Editing Brabham (section)

==Racing history—Formula One==

===Jack Brabham and Ron Tauranac (1961–1970)===
[[File:Brabham BT3.jpg|thumb|left|alt=A mid-engined single-seater racing car with no aerodynamic wings|The [[Brabham BT3]], the first Brabham Formula One design]]

Motor Racing Developments initially concentrated on making money by building cars for sale to customers in lower formulae, so the new car for the Formula One team was not ready until partway through the [[1962 Formula One season]]. The Brabham Racing Organisation (BRO) started the year fielding a customer Lotus chassis, which was delivered at 3am to keep it a secret.<ref name=IMS162/> Brabham took two points finishes in Lotuses, before the turquoise-[[livery|liveried]] Brabham BT3 car made its debut at the [[1962 German Grand Prix]]. It retired with a [[throttle]] problem after 9 of the 15 laps, but went on to take a pair of fourth places at the end of the season.<ref>Henry (1985) pp. 21–22. Brabham bought a new spaceframe Lotus 24, but had to use a 1961-vintage Lotus 21 in the early races after a workshop fire. Team Lotus reserved the monocoque Lotus 25 for their own use that season.</ref>

From the [[1963 Formula One season|1963 season]], Brabham was partnered by American driver [[Dan Gurney]], the pair now running in Australia's [[List of international auto racing colors|racing colours]] of green and gold.<ref>Brabham, Nye (2004) p. 147</ref> Brabham took the team's first win at the non-championship [[Solituderennen|Solitude Grand Prix]] in 1963.<ref>Henry (1985) p. 28</ref> Gurney took the [[marque]]'s first two wins in the world championship, at the 1964 [[1964 French Grand Prix|French]] and [[1964 Mexican Grand Prix|Mexican]] Grands Prix. Brabham works and customer cars took another three non-championship wins during the [[1964 Formula One season|1964 season]].<ref>Henry (1985) pp. 35–41</ref> The [[1965 Formula One season|1965 season]] was less successful, with no championship wins. Brabham finished third or fourth in the Constructors' Championship for three years running, but poor reliability marred promising performances on several occasions. Motor sport authors Mike Lawrence and David Hodges have said that a lack of resources may have cost the team results, a view echoed by Tauranac.<ref>Tauranac says (Lawrence (1999) p. 48) that he feels a third mechanic would have reduced the reliability problems. Lawrence himself notes (Lawrence (1999) p. 71) that "If only Jack had been prepared to spend a little more money, the results could have been so much better." Hodges (1990) p. 32 notes "Economy was a watchword. (...) It was this attitude, perhaps, which cost [Brabham] some races."</ref>

{{Multiple image|total_width=330
|image1=Brabham racing organisation logo.png
|alt1=
|caption1=The Brabham Racing Organisation entered the "works" cars until 1968.
|image2=Repco brabham logo.png
|alt2=
|caption2=The Repco Brabham logo from the 1960s, illustrating the joint branding of the period
}}
The FIA doubled the Formula One engine capacity limit to 3&nbsp;litres for the [[1966 Formula One season|1966 season]] and suitable engines were scarce. Brabham used engines from Australian engineering firm [[Repco]], which had never produced a Formula One engine before, based on aluminium V8 [[engine block]]s from the defunct American [[Oldsmobile]] F85 road car project, and other off-the-shelf parts.<ref>Lawrence (1999) pp. 51–52</ref> Consulting and design engineer [[Phil Irving]] (of [[Vincent Motorcycle]] fame) was the project engineer responsible for producing the initial version of the engine. Few expected the Brabham-Repcos to be competitive,<ref>Unique p. 43. The team was the only one not contracted by [[John Frankenheimer]] for the shooting of the film ''[[Grand Prix (1966 film)|Grand Prix]]'' at world championship races that year.</ref> but the light and reliable cars ran at the front from the start of the season. At the [[1966 French Grand Prix|French Grand Prix]] at [[Reims-Gueux]], Brabham became the first man to win a Formula One world championship race in a car bearing his own name. Only his former teammate, [[Bruce McLaren]], has since matched the achievement. It was the first in a run of four straight wins for the Australian veteran. Brabham won his third title in 1966, becoming the only driver to win the Formula One World Championship in a car carrying his own name (''cf'' [[Surtees Racing Organisation|Surtees]], [[Hill (constructor)|Hill]] and [[Fittipaldi Automotive]]). In [[1967 Formula One season|1967]], the title went to Brabham's teammate, New Zealander [[Denny Hulme]]. Hulme had better reliability through the year, possibly due to Brabham's desire to try new parts first.<ref>Lawrence (1999) p. 92. Hulme, Tauranac and Frank Hallam, Repco-Brabham's chief engineer, all shared this view.</ref> The Brabham team took the Constructors' World Championship in both years.<ref>Fearnley (May 2006) pp. 34–40</ref>

