Emerson Fittipaldi

Emerson Fittipaldi

Born	(1946-12-12) 12 December 1946 São Paulo, Brazil
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	Brazilian
Active years	1970–1980
Teams	Lotus, McLaren, Fittipaldi Automotive
Entries	149 (144 starts)
Championships	2 (1972, 1974)
Wins	14
Podiums	35
Career points	281
Pole positions	6
Fastest laps	6
First entry	1970 British Grand Prix
First win	1970 United States Grand Prix
Last win	1975 British Grand Prix
Last entry	1980 United States Grand Prix

Emerson Fittipaldi (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈɛmeɾson fitʃiˈpawdʒi]; born December 12, 1946 in Sao Paulo, Brazil) is a semi-retired Brazilian automobile racing driver who won both the Formula One World Championship and the Indianapolis 500 twice each and the CART championship once.

Moving up from Formula Two, Fittipaldi made his race debut for Team Lotus as a third driver at the 1970 British Grand Prix. After Jochen Rindt was killed at the 1970 Italian Grand Prix, the Brazilian became Lotus' lead driver in only his fifth Grand Prix. He enjoyed considerable success with Lotus, winning the World Drivers' Championship in 1972 at the age of 25, a youngest F1 world champion record that he held for 33 years. He later moved to McLaren for 1974, winning the title once again. He surprised the paddock by moving to his brother's Fittipaldi Automotive team prior to the 1976 season, being replaced by James Hunt. Success eluded him during his final years in Formula One, with the Fittipaldi cars not competitive enough to fight for victories. Fittipaldi took two more podium finishes, before retiring in 1980.

Following his Formula One career, Fittipaldi moved to the American CART series, achieving successful results, including the 1989 CART title and two wins at the Indianapolis 500 (in 1989 and 1993). After the latter victory, Fittipaldi angered American motorsport fans by breaking Indianapolis tradition when he drank a glass of orange juice instead of the ceremonial milk.

After retiring from Indy Car racing in 1996, Fittipaldi races only occasionally. Aged 67, he entered the 2014 6 Hours of São Paulo.

Early and personal life

Emerson Fittipaldi was born in São Paulo, Brazil. He is the youngest son of prominent Brazilian motorsports journalist and radio commentator Wilson Fittipaldi Sr and his wife Józefa "Juzy" Wojciechowska, an immigrant from Saint Petersburg, Russia and of Polish and Russian descent. His grandfather Ivan Wojciechowski was an officer in the tsarist army. He was named after American author and philosopher, Ralph Waldo Emerson. Both his parents had raced production cars shortly after the Second World War and Wilson Sr was also responsible for the first Mil Milhas race in 1956, in São Paulo, having been inspired by the 1949 Italian Mille Miglia. Emerson became a motorsports enthusiast at an early age.

Emerson Fittipaldi is the younger brother of former Formula One driver and team owner Wilson Fittipaldi. He is the uncle of TUDOR United Sports Car Championship driver Christian Fittipaldi. He was married to Maria Helena from 1970 to 1982. They had three children together, Juliana, Jayson and Tatiana. He was married again, to Teresa, in the mid-1980s. They have one daughter, Joana, and a son, Luca. He has another son, Emerson, born in 2007, and daughter Vittoria, born early 2012, with economist Rossana Fanucchi, whom he married after a partnership of eleven years early December 2012 in São Paulo.

In his youth in Brazil, Emerson was known as 'Rato' - mouse, which contrasts with 'Tigrão' - big tiger - for his brother. By the end of his career he was most commonly known as 'Emmo' in the United States and the UK. In September 1997, Fittipaldi, while recovering from injuries in a crash at Michigan International Speedway a year earlier, was flying his private plane across his orange tree farm in São Paulo. The plane lost power and plunged 300 feet (91 m) to the ground. He suffered serious back injuries. He recovered, and became a born again Christian.

He was a friend of Beatles guitarist George Harrison and was with him shortly before Harrison died in November 2001.

