The Fittipaldi brothers built their early motorsport careers in Brazil, constructing karts and Formula Vee cars before progressing to Formula One in Europe. Emerson became the most celebrated, winning the 1972 World Championship with Lotus and the 1974 title with McLaren. Wilson drove for Brabham in 1972 and 1973, achieving a best finish of fifth place. In late 1973 the brothers resolved to form their own team.
The 1974 season was spent organising the enterprise. Brazilian sugar and alcohol cooperative Copersucar agreed to sponsor the team. The car, designated the Copersucar FD01, was designed by Brazilian engineer Richard Divila, with the FD initials reflecting Fittipaldi and Divila. National aerospace company Embraer supplied materials and wind-tunnel access. The long, low car featured unusual rear-mounted radiators and was unveiled at the Federal Senate in Brasília in the presence of President Ernesto Geisel in October 1974. The team was initially based in São Paulo — almost 10,000 kilometres from the centre of the Formula One industry in the United Kingdom.
Wilson drove as the team's sole entry in its first season in 1975, managing only five finishes, the best being tenth at the United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen. The experiment of being based in Brazil proved impractical — the distance from engine suppliers, gearbox manufacturers, and specialist component makers in the UK was too great. The team relocated to Reading in 1977.
Emerson joined the family team for 1976 after leaving McLaren, choosing loyalty over competitiveness. He had predicted a difficult transition, and the results bore that out. The FD04's best qualifying position — fifth for Emerson at Interlagos — remained the team's finest grid slot throughout its entire history. Points were hard to come by, though Emerson posted several fourth and fifth places in 1977.
The 1978 season brought the team its most competitive period. The F5A, updated to exploit ground-effect aerodynamics pioneered by Lotus, allowed Emerson to challenge for podiums. His second place in Brazil — fighting with Mario Andretti and Gilles Villeneuve — was the team's highlight, and 17 championship points placed the team seventh in the Constructors' standings, one place ahead of McLaren.
The ground-effect era proved difficult to sustain. Ralph Bellamy's F6 for 1979 was unsuccessful, and after Copersucar withdrew its sponsorship at year's end, the team purchased the remains of the defunct Wolf Racing operation, becoming a two-car team for the first time under new Skol Brasil backing in 1980.
Keke Rosberg joined as Emerson's teammate in 1980. The early part of the season used reworked Wolf chassis before a new F8 was introduced. Both drivers scored third-place finishes with the Wolf-derived cars, giving Harvey Postlethwaite — another Wolf asset — early encouragement. Adrian Newey, then a very young chief aerodynamicist, was also part of the design team.
Despite the promising start, the relationship between Emerson and Rosberg grew strained after the Finn outpaced his teammate during their second race together. Emerson retired from driving at the end of 1980, citing the deaths of colleagues including Ronnie Peterson and Patrick Depailler, though he later acknowledged he had been unhappy and distracted by the pressures of running the team. He was 33 years old.
Chico Serra replaced Emerson for 1981 as the team reverted to the Fittipaldi Automotive name. Postlethwaite departed for Ferrari and the team entered a sharp decline, scoring no points in 1981. Rosberg moved to Williams for 1982, where he would win the Drivers' Championship. The team continued with a single entry for Serra, scoring one final championship point from a sixth-place finish at the Belgian Grand Prix at Zolder — only after Niki Lauda's disqualification. A new car, the F9, penned by the returning Divila and Tim Wright, was introduced at the British Grand Prix but made no difference to results.
The team closed its doors in early 1983, unable to raise funds for another season.
Fittipaldi Automotive participated in 119 World Championship Grands Prix, entering 156 cars and achieving three podium finishes for a total of 44 championship points. As the only Formula One team to have been based in Brazil, it was a landmark enterprise in the sport's history. Future champions Keke Rosberg and the young Adrian Newey both cut their teeth with the team. Emerson himself returned to top-level motorsport in CART from 1984, winning the series in 1989 and the Indianapolis 500 in both 1989 and 1993.