Emerson Fittipaldi (Sao Paulo, 1946) is a Formula 1 legend. A two-time world champion, he first drove a Lotus 72 at just 25 years and 8 months old, and was the youngest driver to win a championship, a record that lasted 33 years until the emergence of Spaniard Fernando Alonso. His second win was with McLaren in 1974, a team to which he remains attached.
“I’ve always been very lucky. God always blessed me greatly at a time when this sport was very risky. I lost many friends in this sport,” but “for me, it was a very special moment to be the first Brazilian F1 World Champion. Today, F1 is very different,” he shared in an interview.
Because of all the technology?
It’s fantastic, with so much analysis. Formula 1 is a science today, at a scientific level. A weekend like today in Saudi Arabia, in Jeddah with McLaren. McLaren has 40 engineers live in England today, communicating with Saudi Arabia, with more than 20 engineers receiving all this analysis, trying to improve the car and provide information for the driver. So it’s a science, a sport, and a science all at once. It’s very good, and we consider Mexico one of the best Grand Prix of the year.
And what about Checo Pérez?
My opinion as a Latin American. We are Latin Americans. Checo Pérez was a great representative of us, and he wasn’t understood. This year we are seeing the test with the drivers who are with Max Verstappen; in my opinion, they are worse than Checo. Checo Pérez won circuits, he won in Monaco, he won in Baku, very difficult city circuits, street circuits. Checo is very fast. We are seeing how Verstappen makes the rules with the car; he is very special as a driver, and that is more difficult for the second-in-command on the team. We’re seeing the difficulties. Red Bull is changing drivers to see who can match Verstappen, but Checo was better.
