the two brothers on the national stage of Brazil coincided. Wilson started out in karting before moving on to Formula V single-seaters and all sorts of South American racing cars. In addition, he ran a very successful business that dealt with the preparation of racing cars of all kinds.

In fact, it was Wilson who first got a taste of the cold European scene. However, his attempt at success in Formula 3 in the mid-1960s failed, and he did not try his luck in England for the second time until 1970. By then, he was already deep in the shadow of his younger brother's achievements. This time, it was he who ‘followed in the footsteps’ of his sibling and patiently made his way through Formula 3 and Formula 2 to a Grand Prix car. Although he was often among the fastest, he was never able to strike as brilliantly as Emerson.

Wilson made his Formula One World Championship debut in 1972 with Bernie Ecclestone's Brabham team. His sponsors only wanted to pay him a couple of races in a third car alongside Graham Hill and Carlos Reutemann, but Fittipaldi settled in so well and quickly that he ended up competing in 10 grands prix, four of which he finished in the top 10. But Wilson often lived up to the cliché of the classic ‘hot-blooded madman from the South’ and occasionally lost his temper at a critical moment. However, when everything went according to plan, he was also able to distinguish himself with a balanced style and a great understanding of technology.

The Brazilian public and sponsors were thrilled with Emerson's title and, for the 1973 season, money was found for a full season in Formula One for compatriots Carlos Pace and Wilson. The elder Fittipaldi again signed alongside Reutemann at Brabham and this time managed to score points twice. He finished sixth in Argentina and fifth in Germany, just ahead of his brother. This result at the Nurburgring was to remain the best result of his career. In addition to Formula 1, in1973 he also competed regularly in Formula 2 and won a non-championship race at Misano.

Motorsport was so popular in Brazil at the time that Wilson managed to find funding for his big dream: a national team of Formula 1. The ‘Copersucar’ association of sugar refineries provided him with enough money to develop this project throughout 1974. An old friend, Ricardo Divila, drew the Copersucar (or Fittipaldi) FD01 and Wilson took it to compete in the World Championship. However, the results of 1975 were disappointing. Building a car in Brazil and entering it around the world has proven to be particularly difficult.

Wilson, however, retained the affection of Copersucar and stunned the world with an unexpected deal at the start of the 1976 season. From then on, he wanted to concentrate on managing the team, while his star brother sat in the cockpit of the ‘Brazilian pride’! The Fittipaldi siblings' project remained in Formula 1 until 1982, but never achieved the competitiveness Wilson had hoped for at his inauguration. After a few years, the team lost not only sponsors, but also Fittipaldi a large part of its reputation and money.

Wilson then preferred to devote himself to his business and racing scene at home. Occasionally, he himself sat behind the wheel of cars in sports races. In addition, he was able to follow and support the promising career of his son Christian. Indeed, he can look for greater success than his father - he won the F3000 championship in 1991 and was promoted to Formula One, where he drove for Arrows and Minardi from 1992 to 1994. He managed to finish fourth at Kyalami, Aida and the Hockenheimring before moving on to the USA, where he did even better. In 1995, he finished second at Indianapolis and won two races in ChampCar. However, after two serious accidents, he left single-seaters and became one of the best drivers of sports prototypes. He won the classic 24 Hours of Daytona twice.

But back to Wilson and Emerson: the Fittipaldis are the most successful sibling duo in Formula 1 history after Michael and Ralf Schumacher. Only these two families managed to finish in the points.