[[File:1970 Brands Hatch Race of Champions Jack Brabham BT33.jpg|thumb|alt=A mid-engined single-seater racing car with modest aerodynamic wings|[[Brabham BT33]]. Technically conservative, Brabham did not produce a [[monocoque]] car until 1970.]]

For [[1968 Formula One season|1968]], Austrian [[Jochen Rindt]] replaced Hulme, who had left to join [[McLaren]]. Repco produced a more powerful version of their V8 to maintain competitiveness against Ford's new [[Cosworth DFV]], but it proved very unreliable. Slow communications between the UK and Australia had always made identifying and correcting problems very difficult. The car was fast—Rindt set [[pole position]] twice during the season—but Brabham and Rindt finished only three races between them, and ended the year with only ten points.<ref>Fearnley (May 2006) p. 41</ref>

Although Brabham bought Cosworth DFV engines for the [[1969 Formula One season|1969 season]], Rindt left to join Lotus. His replacement, [[Jacky Ickx]], had a strong second half to the season, winning in [[1969 German Grand Prix|Germany]] and [[1969 Canadian Grand Prix|Canada]], after Brabham was sidelined by a testing accident.<ref>Henry p. 85</ref> Ickx finished second in the Drivers' Championship, with 37&nbsp;points to [[Jackie Stewart]]'s 63. Brabham himself took a couple of pole positions and two top-3 finishes, but did not finish half the races. The team were second in the Constructors' Championship, aided by second places at [[1969 Monaco Grand Prix|Monaco]] and [[1969 United States Grand Prix|Watkins Glen]] scored by [[Piers Courage]], driving a Brabham for the [[Frank Williams Racing Cars]] privateer squad.<ref>Henry (1985) pp. 79–80</ref>

Brabham took his last win in the opening race of the [[1970 Formula One season|1970 season]] and was competitive throughout the year, although mechanical failures blunted his challenge.<ref>Henry (1985) p. 93</ref> After losing secured victories in the last corner at both Monaco and England, Jack decided he had had enough, and sold his part in the company to former Jochen Rindt manager, a businessman named Bernie Ecclestone, at the end of the year. Aided by number-two driver [[Rolf Stommelen]], the team came fourth in the Constructors' Championship.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Brabham|url=https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/database/teams/brabham/|url-status=live|access-date=11 April 2021|website=Motor Sport|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170701215521/http://www.motorsportmagazine.com:80/database/teams/brabham |archive-date=1 July 2017 }}</ref>

===Ron Tauranac (1971)===
[[File:1971 Race of Champions G Hill Brabham BT34.jpg|thumb|right|alt=A mid-engined single-seater racing car with large aerodynamic wings|[[Brabham BT34]]. [[Graham Hill]] took his final Formula One win in the non-championship [[BRDC International Trophy]] at [[Silverstone Circuit|Silverstone]].]]Tauranac signed double world champion [[Graham Hill]] and young Australian [[Tim Schenken]] to drive for the [[1971 Formula One season|1971 season]]. Tauranac designed the unusual 'lobster claw' [[Brabham BT34|BT34]], featuring twin [[radiator (engine cooling)|radiator]]s mounted ahead of the front wheels, a single example of which was built for Hill. Although Hill, no longer a front-runner since his 1969 accident, took his final Formula One win in the non-championship [[BRDC International Trophy]] at [[Silverstone Circuit|Silverstone]],<ref>Henry (1985) pp. 114–17</ref> the team scored only seven&nbsp;championship points.<ref name=":0" />

