Wilson arrived in F-1 in F-1 on the strength of younger brother Emerson’s good performances of 1970 and 1971. Actually Wilson had tasted F-1 driving a spare Lotus in the non-championship Argentine GP of 1971, but his world championship debut took place in Spain, in 1972. Driving a BT33 car, Wilson finished 7th and qualified midfield. He led the first lap of the first Brazilian GP (non championship) and finished a couple of other times near the points paying positions in 1972 (another 7th in Germany and 9th in France). This was nowhere near brother Emerson’s stellar championship season, though.  All the same his performance was good enough to be called back by Brabham for 1973, initially driving the year old BT37, eventually graduating to the BT42. Wilson did better this year, finishing 6th in Argentina, earning his first point. He raced extremely well at Monaco, dropping out in the latter stages of the race while in 3rd, and got another couple of points in Germany. He was outshone by fellow Latin American Reutemann, and dropped a bomb in the racing world, when he announced he would build the first Brazilian F-1 car. The Fittipaldi brothers had already built many racing cars in Brazil, including a double engined VW Bettle, but nothing near F-1 power. Wilson did race once in F-1, in 1974, driving in the non championship Brasilia GP, but spent the rest of the year building his dream. However, designing and building a F-1 race car in Brazil was no easy task, as he tried to use Brazilian suppliers as much as possible. The Ford engined car was unveiled in late 1974, and appeared very slick. The slickness did not work on the race track, and the race version was much different (and uglier) than the car presented to the press. The debut was not very auspicious: a crash with fire in Argentina. This was followed by a thirteenth place in Brazil. The car did not qualify in South Africa and Monaco, and Wilson had an accident in Austria, hurting his hand, when the car was performing best (it posted the 20th fastest time out of 30). He was out of the Italian GP, handing the car over to Merzario, and appeared for one final race in the USA. Wilson shocked the world again, announcing the signing of brother Emerson  for the 1976 season, never again seen in F-1. He continued to race well into the 90’s, managing to win races in partnership with son Christian.