Career history

Emerson in the Jim Russell Racing Drivers School F3 Lotus 59 in the 1969 F3 Guards Trophy at Brands Hatch

When aged 14, Fittipaldi was racing motorcycles, and when aged 16, hydrofoils. While racing one day, his brother Wilson took off at 70 mph (110 km/h) and landed upside down. Afterwards, they both decided that although he had survived, they would no longer race hydrofoils and moved onto racing karts.

The pair moved to racing Formula Vees, and built up a company with their parents. In his second season in single-seaters, Fittipaldi won the Brazilian Formula Vee title at 21 years old. He left for Europe in 1969, with the ambition to convince team owners of his talent in three months. After some podiums and his first victories in Formula Ford, Fittipaldi was first trained and then subsequently engaged by the Jim Russell Driving School Formula Three team. He won nine F3 races on the Jim Russell Lotus 59 in the MCD Lombard Championship to become the 1969 champion.

Formula Two

For 1970, Fittipaldi moved up to F2 by joining the Lotus semi-works Team Bardahl campaigning Lotus 59B. With six finishes in the points and four on the podium, he ended the 8 race season in the 3rd place behind Clay Regazzoni and Derek Bell. While this result was very impressive for the newcomer to the series, the spotlight of the year was drawn on Fittipaldi because of his activities in Formula One instead.

Formula One

Fittipaldi at the wheel of the Lotus 72D at the 1972 Austrian Grand Prix.

Fittipaldi driving the Lotus 72 at the Nürburgring in 1971.

Fittipaldi at Silverstone

Fittipaldi in the McLaren M23 in the 1974 Race of Champions at Brands Hatch.

Fittipaldi driving for his brother's eponymous team at the 1976 Brazilian Grand Prix at his home circuit, Interlagos.

Based on the success of Cosworth DFV and Lotus 49/49B in 1968, Team Lotus was enjoying the reputation as one of the top F1 teams with the inflow of sponsorship money, and Colin Chapman used the 3rd seat on the team for championship races as the testing ground for younger drivers. This was in contrast to the team's tradition to use non-championship F1 events for the purpose.

The third seat was given to Alex Soler-Roig in the early 1970, and then to Fittipaldi starting with the British GP in July, with Jochen Rindt and John Miles as the regular seat holders. Fittipaldi scored a fourth place as the No.3 driver at the next German GP where the No.1 Jochen Rindt won, and the No.2 John Miles retired.

Team Lotus plans for the season drastically changed when Jochen Rindt was killed at Monza in September and became the only driver to win the championship posthumously. John Miles also left the team, and Fittipaldi was promoted to be the Lotus No.1 driver on his fifth F1 race at the United States GP with Reine Wisell and Pete Lovely as the teammates. Fittipaldi proved up to the task and won this first post-Rindt race for Lotus.

In his first full year as Lotus' lead driver in 1971, Fittipaldi finished sixth in the drivers' championship as the team further developed the previous season's Lotus 72. Armed with what was arguably the greatest Formula one design of all time, the Lotus 72D, Fittipaldi proved dominant in 1972 as he won five of 11 races and easily won the F1 Drivers' Championship from Jackie Stewart by 16 points. At 25 he was then the youngest champion in F1 history. It appeared he might do it again in 1973. But after three wins from four attempts with the 72D, he began to struggle in the new 72E that was unveiled mid-year. It resulted in the reverse of the previous year, Stewart beating Fittipaldi for the Drivers Championship by 16 points; though the combination of the 72D and E's points earnings were enough to gain Team Lotus the 1973 F1 Manufacturers Championship.

Fittipaldi left Lotus to sign with the promising McLaren team. Driving the highly efficient McLaren M23, he had three victories in 1974, reached the podium four other times, and beat out Clay Regazzoni in a close battle for his second championship. The following season, he notched two more victories and four other podiums, but was second to a dominant Niki Lauda. However, at the height of his F1 success, Fittipaldi shocked everyone by leaving McLaren to race for older brother Wilson Fittipaldi's Copersucar-sponsored Fittipaldi Automotive team.