===Bernie Ecclestone (1972–1988)===

Tauranac left Brabham early in the [[1972 Formula One season|1972 season]] after Ecclestone changed the way the company was organised without consulting him. Ecclestone has since said "In retrospect, the relationship was never going to work", noting that "[Tauranac and I] both take the view: 'Please be reasonable, do it my way'".<ref>Lawrence. pp. 116–118</ref> The highlights of an aimless year, during which the team ran three different models, were pole position for Argentinian driver [[Carlos Reutemann]] at his home race at [[Buenos Aires]] and a victory in the non-championship Interlagos Grand Prix. For the [[1973 Formula One season|1973 season]], Ecclestone promoted the young South African engineer [[Gordon Murray]] to chief designer and moved Herbie Blash from the Formula Two programme to become the Formula One team manager. Both would remain with the team for the next 15 years. For 1973, Murray produced the triangular cross-section BT42, with which Reutemann scored two podium finishes and finished seventh in the Drivers' Championship.

[[File:Brabham BT44 front.jpg|thumb|left|alt=A mid-engined single-seater racing car with large aerodynamic wings|The [[Brabham BT44]] on display in 2003.  The car was used in the {{F1|1974}} and {{F1|1975}} seasons.]]
In the [[1974 Formula One season|1974 season]], Reutemann took the first three victories of his Formula One career, and Brabham's first since 1970. The team finished a close fifth in the Constructors' Championship, fielding the much more competitive [[Brabham BT44|BT44s]]. After a strong finish to the 1974 season, many observers felt the team were favourites to win the [[1975 Formula One season|1975 title]]. The year started well, with a first win for Brazilian driver [[José Carlos Pace|Carlos Pace]] at the [[Autódromo José Carlos Pace|Interlagos]] circuit in his native [[São Paulo]]. However, as the season progressed, tyre wear frequently slowed the cars in races, and the team was constantly outperformed by [[Scuderia Ferrari|Ferrari]] and [[McLaren]].<ref>Gill (ed.) (1976) p. 103</ref> Pace took another two podiums and finished sixth in the championship; while Reutemann had five podium finishes, including a dominant win in the [[1975 German Grand Prix]], and finished third in the Drivers' Championship. The team likewise ranked second in the Constructors' Championship at the end of the year.<ref name=":0" />

While rival teams Lotus and McLaren relied on the Cosworth DFV engine from the late 1960s to the early 1980s, Ecclestone sought a competitive advantage by investigating other options. Despite the success of Murray's Cosworth-powered cars, Ecclestone signed a deal with Italian motor manufacturer [[Alfa Romeo in Formula One|Alfa Romeo]] to use their large and powerful [[flat-12]] engine from the [[1976 Formula One season|1976 season]]. The engines were free, but they rendered the new [[Brabham BT45|BT45s]], now in red [[Martini Racing]] livery, unreliable and overweight.<ref>Henry (1985) pp. 159–161</ref> At that time, designer David North was hired to work alongside Murray.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.grandprix.com//news/david-north-and-jordan.html | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200717225323/https://www.grandprix.com//news/david-north-and-jordan.html | title=David North and Jordan?|website=grandprix.com| publisher = Inside F1 Inc. | archive-date=17 July 2020}}</ref> The 1976 and [[1977 Formula One season|1977 seasons]] saw Brabham fall toward the back of the field again. Reutemann negotiated a release from his contract before the end of the 1976 season and signed with Ferrari. Ulsterman [[John Watson (racing driver)|John Watson]] replaced him at Brabham for 1977. Watson lost near certain victory in the [[1977 French Grand Prix|French Grand Prix]] (Dijon) of that year when his car ran low on fuel on the last lap and was passed by Mario Andretti's Lotus, with Watson's second place being the team's best result of the season. The car often showed at the head of races, but the unreliability of the Alfa Romeo engine was a major problem. The team lost Pace early in the 1977 season when he died in a [[light aircraft]] accident.<ref>Henry (1985) pp. 164, 167</ref>

