Page 1 of 1 Ahead of the 1980 season, the Fittipaldi team absorbed its rival Wolf. The latter's cars, designed by Dr. Harvey Postlethwaite, were superior and the Brazilian team started the year with an updated version of the Wolf designs, dubbed the Fittipaldi F7. Both drivers, Keke Rosberg and Emerson Fittipaldi, were remarkably successful in the interim car before switching to the all-new F8 halfway through the year.
Again designed by Postlethwaite, the new Fittipaldi F8's lines were dictated by the ground-effect aerodynamics that was used to generate a vast amount of the car's downforce. Accordingly, it featured long and broad side-pods, and rocker-actuated, in-board suspension as not to disturb the airflow through the large ground-effect tunnels running under the side-pods. An aluminium honeycomb chassis was used to cope with the massive forces generated by the ground-effect.
Rosberg only managed to place the new F8 in the points once but thanks to the successes of the F7, Fittipaldi did end the year 7th. With minor revisions by Gary Thomas, the F8 evolved into the F8C for 1981. Two new cars were built, while one of the F8s was updated. Chico Serra had replaced his compatriot Emerson Fittipaldi following his retirement, while Rosberg once again defended Fittipaldi's colours.
Working on a tiny budget, the Fittipaldi team completely missed the mark in 1981, and did not score a single point. Rosberg failed to qualify on five different occasions and left for Williams where he promptly became World Champion in 1982. The Fittipaldi team soldiered on with a further evolution, the F8D, which actually scored a point in the hands of Serra in 1982. This would be the last season for the small Brazilian team. Page 1 of 1