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Fittipaldi's prophetic title that justified his McLaren switch

Autosport magazine readers voted 1974-82 as the greatest era of Formula 1. Emerson Fittipaldi bagged two world titles during that period, but that could all have been different had he gone for a bigger team over the emerging McLaren outfit

Charles Bradley Jan 21, 2020, 2:27 PM

It's the 1974 Dutch Grand Prix, and there's an odd sight at Zandvoort: Emerson Fittipaldi has a divining rod in his hands, given to him by Clive Hulme - a renowned mystic, Victoria Cross recipient and father to Emerson's McLaren team-mate Denny. As it twitches and turns to point towards him, Emmo laughs out loud, and Clive declares: "You're going to be world champion!"

With Fittipaldi beaten into third place that day in June by a Ferrari 1-2, it looked like Hulme Sr's prediction was wide of the mark. But Fittipaldi knew what he needed - Goodyear's stiffer and wider tyres were holding his McLaren M23 back - and designer Gordon Coppuck knew how to fix it.

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Author Charles Bradley

Charles Bradley is Motorsport.com’s Global Editor in Chief. After spending five years in the aerospace industry in his native North Wales, while working weekends as a freelance writer at racetracks around the UK, Charles joined the staff of Motoring News in the heart of London. He transferred to the nascent Autosport.com team in 2000 before transitioning to the magazine, becoming its Editor between 2011 and 2014. Charles then upped sticks to work in America, as Motorsport.com’s Editor in Chief, where he created the multi-national and multi-lingual editorial team that quickly became the world’s most-read motorsport website. He was instrumental in delivering three of the biggest Global F1 Fan Surveys in sports history and is also a multiple award-winning scriptwriter. Charles is an overseas member of the Guild of Motoring Writers. He lives in Miami Beach with his wife Helen – and a cat that’s named after Serbia’s top football club.