For the [[1978 Formula One season|1978 season]], Murray's [[Brabham BT46|BT46]] featured several new technologies to overcome the weight and packaging difficulties caused by the Alfa Romeo engines. Ecclestone signed then two-time Formula One world champion [[Niki Lauda]] from Ferrari through a deal with Italian dairy products company [[Parmalat]] which met the cost of Lauda ending his Ferrari contract and made up his salary to the £200,000 Ferrari was offering. 1978 was the year of the dominant [[Lotus 79]] "wing car", which used [[aerodynamic]] [[ground effect in cars|ground effect]] to stick to the track when cornering, but Lauda won two races in the BT46, one with the controversial "B" or "[[Brabham BT46#Brabham BT46B .E2.80.93 the .22Fan car.22|fan car]]" version.<ref>Details of BT46 and 1978 season: Henry (1985) p. 171, pp. 179–189
* Lauda's move and salary: Lovell (2004) p. 98</ref>

The partnership with Alfa Romeo ended during the [[1979 Formula One season|1979 season]], the team's first with young Brazilian driver [[Nelson Piquet]]. Murray designed the full-ground effect [[Brabham BT48|BT48]] around a rapidly developed new Alfa Romeo V12 engine and incorporated an effective "carbon-carbon braking" system—[[#Technical innovation|a technology Brabham pioneered in 1976]]. However, unexpected movement of the car's aerodynamic [[center of pressure (fluid mechanics)|centre of pressure]] made its handling unpredictable and the new engine was unreliable. The team dropped to eighth in the Constructors' Championship by the end of the season.<ref>Henry (1985) p. 191</ref> Alfa Romeo started testing their own Formula One car during the season, prompting Ecclestone to revert to Cosworth DFV engines, a move Murray described as being "like having a holiday".<ref>Henry (1985) pp. 213, 215</ref> The new, lighter, Cosworth-powered [[Brabham BT49|BT49]] was introduced before the end of the year at the [[1979 Canadian Grand Prix|Canadian Grand Prix]]; where after practice Lauda announced his immediate retirement from driving, later saying that he "was no longer getting any pleasure from driving round and round in circles".<ref>Henry (1985) p. 216</ref>

[[File:2005 Brands Hatch A1GP 25 Sept Christian Glaesel Brabham BT49D.jpg|left|thumb|alt=A mid-engined single-seater racing car with large aerodynamic wings|The [[Brabham BT49]] competed over four seasons, winning one championship.{{citation needed|date=December 2021}}]]

The team used the BT49 over four seasons. In the [[1980 Formula One season|1980 season]] Piquet scored three wins and the team took third in the Constructors' Championship with Piquet second in the Drivers' Championship. This season saw the introduction of the blue and white livery that the cars would wear through several changes of sponsor, until the team's demise in 1992. With a better understanding of ground effect, the team further developed the BT49C for the [[1981 Formula One season|1981 season]], incorporating a hydropneumatic suspension system to avoid [[ride height]] limitations intended to reduce downforce. Piquet, who had developed a close working relationship with Murray,<ref name="RoePiq">Roebuck (1986) p. 114</ref> took the drivers' title with three wins, albeit [[#Controversy|amid accusations of cheating]]. The team finished second in the Constructors' Championship, behind the [[WilliamsF1|Williams team]].<ref name=":0" />

