Christian Fittipaldi (born January 18, 1971) is a Brazilian former racing driver who has competed in various forms of motorsport including Formula One, Champ Car and NASCAR. Named after the less known Brazilian driver Christian Heins (killed at the 1963 24 Hours of Le Mans), he was a highly rated young racing driver in the early 1990s, and participated in 43 Formula One Grands Prix for Minardi and Footwork between 1992 and 1994. He is the son of former Grand Prix driver and team owner Wilson Fittipaldi Júnior, and the nephew of two-time Formula One Champion and Indianapolis 500 winner Emerson Fittipaldi.
Early years[]
Born in São Paulo, Fittipaldi was second in the Brazilian Formula Ford in 1988. After finishing third in the South American Formula 3 in 1989, in 1990 he won the title in the Formula 3 Sudamericana and the fourth place in the British Formula 3.
In 1991, the Brazilian was installed in Europe to compete in the Formula 3000, where he captured two wins and seven podiums in ten races to obtain the championship against Alessandro Zanardi. Later, he was third in the Macau Grand Prix of Formula 3.
Formula One[]
His jump into Formula 1 happened in 1992 with Minardi, one of the most modest teams of the grid at the time; he scored a single point in 1992. Christian is the first Formula One driver to be born in the 1970s. Next year, he managed to score a total of five points in the Drivers' Championship, but the team decided to do away with him with two races to go in the season. The following season, he competed in the Footwork team and earned two fourth places, adding to a total of six points in the championship (as those finishes were his only points-paying results year). At the end of the 1994 season Fittipaldi decided to try his luck in the racing competitions in the United States.
In 2016, in an academic paper that reported a mathematical modeling study that assessed the relative influence of driver and machine, Fittipaldi was ranked the 11th best Formula One driver of all time.
Formula One Statistical Overview[]
Formula One Record[]
| Year | Entrant | Team | WDC Points | WDC Pos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 |  Minardi Team
|
Minardi-Lamborghini | 1 | 17th |
| 1993 | Minardi Team
|
Minardi-Lamborghini | 5 | 13th |
| 1994 |  Footwork Ford
|
Footwork-Ford | 6 | 15th |
Career Statistics[]
| Entries | 43 |
| Starts | 40 |
| Pole Positions | 0 |
| Race Wins | 0 |
| Podiums | 0 |
| Fastest Laps | 0 |
| Points | 12 |
| Laps Raced | 2141 |
| Distance Raced | 9,760 km (6,060 mi) |
Career Results[]
| Complete Formula One Results | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | Pts | Pos | |||||||
| 1992 | 
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 | 17th | |||||||
| Ret | Ret | Ret | 11th | Ret | 8th | 13th | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | 12th | 6th | 9th | |||||||||||||
| 1993 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
5 | 13th | |||||||
| 4th | Ret | 7th | Ret | 8th | 5th | 9th | 8th | 12th | 11th | Ret | Ret | 8th | 9th | ||||||||||||
| 1994 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
6 | 15th | |||||||
| Ret | 4th | 13th | Ret | Ret | DSQ | 8th | 9th | 4th | 14th | Ret | Ret | 8th | 17th | 8th | 8th | ||||||||||
| Key | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Symbol | Meaning | Symbol | Meaning | ||
| 1st | Winner | Ret | Retired | ||
| 2nd | Podium finish | DSQ | Disqualified | ||
| 3rd | DNQ | Did not qualify | |||
| 5th | Points finish | DNPQ | Did not pre-qualify | ||
| 14th | Non-points finish | TD | Test driver | ||
| Italics | Fastest Lap | DNS | Did not start | ||
| 18th† | Classified finish (retired with >90% race distance) | NC | Non-classified finish (<90% race distance) | ||
| 4thP | Qualified for pole position | [+] More Symbols | |||
See also[]
Wilson Fittipaldi Júnior (Father)
Emerson Fittipaldi (Uncle)