BRABHAM BT49

At the end of the 1970s, the hugely successful Brabham team’s performance had taken a sudden, dramatic nose-dive. The last two years of the disco decade had been very different for Bernie Ecclestone’s squad; for all of its controversies, Brabham had enjoyed a moderately successful 1978 season after a couple of years spent flattering to deceive.

Despite making a gentleman’s agreement not to run the BT46B ‘fan car’ that so expertly blew away its competition (and many other small objects) in Anderstorp, Brabham won once again in Monza as reigning champion Niki Lauda