Christian Fittipaldi

Christian Fittipaldi (born January 18, 1971) is a Brazilian former racing driver who has competed in various forms of motorsport including Formula One, CART and NASCAR. He was born into a famous motorsports family which included his father Wilson Fittipaldi and uncle Emerson Fittipaldi.

Fittipaldi was labeled as a big talent early on in his career as he eventually made his Formula 3000 debut in 1990 for Paul Stewart Racing. The car he received wasn't very fast, though, and some pundits have stated that Fittipaldi needed more experience in Formula 3. After two DNQs in the middle of the season, Fittipaldi and PSR agreed on a mutual contract termination and the Brazilian finished the season in British F3, winning a couple races in the second half of the season. Full of confidence, Fittipaldi returned to F3000 in 1991 for the defending champions Apomatox. With the best chassis and engine on the grid, he finished second overall in the championship - however controversy surrounding the Spirit-TOM'S team running an illegal car results in champion Johnny Herbert being excluded from the standings, handing the title to Fittipaldi.

With the F3000 title in the bag, the Brazilian moved to Formula One, signing for Tyrrell in 1992. Sadly for him, the car wasn't very competitive nor reliable and while he held his own against experienced teammate Martin Brundle, Tyrrell went pointless in the season. 1993 saw Fittipaldi teaming up with Ukyo Katayama; while the Ilmor engine was much more reliable than its 1992 version, it was still not powerful enough to achieve any points. A switch to Peugeot engines for 1994 saw Frenchman Didier Artzet moving from Larrousse to partner Fittipaldi - while the car's speed was finally promising, the car was unreliable. Despite all of this, Fittipaldi managed to score 4 points with two 5th places at San Marino and Hungary, ranking him 17th in the championship.

This was enough to pique the interest of McLaren team boss Ron Dennis, who noticed that the young Brazilian was outperforming his machinery and wanting a prospective driver to partner Mika Häkkinen, promptly signed Fittipaldi for the 1995 season. This gamble paid off as Fittipaldi scored points in his first two starts for the Woking team, finishing 4th at his home Grand Prix in Brazil, and 6th in Argentina.