It was hardly a world-class organization and the double champion regularly struggled, failing to qualify in three races in his time there. Despite this, he remained with the team for five seasons but only managed a best finish of second. Emerson Fittipaldi decided to retire from racing at the end of 1980. He has since said that his last two years in Formula One were very unhappy: "I was too involved in the problems of trying to make the team work, and I neglected my marriage and my personal life", although at the time he cited the deaths of many of his colleagues as his reason. He was only 33, but had been racing in Formula One for a decade. He had failed to finish seven of the last ten races that year and had several times been outpaced by his Finnish teammate Keke Rosberg (a future champion himself). He moved into the management of the team alongside his brother. The team struggled on for another two years with minimal sponsorship, going into receivership at the end of 1982.

CART

After leaving F1 in 1980, Fittipaldi took time out from major racing for four years, returning in 1984 in CART. The 38-year-old spent his first season acclimatising to IndyCars, driving for two teams before joining Patrick Racing as an injury replacement. He stayed five years with the team, recording six victories and solid finishes in the overall standings. In 1989 he had five wins and finished in the top five in every race he completed, giving him a CART championship. Among his wins was a dominant performance in the 1989 Indianapolis 500 where he led 158 of 200 laps and won by two laps, but only after a dramatic duel with Al Unser, Jr. in the closing laps of the race. With both drivers a commanding six laps ahead of third place Raul Boesel, Unser ran down Fittipaldi after a late-race restart and passed him for the lead on lap 196. Three laps later, Fittipaldi used lapped traffic to his advantage to pull alongside Unser on the backstretch. Neither driver would give way, and the two cars touched wheels as they went through turn three side by side. Unser's car spun out of control to hit the outside wall, while Fittipaldi was able to maintain sufficient control to keep his car moving straight. In spite of the altercation, Unser saluted Fittipaldi from the infield with a double thumbs-up sign as he brought his car through turns three and four on the subsequent caution-slowed final lap.

Emerson Fittipaldi racing in the Indianapolis 500 in 1994

Roger Penske hired Fittipaldi for his racing team in 1990 and he continued to be among the top drivers in CART, winning at least one race with Penske for six straight years. In 1993 he added a second Indianapolis 500 victory by taking the lead from defending Formula One World Champion Nigel Mansell on lap 185 and holding it for the remainder. The race saw him break Indianapolis victory lane tradition when he drank a celebratory bottle of orange juice instead of the traditional bottle of milk. He was only the second driver to not drink milk at Indianapolis since the tradition was founded in 1936 (and firmly established in 1956). Fittipaldi owned several orange groves in his native Brazil, and wanted to promote the citrus industry. He was widely criticized and ridiculed for the action, even though he later took a sip of milk after the television cameras were off.

Fan reaction to the milk snub was highly negative, and he was booed a week later at Milwaukee. In the years following, many fans continued to hold the action against him. In interviews since, Fittipaldi explained his action, and apologised for the wave of negativity that followed. Fittipaldi returned to Indianapolis to drive the Chevrolet Corvette Pace Car for the 2008 Indianapolis 500. Despite coming clean, he was again booed and heckled by some fans during the Public Drivers' Meeting.

Approaching 50, he was still with Champ Car in 1996 when an injury at the Michigan International Speedway ended his career. Fittipaldi did not return to the series as a driver after the injury. Fittipaldi finished his Champ Car career with 22 wins. In 2003 he made a return to Champcars as a team owner.

Later career

Emerson Fittipaldi in the 2011 São Paulo Indy 300. He waved the green flag at the start of the race.

Fittipaldi was the acting team principal for the Brazilian A1 GP entry.

In 2005 Fittipaldi made a surprise return to competitive racing in the Grand Prix Masters event held at Kyalami in South Africa, finishing second behind former CART sparring partner Nigel Mansell.

In 2008, Emerson and his brother Wilson entered the Brazilian GT3 Championship, driving a Porsche 997 GT3 for the WB Motorsports team. In 2011 he started embracing social media by opening up an official Twitter and Facebook account, as well as becoming a Chairman of Motorsport.com.

In 2013 he began writing a regular monthly blog column on the official website of McLaren.

Award

He was inducted in the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2001.

