The positive 1978 season left a certain excitement within Wilson Fittipaldi’s team, prompting a complete overhaul of the technical staff. The team hired Ralph Bellamy, formerly a designer at Lotus, McLaren, and Brabham, appointing him as technical director to design the new Fittipaldi F6 for the 1979 season. The new single-seater, with a wheelbase of 278 mm and a weight of 582 kg, naturally adopted the classic aerodynamic principles of the best ground-effect cars of the time. It was built with a traditional aluminum monocoque chassis, housing the classic V8 Ford-Cosworth DFV engine paired with a Hewland FGA 400 five-speed gearbox, along with conventional double-wishbone suspension.
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| FITTIPALDI F6, Emerson Fittipaldi Kyalami, South African GP 1979 |
In short, it was all too "classic" to be a winning car. From the very first tests, it exhibited handling issues and a lack of top speed, making it extremely difficult to drive, even for the team's sole driver, former World Champion Emerson Fittipaldi. After making just one appearance at the South African Grand Prix, the F6 was shelved for further development, forcing the team to continue the season with the older F5A. This car, originally designed by Dave Baldwin and Giacomo Caliri, was no longer being developed since both engineers had left the team.
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| FITTIPALDI F6, Emerson Fittipaldi Kyalami, South African GP 1979 |
Only at the tenth race of the season, in Germany, did Bellamy’s creation return to the track in its revised and updated F6A version. The new F6A was significantly different from the original F6—more refined and well-finished than its predecessor, which had seemed quite raw. This was largely thanks to Giacomo Caliri, whom Wilson Fittipaldi had brought back to assist Bellamy in improving the car.
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| FITTIPALDI F6A, Emerson Fittipaldi Zandvoort, Dutch GP 1979 |
However, despite all the efforts and attempts to master the complex and still largely unexplored ground-effect technology, the results were deeply disappointing and fell far short of expectations. It was yet another anonymous season, the fifth since the team's debut in Formula One, and it ultimately led to a major upheaval. At the end of the season, the team's historic sponsor, Copersucar, decided to withdraw its financial support, leaving Fittipaldi Automotive in desperate need of new technical partners and financial backers.
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| FITTIPALDI F6A, Emerson Fittipaldi Monza, Italian GP 1979 |
For the final two races in North America, Fittipaldi Automotive fielded a second car, entrusting it to young Brazilian driver Alex Ribeiro. However, he failed to qualify for either event and did not start a single race. In the end, the team scored just one point in the 1979 championship, thanks to Emerson Fittipaldi’s sixth-place finish at the season-opening Argentine Grand Prix in Buenos Aires, ironically, the only race contested with the original version of the F6.
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