Emerson
Fittipaldi

Emerson Fittipaldi was born in São Paulo on 12 December 1946. His father was a motorsport journalist and radio commentator who was responsible for the first Mil Milhas race in 1956. Emerson raced motorcycles at 14 and hydroplanes at 16, then turned to land vehicles together with his brother Wilson. In 1967 he won the 6 Hours of Interlagos and later took the Brazilian Formula Vee title. He moved to Europe in 1969 and, driving for the Jim Russell Driving School team, won nine races on his way to the Formula Three championship.

In 1970 he finished third in Formula Two. In July he made his Formula One debut as Lotus's third driver at the British Grand Prix. After Jochen Rindt was killed at Monza, Fittipaldi became the team's lead driver and won the United States Grand Prix in only his fifth race. He took the world championship in 1972 with five wins, and at 25 he was the youngest world champion up to that point, a record that stood for 33 years. In 1973 he finished runner-up to Jackie Stewart.

He joined McLaren for 1974, won three races and a second title, and the team also won its first Constructors' Championship. In 1975 he won twice and ended second behind Niki Lauda. For 1976 he left McLaren, with James Hunt taking his seat, to drive for his brother Wilson's team. He stayed there until retiring at the end of 1980, with a second place as his best result. In total he made 144 starts and recorded 14 wins, 35 podiums and six pole positions.

He entered the American CART series in 1984. With Patrick Racing he won the Michigan 500 in 1985, and in 1989 he became CART champion and won the Indianapolis 500. Driving for Penske, he won at Indianapolis again in 1993 after passing Nigel Mansell on lap 185. An injury at Michigan in 1996 brought his career as a CART driver to an end, with 22 wins to his name. He later served as acting team principal of Brazil's A1 GP entry, finished second behind Mansell at the 2005 Grand Prix Masters in Kyalami, and in 2008 entered the Brazilian GT3 Championship with Wilson. He was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2001 and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame in 2004. His brother Wilson, nephew Christian and grandson Pietro have also raced.

Source: Wikipedia, “Emerson Fittipaldi”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.