Nevertheless, Forti continued to compete in the sport, and produced the much-improved FG03 chassis, before succumbing to financial problems mid-season after an ultimately fruitless deal with a mysterious entity known as Shannon Racing.

At the end of 1992, he signed a deal with wealthy Brazilian driver Pedro Diniz, whose personal fortune and sponsorship connections proved invaluable in increasing the team's budget.

By offering companies preferential product-placement in the Brazilian market, the Diniz family was able to obtain personal sponsorship deals with brands such as Arisco, Duracell, Gillette, Kaiser, Marlboro, Parmalat and Sadia, in addition to backing from Unibanco, to fund Pedro's career.

Financed by the companies brought in by Abílio Diniz,[9] the team was guaranteed financial stability in the short term, with a claimed first year budget of around $17 million.

[1] The hardest task for the team was designing and building its own car for the first time, instead of buying one from a general supplier such as Dallara or Lola, as was required by the Formula One Technical Regulations.

Rinland thus provided a great deal of input on the FG01 chassis,[13] assisting experienced Italian engineers Giorgio Stirano[1] and Giacomo Caliri in designing and building the car.

[3][10] The car's aerodynamics were completed by former Brabham, Fondmetal and Astauto employee Hans Fouche using wind tunnels in South Africa, and composite work was done by the Belco Avia company.

It was angular and bulky, with poor aerodynamic performance negatively affecting grip and handling; it had a plump nose, initially no airbox, and was overweight and under-powered, using a small Ford-Cosworth ED V8 customer engine largely financed by Ford do Brasil, which developed an estimated 100 bhp less than the most powerful engine in the field, the Renault V10 supplied to the Benetton and Williams teams.

The car was liveried in a distinctive yellow-and-blue colour scheme accompanied by fluorescent green wheel-rims, illustrating the team's Brazilian influence in its first year.

The precise hue of each colour was chosen as a tribute to Ayrton Senna, who had been killed at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix; the cars were liveried in identical shades to those used on the Brazilian's helmet design.

[1] The second driver was later confirmed as his more experienced compatriot Roberto Moreno, who had last competed in F1 back in 1992 when he had a disastrous year driving for the infamous Andrea Moda team.

[18] The team later attempted to enter its former F3000 driver Hideki Noda for the 1995 Pacific Grand Prix, but he was refused an FIA Super Licence despite driving in three races for Larrousse in 1994.

[1] However, Diniz proved to be around seven seconds per lap off the pace of the leading runners in group testing at the Estoril circuit in March, indicating that the team was likely to be mired at the back of the field.

[1] In between the Brazilian and Argentine Grands Prix, Rinland returned to Europe full-time to take the official post of the team's Technical Director.

[15] His long-term task was to establish an English-based design office for the team, but his initial job was to improve the competitiveness of the FG01 through a series of technical upgrades.

[1][10] Indeed, Forti's finishing record was good for rookies at 50 per cent (excluding the non-classifications),[21] helping Diniz to establish a reputation as a steady, dependable driver.

Forti's improvement was also aided by Pacific taking on two slower pay drivers, Giovanni Lavaggi and Jean-Denis Délétraz, to ensure that the team finished the season.

At the final race of the season, in Adelaide, Forti seemed to have established a firm base for the 1996 season, emphasised by Moreno qualifying within 107% of pole position for the first time – a crucial result, as this percentage of the pole time would be used to determine non-qualifiers in 1996 – and Diniz scoring the team's best result in F1, with a reliable run to seventh place, ahead of Gachot in the Pacific.

[1] Post-championship, Forti took part in the 1995 Bologna Motor Show, where three FG01s—driven by Montermini, Lavaggi and Vittorio Zoboli—raced against, and lost to three Minardis in the Formula One Indoor Trophy.

[25] In addition, Moreno's participation with Forti was lamented by many observers, who felt that the experienced driver did not deserve the ignominy of such an uncompetitive car.

[27] However, these aspirations were dealt a devastating blow when Pedro Diniz signed for the more competitive Ligier team, taking Martin Brundle's vacated seat as the latter moved to Jordan.

Moreno was not retained; the team signed Minardi and Pacific refugees Luca Badoer[30] and Montermini to take the two empty seats (although Hideki Noda was also considered[31]), both drivers bringing a small amount of personal backing.

It had been designed by the same personnel as the previous year, with further work carried out by George Ryton after the latter moved to the team from Ferrari and took up the post of Technical Director mid-season.

Both drivers qualified in Monaco, but Montermini crashed in the wet warm-up session and did not start the race, whilst Badoer struggled in the slippery conditions and took out Jacques Villeneuve as he was being lapped by the Williams.

[33] For the Spanish GP, the cars therefore appeared in a new green-white-red livery (based on the Italian flag), apparently confirming Shannon Racing's acquisition of 51 per cent of Forti.

[36] Guido Forti alleged that Shannon Racing had not paid him any money within the stipulated six-day deadline after the deal was concluded and refuted the claim that it now owned 51 per cent of his team.

[36] In the end, Forti took part, only for the cars to complete a mere handful of laps each in practice and thus failing to set a time quick enough to qualify.

[29][37] The team made it to the next race – the German GP – but both cars remained unassembled in the pit garages throughout the weekend after the engine supply was finally cut off.

[29] One of the final "privateer" teams to enter the sport in an era of increasing influence and participation from the large car manufacturers,[11] Forti is often cited along with Pacific and Simtek as prime examples of this tendency.

[40] Alternatively, some saw Forti and similar tail-enders as undeserving of a place in F1, and it has been suggested that the imposition of the 107 per cent rule by the FIA in 1996 was a move to force them to raise their game or leave the sport altogether.