Racing record

Complete Formula One World Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	WDC	Pts.
1970	Gold Leaf Team Lotus	Lotus 49C	Ford V8	RSA	ESP	MON	BEL	NED	FRA	GBR 8	GER 4	AUT 15									10th	12
		Lotus 72C	Ford V8										ITA DNS	CAN	USA 1	MEX Ret
1971	Gold Leaf Team Lotus	Lotus 72C	Ford V8	RSA Ret	ESP Ret																6th	16
		Lotus 72D	Ford V8			MON 5	NED	FRA 3	GBR 3	GER Ret	AUT 2		CAN 7	USA NC
	World Wide Racing	Lotus 56B	P&W gas turbine									ITA 8
1972	John Player Team Lotus	Lotus 72D	Ford V8	ARG Ret	RSA 2	ESP 1	MON 3	BEL 1	FRA 2	GBR 1	GER Ret	AUT 1		CAN 11	USA Ret						1st	61
	World Wide Racing	Lotus 72D	Ford V8										ITA 1
1973	John Player Team Lotus	Lotus 72D	Ford V8	ARG 1	BRA 1	RSA 3															2nd	55
		Lotus 72E	Ford V8				ESP 1	BEL 3	MON 2	SWE 12	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	NED Ret	GER 6	AUT Ret	ITA 2	CAN 2	USA 6
1974	Marlboro Team Texaco	McLaren M23	Ford V8	ARG 10	BRA 1	RSA 7	ESP 3	BEL 1	MON 5	SWE 4	NED 3	FRA Ret	GBR 2	GER Ret	AUT Ret	ITA 2	CAN 1	USA 4			1st	55
1975	Marlboro Team McLaren	McLaren M23	Ford V8	ARG 1	BRA 2	RSA NC	ESP DNS	MON 2	BEL 7	SWE 8	NED Ret	FRA 4	GBR 1	GER Ret	AUT 9	ITA 2	USA 2				2nd	45
1976	Copersucar-Fittipaldi	Fittipaldi FD04	Ford V8	BRA 13	RSA 17	USW 6	ESP Ret	BEL DNQ	MON 6	SWE Ret	FRA Ret	GBR 6	GER 13	AUT Ret	NED Ret	ITA 15	CAN Ret	USA 9	JPN Ret		17th	3
1977	Copersucar-Fittipaldi	Fittipaldi FD04	Ford V8	ARG 4	BRA 4	RSA 10	USW 5	ESP 14	MON Ret		SWE 18										12th	11
		Fittipaldi F5	Ford V8							BEL Ret		FRA 11	GBR Ret	GER DNQ	AUT 11	NED 4	ITA DNQ	USA 13	CAN Ret	JPN
1978	Fittipaldi Automotive	Fittipaldi F5A	Ford V8	ARG 9	BRA 2	RSA Ret	USW 8	MON 9	BEL Ret	ESP Ret	SWE 6	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	GER 4	AUT 4	NED 5	ITA 8	USA 5	CAN Ret		10th	17
1979	Fittipaldi Automotive	Fittipaldi F5A	Ford V8	ARG 6	BRA 11		USW Ret	ESP 11	BEL 9	MON Ret	FRA Ret	GBR Ret									21st	1
		Fittipaldi F6	Ford V8			RSA 13
		Fittipaldi F6A	Ford V8										GER Ret	AUT Ret	NED Ret	ITA 8	CAN 8	USA 7
1980	Skol Fittipaldi Team	Fittipaldi F7	Ford V8	ARG NC	BRA 15	RSA 8	USW 3	BEL Ret	MON 6	FRA Ret											15th	5
		Fittipaldi F8	Ford V8								GBR 12	GER Ret	AUT 11	NED Ret	ITA Ret	CAN Ret	USA Ret

Formula One non-championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
1971	Gold Leaf Team Lotus	Lotus 72	Ford V8	ARG Ret		QUE Ret	SPR 7		RIN	OUL	VIC 2
		Lotus 56B	P&W gas turbine		ROC Ret			INT Ret
1972	John Player Team Lotus	Lotus 72D	Ford V8	ROC 1	BRA Ret	INT 1	OUL 2	REP 1	VIC Ret
1973	John Player Team Lotus	Lotus 72	Ford V8	ROC Ret	INT Ret
1974	Marlboro Team Texaco	McLaren M23	Ford V8	PRE 1	ROC 3	INT
1975	Marlboro Team McLaren	McLaren M23	Ford V8	ROC 5	INT 2	SUI Ret
1978	Fittipaldi Automotive	Fittipaldi F5A	Ford V8	INT 2
1980	Skol Fittipaldi Team	Fittipaldi F7	Ford V8	ESP 5