[[Renault F1|Renault]] had introduced [[turbocharged]] engines to Formula One in 1977. Brabham had tested a [[BMW in Formula One|BMW]] four-cylinder [[BMW M12|M12]] turbocharged engine in the summer of 1981. For the [[1982 Formula One season|1982 season]] the team designed a new car, the [[Brabham BT50|BT50]], around the BMW engine which, like the Repco engine 16 years before, was based on a road car engine block, the [[BMW M10]]. Brabham continued to run the Cosworth-powered BT49D in the early part of the season while reliability and driveability issues with the BMW units were resolved. The relationship came close to ending, with the German manufacturer insisting that Brabham use their engine. The turbo car took its first win at the [[1982 Canadian Grand Prix|Canadian Grand Prix]]. In the Constructors' Championship, the team finished fifth, the drivers [[Riccardo Patrese]], who scored the last win of the Brabham-Ford combination in the [[1982 Monaco Grand Prix|Monaco Grand Prix]], 10th and World Champion Piquet a mere 11th in the Drivers' Championship. In the [[1983 Formula One season|1983 season]], Piquet took the championship lead from Renault's [[Alain Prost]] at the last race of the year, the [[1983 South African Grand Prix|South African Grand Prix]] to become the first driver to win the Formula One Drivers' World Championship with a turbo-powered car. The team did not win the Constructors' Championship in either 1981 or 1983, despite Piquet's success. Patrese was the only driver other than Piquet to win a race for Brabham in this period—the drivers in the second car contributed only a fraction of the team's points in each of these championship seasons. Patrese finished ninth in the Drivers' Championship with 13 points, dropping the team behind Ferrari and Renault to third in the Constructors' Championship.

[[File:Piquet - Brabham-BMW BT 54 1985-08-02.jpg|thumb|right|alt=A mid-engined single-seater racing car with large aerodynamic wings|[[Nelson Piquet]] and his [[Brabham BT54|BT54]] were hampered by [[Pirelli]] tyres in {{F1|1985}}.{{citation needed|date=December 2021}}]]

Piquet took the team's last wins: two in 1984 by winning the seventh and eighth races of that season, the [[1984 Canadian Grand Prix|Canadian Grand Prix]] and the [[1984 Detroit Grand Prix|Detroit Grand Prix]], and one in 1985 by winning the [[1985 French Grand Prix|French Grand Prix]]. He finished fifth in 1984 and a mere eighth in 1985 in the respective Drivers' Championships.<ref name="RoePiq"/> After seven years and two world championships, Piquet felt he was worth more than Ecclestone's salary offer for 1986, and reluctantly left for the Williams team at the end of the season.

For the [[1986 Formula One season|1986 season]], Patrese returned to Brabham, and was joined by [[Elio de Angelis]]. The season was a disaster for Brabham, scoring only two points. Murray's radical long and low [[Brabham BT55|BT55]], with its BMW M12 engine tilted over to improve its aerodynamics and lower its centre of gravity, had severe reliability issues, and the Pirelli tyres performed poorly. De Angelis became the Formula One team's only fatality when he died in a testing accident at the [[Circuit Paul Ricard|Paul Ricard]] circuit. [[Derek Warwick]], who replaced de Angelis, was close to scoring two points for fifth in the [[1986 British Grand Prix|British Grand Prix]], but a problem on the last lap dropped him out of the points.

In August, BMW after considering running their own in-house team, announced their departure from Formula One at the end of the season. Murray, who had largely taken over the running of the team as Ecclestone became more involved with his role at the [[Formula One Constructors Association]], felt that "the way the team had operated for 15 years broke down". He left Brabham in November to join McLaren.<ref name="BGEnd">Lovell (2004) pp. 161–164</ref>

Ecclestone held BMW to their contract for the [[1987 Formula One season|1987 season]], but the German company would only supply the laydown engine. The upright units, around which Brabham had designed their new car, were sold for use by the [[Arrows (F1)|Arrows]] team. Senior figures at Brabham, including Murray, have admitted that by this stage Ecclestone had lost interest in running the team. The 1987 season was only slightly more successful than the previous year—Patrese and de Cesaris scoring 10 points between them, including two third places at the [[1987 Belgian Grand Prix|Belgian Grand Prix]] and the [[1987 Mexican Grand Prix|Mexican Grand Prix]]. Unable to locate a suitable engine supplier, the team missed the FIA deadline for entry into the 1988 world championship and Ecclestone finally announced the team's withdrawal from Formula One at the Brazilian Grand Prix in April 1988. During the season-ending [[1988 Australian Grand Prix|Australian Grand Prix]], Ecclestone announced he had sold MRD to [[EuroBrun]] team owner [[Walter Brun]] for an unknown price.

