Formula One Career
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! Nationality
| Brazilian
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! Active years
| 1970 - 1980
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! Team(s)
| Lotus, McLaren, Fittipaldi
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! Grands Prix
| 149
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! Championships
| 2 (1972,1974)
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! Wins
| 14
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! Podium finishes
| 35
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! Pole positions
| 6
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! Fastest laps
| 6
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! First Grand Prix
| 1970British Grand Prix
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! First win
| 1970United States Grand Prix
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! Last win
| 1975British Grand Prix
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! Last Grand Prix
| 1980United States Grand Prix
|}
Emerson Fittipaldi (born December 12, 1946, São Paulo, Brazil) is a highly successful open-wheel racing series driver, winning world championships in both Formula One and CART.
Emerson Fittipaldi is the youngest son of prominent Brazilian motorsports journalist and radio commentator Wilson Fittipaldi Sr and his wife Juzy. 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 Sao Paulo, having been inspired by the 1949 ItalianMille Miglia. Emerson unsurprisingly became a keen motorsports enthusiast from an early age.
Emerson Fittipaldi is the younger brother of former Formula One driver and team owner Wilson Fittipaldi. He is the uncle of former CART, Formula One and NASCAR driver Christian Fittipaldi. He was married to Maria Helena from 1970 to 1982. They had two children together, Juliana and Jayson. He was married again, to Teresa, in the mid 1980s and they have two daughters, Tatiana and Joana, and a son, Luca.
In his youth in Brazil, Emerson was known as 'el Rato' - the mouse, which contrasts with 'Tigrao' - 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 estate in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The plane lost power and plunged 300 feet to the ground. He suffered serious back injuries. He would recover, and became a born again Christian.
Career history
Formula One
Emerson in the Jim Russell Racing Drivers School F3 Lotus in the 1969 F3 Guards Trophy at Brands Hatch
"Emmo" began as a mechanic before trying motorbikes and finally moving on to racing karts and Formula Vees built by the company set up with his brother. 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, Emerson was engaged by the Jim Russell Driving School Formula Three team. He continued to win, drawing the attention of Colin Chapman, who was looking for a driver to support the Austrian Jochen Rindt in the 1970 Formula One season. The team's No 3 driver, he ended up becoming No 1 driver after Rindt was killed at Monza and John Miles left the team. Thrust into the spotlight by leading F1's top team, he proved up to the task and won for Lotus in its first race post-Rindt.
In his first full year as Lotus' lead driver in 1971, Fittipaldi finished sixth in the drivers' championship as the team experimented with a new chassis, the Lotus 72. Armed with what was arguably the greatest Formula one design of all time, the Lotus 72D Emmo proved unstoppable 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 (his record was eventually topped by 24 year-old Fernando Alonso). 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 Emerson 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 team.
It was hardly a world class organization and the double champion regularly struggled, even failing to qualify for 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"Ludvigsen, Karl (2002) ['Emerson Fittipaldi'] p.136 Haynes Group. ISBN 185960837X, although at the time he cited the deaths of many of his colleagues as his reason.Fittipaldi to Retire (December 121980) The Times page 20 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. He moved into the management of the teamEmerson Fittipaldi [8w.forix.com] Retrieved 28 February 2006 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 at the Indianapolis 500 where he led 158 of 200 laps and won by two laps, but only after a dramatic conclusion on the penultimate lap of the event, where he and rival Al Unser, Jr., both a commanding six laps ahead of third place Raul Boesel, contacted tyres in the course's third turn after Fittipaldi drew alongside Unser on the backstretch in an attempt to overtake for the lead, after the latter had done so himself on lap 196. Upon touching, 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.
Roger Penske hired Emmo for his racing team in 1990 and he continued to be among the top drivers in CART, winning a 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, although the race was more well known for him breaking Indy victory lane tradition when he drank a celebratory bottle of orange juice instead of the traditional bottle of milk.
Despite approaching 50, he was still in Champcars in 1996 when an injury at the Michigan International Speedway ended his career. Fittipaldi didn't return to the series as a driver after the injury but in 2003 he made a return to Champcars as a team owner.
Fittipaldi is currently acting as team principal for the Brazilian A1 GP entry.