CART

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Year	Team	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Rank	Points
1984	WIT Racing	March 83C	Cosworth DFX V8t	LBH 5	PHX 12																15th	30
		March 84C				INDY 32	MIL	POR
	H&R Racing								MEA 7	CLE 20	MCH	ROA	POC
	Patrick Racing													MDO 4	SAN 18	MCH 12	PHX	LAG	CPL 13
1985	Patrick Racing	March 85C	Cosworth DFX V8t	LBH 2	INDY 13	MIL 8	POR 3	MEA 2	CLE 8	MCH 1	ROA 5	POC 6	MDO 8	SAN 25	MCH 13	LAG 24	PHX 8	MIA 26			6th	104
1986	Patrick Racing	March 86C	Cosworth DFX V8t	PHX 3	LBH 16	INDY 7	MIL 24	POR 12	MEA 2	CLE 13	TOR 17	MCH 20	POC 19	MDO 21	SAN 3	MCH 3	ROA 1	LAG 7	PHX 5	MIA 20	7th	103
1987	Patrick Racing	March 87C	Chevrolet 265A V8t	LBH 19	PHX 18	INDY 16	MIL 7	POR 14	MEA 3	CLE 1	TOR 1*	MCH 7	POC 18	ROA 18	MDO 6	NAZ 21	LAG 20	MIA 10			10th	78
1988	Patrick Racing	March 88C	Chevrolet 265A V8t	PHX 21	LBH 16	INDY 2	MIL 3	POR 3													7th	105
		Lola T88/00							CLE 19	TOR 4		MCH 19
		Lola T87/00									MEA 14*		POC 21	MDO 1*	ROA 1*	NAZ 8	LAG 16	MIA 20
1989	Patrick Racing	Penske PC-17	Chevrolet 265A V8t	PHX 5	LBH 3																1st	196
		Penske PC-18				INDY 1*	MIL 16	DET 1	POR 1*	CLE 1*	MEA 2	TOR 2	MCH 14	POC 19	MDO 4	ROA 5	NAZ 1*	LAG 5
1990	Team Penske	Penske PC-19	Chevrolet 265A V8t	PHX 5	LBH 2	INDY 3*	MIL 3	DET 7	POR 9	CLE 3	MEA 6	TOR 20	MCH 17*	DEN 18	VAN 6	MDO 12	ROA 2	NAZ 1*	LAG 6		5th	144
1991	Team Penske	Penske PC-20	Chevrolet 265A V8t	SRF 19	LBH 17	PHX 3	INDY 11	MIL 8	DET 1*	POR 2	CLE 2*	MEA 7	TOR 21	MCH 20	DEN 2	VAN 17	MDO 2	ROA 6	NAZ 8	LAG 4	5th	140
1992	Team Penske	Penske PC-21	Chevrolet 265B V8t	SRF 1	PHX 3	LBH 3	INDY 24	DET 8	POR 2	MIL 4	NHA 21	TOR 19	MCH 13	CLE 1*	ROA 1*	VAN 19	MDO 1	NAZ 7	LAG 19		4th	151
1993	Team Penske	Penske PC-22	Chevrolet 265C V8t	SRF 2*	PHX 14	LBH 13	INDY 1	MIL 3	DET 23	POR 1*	CLE 2	TOR 2	MCH 13	NHA 3	ROA 5	VAN 7	MDO 1*	NAZ 5	LAG 2		2nd	183
1994	Team Penske	Penske PC-23	Ilmor 265D V8t	SRF 2	PHX 1*	LBH 21		MIL 2	DET 2	POR 2	CLE 20	TOR 3	MCH 10	MDO 3	NHA 3*	VAN 9	ROA 3	NAZ 3	LAG 4		2nd	178
			Mercedes-Benz 500I V8t				INDY 17*
1995	Team Penske	Penske PC-24	Mercedes-Benz IC108B V8t	MIA 24	SRF 18	PHX 3*	LBH 20	NAZ 1	INDY DNQ	MIL 23	DET 10	POR 21	ROA 15	TOR 10	CLE 25	MCH 5	MDO 21	NHA 5	VAN 7	LAG 16	11th	67
1996	Hogan Penske	Penske PC-25	Mercedes-Benz IC108C V8t	MIA 13	RIO 11	SRF 25	LBH 20	NAZ 4	500 10	MIL 4	DET 25	POR 20	CLE 22	TOR 14	MCH 25	MDO	ROA	VAN	LAG		19th	29