===Joachim Lüthi (1989)===
Brun soon sold the team on, this time to Swiss financier Joachim Lüthi, who brought it back into Formula One for the [[1989 Formula One season|1989 season]]. The new [[Brabham BT58]], powered by a [[Judd (engine)|Judd]] [[V8 engine]] (originally another of Jack Brabham's companies), was produced for the 1989 season.<ref>Brabham, Nye (2004) p. 254. Engine Developments, the company which builds Judd engines, was a company Jack Brabham set up in partnership with John Judd after his retirement from driving in 1970. Judd had previously worked for Brabham on the Repco project. John Judd had based the engine, dubbed the '''CV''', on a [[Honda]] block and was something the Japanese company was looking at as it looked to move into the North American based [[Champ Car|IndyCar racing]].</ref> Italian driver [[Stefano Modena]], who had driven for the team in the [[1987 Australian Grand Prix]] in a one off drive for the team, drove alongside the more experienced [[Martin Brundle]] who was returning to Formula One after spending 1988 winning the [[1988 World Sportscar Championship season|World Sportscar Championship]] for [[Jaguar Cars|Jaguar]]. Modena took the team's last podium: a third place at the [[1989 Monaco Grand Prix|Monaco Grand Prix]] (Brundle, who had only just scraped through pre-qualifying by 0.021 seconds before qualifying a brilliant 4th, had been running third but was forced to stop to replace a flat battery, finally finishing sixth). The team also failed to make the grid sometimes: Brundle failed to prequalify at the [[1989 Canadian Grand Prix|Canadian Grand Prix]] and the [[1989 French Grand Prix|French Grand Prix]]. The team finished 9th in the Constructors' Championship at the end of the season.<ref name=":0" />

===Middlebridge Racing (1989–1992)===
After Lüthi's arrest on tax fraud charges in mid-1989,<ref>Slevin, Gary (2008) [http://www.f1rejects.com/centrale/submitted/brabham/index.html The Decline of Brabham] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081014120637/http://www.f1rejects.com/centrale/submitted/brabham/index.html |date=14 October 2008 }}. Formula One Rejects. Retrieved 10 June 2009</ref> several parties disputed the ownership of the team. Middlebridge Group Limited, a Japanese engineering firm owned by billionaire Koji Nakauchi, was already involved with established [[International Formula 3000|Formula 3000]] team Middlebridge Racing and gained control of Brabham for the [[1990 Formula One season|1990 season]]. Herbie Blash had returned to run the team in 1989 and continued to do so in 1990. Middlebridge paid for its purchase using £1&nbsp;million loaned to them by finance company Landhurst Leasing,<ref name="Landhurst">{{cite news|title=Formula One obsession led to pounds 50m Landhurst fraud|author=John Willcock|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/formula-one-obsession-led-to-pounds-50m-landhurst-fraud-1236602.html|newspaper=[[Independent (newspaper)|The Independent]]|date=18 October 1997|access-date=26 April 2011|location=London}}</ref> but the team remained underfunded and would only score a few more points finishes in its last three seasons.{{citation needed|date=December 2021}}

