Unfulfilled potential?

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Emerson Fittipaldi was the youngest world champion at the time when he won his first title at the age of 25, driving for Lotus in 1972. He followed that up with a second championship in 1974 after a switch to McLaren, and it appeared records were there to be broken for the Brazilian. However, family loyalty saw him join his brother's Fittipaldi Automotive team - also initially known by the sponsor's name Copersucar - in 1976. James Hunt replaced him at McLaren and won the drivers' championship that year, while Fittipaldi - who had enjoyed a run of 1st, 2nd, 1st, 2nd, in the drivers' championship - scored just two further podiums before retiring from F1 in 1980.

Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.