Indy 500 results

Twin-engine racing Beetle developed by Wilson and Emerson Fittipaldi

Year	Chassis	Engine	Start	Finish	Team
1984	March	Cosworth	23rd	32nd	WIT
1985	March	Cosworth	5th	13th	Patrick
1986	March	Cosworth	11th	7th	Patrick
1987	March	Chevrolet	33rd	16th	Patrick
1988	March	Chevrolet	8th	2nd	Patrick
1989	Penske	Chevrolet	3rd	1st	Patrick
1990	Penske	Chevrolet	1st	3rd	Penske
1991	Penske	Chevrolet	15th	11th	Penske
1992	Penske	Chevrolet	11th	24th	Penske
1993	Penske	Chevrolet	9th	1st	Penske
1994	Penske	Ilmor-Mercedes	3rd	17th	Penske
1995	Lola	Ilmor-Mercedes	Failed to Qualify		Penske

Complete 24 Hours of Daytona results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1985	Ralph Sanchez Racing	Tony Garcia Mauricio DeNarvaez	March 85G-Buick	GTP	-	DNS	DNS

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

Year	Entrant	Class	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Rank	Points
2014	AF Corse	LMGTE Am	Ferrari 458 Italia GT2	Ferrari 4.5 L V8	SIL	SPA	LMS	COA	FUJ	SHA	BHR	SÃO 6	23rd	8

* Season still in progress

See also

• Ayrton Senna and Nelson Piquet - Brazilian Formula One three time world champions
• Mario Andretti, Nigel Mansell and Jacques Villeneuve - Other Formula One and CART champions.
• Jim Clark, Graham Hill, Mario Andretti, and Jacques Villeneuve - Other Formula One and Indianapolis 500 champions.
• Jody Scheckter and Michael Schumacher - Other Formula One champions with brothers racing in the series.

References

Books

External links

• Official website
• Emerson Fittipaldi at the Internet Movie Database
• Emerson Fittipaldi career summary at DriverDB.com
• Emerson Fittipaldi driver statistics at Racing-Reference
• The Greatest 33
• Emerson embracing social media

Sporting positions
Preceded by Tim Schenken	British Formula 3 Championship BRSCC Series Champion 1969	Succeeded by Dave Walker 1970 BRSCC Lombank Series
		Succeeded by Tony Trimmer 1970 BRSCC Motorsport/Shell Series
Preceded by Graham Hill	BRDC International Trophy winner 1972	Succeeded by Jackie Stewart
Preceded by Jackie Stewart	Formula One World Champion 1972	Succeeded by Jackie Stewart
Preceded by Clay Regazzoni	Brands Hatch Race of Champions Winner 1972	Succeeded by Peter Gethin
Preceded by Jackie Stewart	Formula One World Champion 1974	Succeeded by Niki Lauda
Preceded by Rick Mears	Indianapolis 500 Winner 1989	Succeeded by Arie Luyendyk
Preceded by Danny Sullivan	CART Series Champion 1989	Succeeded by Al Unser, Jr.
Preceded by Al Unser, Jr.	Indianapolis 500 Winner 1993	Succeeded by Al Unser, Jr.
Records
Preceded by Jim Clark 27 years, 188 days (1963 season)	Youngest Formula One World Drivers' Champion 25 years, 273 days (1972 season)	Succeeded by Fernando Alonso 24 years, 58 days (2005 season)