Jack Brabham's youngest son, [[David Brabham|David]], raced for the Formula One team for a short time in 1990 including the season-ending [[1990 Australian Grand Prix|Australian Grand Prix]] (the first time a Brabham had driven a Brabham car in an [[Australian Grand Prix]] since [[1968 Australian Grand Prix|1968]]). 1990 was another disastrous year, with Modena's fifth place in the season-opening [[1990 United States Grand Prix|United States Grand Prix]] being the only top six finish. The team finished ninth in the Constructors' Championship. Brundle and fellow Briton [[Mark Blundell]], scored only three points during the [[1991 Formula One season|1991 season]]. Due to poor results in the first half of 1991, they had to prequalify in the second half of the season; Blundell failed to do so in Japan, as did Brundle in Australia. The team finished 10th in the Constructors' Championship, behind another struggling British team, Lotus. The 1992 season started with [[Eric van de Poele]] and [[Giovanna Amati]] after [[Japanese Formula 3000]] driver [[Akihiko Nakaya]] was denied a superlicense. [[Damon Hill]], the son of another former Brabham driver and World Champion, debuted in the team after Amati was dropped when her sponsorship failed to materialise. Amati, the fifth and last ({{as of|April 2025|lc=y}}) woman to race in Formula One, ended her career with three DNQs.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Elson|first=James|date=2021-01-02|title=Giovanna Amati: 'Once the helmet was on, I felt I was treated equally'|url=https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/articles/single-seaters/f1/giovanna-amati-once-the-helmet-was-on-i-felt-i-was-treated-equally|url-status=live|access-date=2021-12-02|website=[[Motor Sport (magazine)|Motor Sport]]|publisher=Motor Sport Magazine Limited|location=London|language=en-GB|quote=Amati, the fifth woman to ever race in Formula 1, made three attempts to pre-qualify for Brabham during the 1992 season, at South Africa, Mexico and Brazil, failing to make it through each time.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210108164649/https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/articles/single-seaters/f1/giovanna-amati-once-the-helmet-was-on-i-felt-i-was-treated-equally |archive-date=8 January 2021 }}</ref>

Argentine [[Sergio Rinland]] designed the team's final cars around Judd engines, except for 1991 when [[Yamaha Motor Company Ltd.|Yamaha]] powered the cars. In the [[1992 Formula One season|1992 season]] the cars (which were updated versions of the 1991 car) rarely qualified for races. Hill gave the team its final finish, at the [[1992 Hungarian Grand Prix|Hungarian Grand Prix]], where he crossed the finish line 11th and last, four laps behind the winner, [[Ayrton Senna]]. After the end of that race the team ran out of funds and collapsed.<ref>{{Cite magazine|last=Higham|first=Peter|date=December 2017|editor-last=Trott|editor-first=Nick|title=The rise – and fall – of Brabham|url=https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/december-2017/64/rise-and-fall-brabham|magazine=[[Motor Sport (magazine)|Motor Sport]]|location=London|publisher=Motor Sport Magazine Limited|issue=1108|page=64|issn=0027-2019|access-date=2021-12-02|quote=It returned after a year’s absence under new ownership and struggled on for four largely unsuccessful campaigns before closing its doors following the 1992 Hungarian GP.}}</ref>

Middlebridge Group Limited had been unable to continue making repayments against the £6&nbsp;million ultimately provided by Landhurst Leasing, which went into [[Administration order|administration]]. The [[Serious Fraud Office (UK)|Serious Fraud Office]] investigated the case. Landhurst's managing directors were found guilty of corruption and imprisoned, having accepted bribes for further loans to Middlebridge.<ref name="Landhurst"/> It was one of four teams to leave Formula One that year. (''cf'' [[March Engineering]], [[Fondmetal]] and [[Andrea Moda Formula]]). Although there was talk of reviving the team for the following year, its assets passed to Landhurst Leasing and were auctioned by the company's [[Administrative receivership|receivers]] in 1993.<ref>Baker (10 October 1993)</ref> Among these was the team's old factory in Chessington, which was acquired by Yamaha Motor Sports and used to house Activa Technology Limited, a company manufacturing composite components for race and road cars run by Herbie Blash. The factory was bought by the [[Carlin DPR]] [[GP2 Series|GP2]] motor racing team in 2006.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/55796|title=Carlin to enter GP2 in 2007|author=Glenn Freeman|date=27 November 2006|work=Autosport.com|access-date=8 December 2006}}</ref>