Christian Fittipaldi

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Christian Fittipaldi
Nationality Flag of Brazil Brazilian
World Championship Career
Active years 1992 - 1994
Team(s) Minardi, Footwork
Races 43
Championships 0
Wins 0
Podium finishes    0
Pole positions 0
Fastest laps 0
First race 1992 South African Grand Prix
Last race 1994 Australian Grand Prix
Christian Fittipaldi
Born: January 18, 1971 (age 36)
Birthplace: Flag of Brazil São Paulo, Brazil
Awards: 1991 Formula 3000 champion
1995 Indianapolis 500 Rookie of The Year
16 races run over 2 years.
Best Cup Position: 44th - 2003 (Winston Cup)
Christian Fittipaldi
Christian Fittipaldi

Christian Fittipaldi (born January 18, 1971, São Paulo, Brazil) is a racing driver, who has competed in various forms of motorsport including Formula One, Champcars and NASCAR. Named after less known Brazilian driver Christian "Bino" Heinz (killed at LeMans in 1963), he was a highly rated young racing driver in the early 1990s, and participated in 43 Formula One Grand Prix for Minardi and Footwork between 1992 and 1994.

He is the son of former Grand Prix driver and team owner Wilson Fittipaldi, and the nephew of two-time Formula One Champion and Indianapolis 500 winner Emerson Fittipaldi.

Contents

Fittipaldi graduated to Formula One following a Formula 3000 championship winning season in 1991. Opportunities to test and impress were limited at Minardi though, and despite a number of points scoring positions early in 1993, Christian fell out with the team management and was dropped with two GPs to go. He had a final attempt at F1 in the 1994 season driving for the Footwork team, scoring two 4th places. Disillusioned with GP racing, however, Fittipaldi moved to America to race where he has been ever since. He scored a total of 12 F1 championship points.

Competing mainly in Champcars, Fittipaldi was a slow starter, noted for his consistency rather than his outright pace, although by the time he won his first Champcar event at Road America in 1999, he was a championship contender due to his consistent finishing, among which was a second place in the 1995 Indianapolis 500, which earned him Rookie of the Year honors in the race. However, just as Fittipaldi's American career looked to be taking off, he incurred the first of the two broken legs he suffered whilst racing Champcars. Although he was able to return both times and win further races, he never regained a consistent form, and never won a Champcar championship.

With his Champcar career on hold, Fittipaldi shifted his focus to NASCAR. He made 3 appearances in the Busch Series during 2001 and 2002. Although he wasn't impressive in those races, he caught the eye of Richard Petty, and he was signed to Petty Enterprises near the end of '02 and made his Winston Cup debut at Phoenix. In 2003, Christian made his first Daytona 500 start, in a one-race deal with Andy Petree, then made a handful of appearances for Petty in ARCA. In the summer of 2003, Fittipaldi became the driver of the illustrious 43 car after John Andretti was let go. Christian struggled and was reassigned shortly after the start of autumn, but remained with the team, driving the 44 car.

After leaving Petty Enterprises, Fittipaldi co-drove the winning car during the 24 Hours of Daytona in 2004. In 2005, he migrated into the Brazilian Stock Car Series and reappeared in Grand-Am winning a race at Phoenix and announcing he had signed for Eddie Cheever's new team for 2006. He currently races for A1 Team Brazil. He co-drove a privateer Saleen S7R (with Terry Borcheller and Johnny Mowlem) in the 2006 24 Hours of Le Mans and finished 6th in class and 11th overall.

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Team WDC Points
1992 Minardi RSA
Ret
MEX
Ret
BRA
Ret
ESP
11
SMR
Ret
MON
8
CAN
13
FRA
DNQ
GBR
Inj
GER
Inj
HUN
Inj
BEL
DNQ
ITA
DNQ
POR
12
JPN
6
AUS
9
Minardi 17th 1
1993 Minardi RSA
4
BRA
Ret
EUR
7
SMR
Ret
ESP
8
MON
5
CAN
9
FRA
8
GBR
12
GER
11
HUN
Ret
BEL
Ret
ITA
8
POR
9
JPN
AUS
Minardi 13th 5
1994 Footwork BRA
Ret
PFC
4
SMR
13
MON
Ret
ESP
Ret
CAN
DSQ
FRA
8
GBR
9
GER
4
HUN
14
BEL
Ret
ITA
Ret
POR
8
EUR
17
JPN
8
AUS
8
Footwork 15th 6
Preceded by
Érik Comas
International Formula 3000 Champion
1991
Succeeded by
Luca Badoer

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