Grandson of F1 legend Emerson Fittipaldi broke both his legs in a high-speed crash at Spa last year and has revealed the battle he faced on his return to racing
“I JUST had to suck it up and drive.”
This was Pietro Fittipaldi’s astonishing attitude as he returned to racing just two and a half months after a horrific crash saw him break both of his legs.
The grandson of F1 legend Emerson Fittipaldi suffered a high-speed crash at Spa in May last year, which saw him suffer two fractures.
Following surgery and working tirelessly with doctors and physios, Fittipaldi returned to racing with his left leg STILL broken.
He said: “I feel really good now, 100 per cent driving wise.
“The issue was after I had my accident, two and a half months later I got back to racing in IndyCar but my left leg was still broken.
“In IndyCar you have to hit the brakes as hard as you possibly can in that car, so if you’re doing that and your leg is still fractured, it was hurting a lot.
“I was having a lot of painkillers.
“In the first race I could only hit the break at 50 per cent compared to what my teammates were doing from the data we had so obviously it wasn’t good.”
Speaking at the Marrakesh ePrix Fittipaldi added: “Maybe I came back a little too soon and I should have come back when I was closer to being 100 per cent.
“As it got stronger and healed more after every race, we ran really well, consistently finishing in the top ten in practice and races, so I was happy considering I was still racing with my leg broken.
“It was the opportunity I had, I had five races left in IndyCar and I had to just suck it up and drive.”
A day after surgery, Fittipaldi was told he would be out for the rest of the season.
But he said to himself: “No, that’s not going to happen.”
The following week after surgery Fittapaldi travelled to Indianapolis for the famous Indy 500.
He would wake up at 7am to the sound of roaring engines on the track and his mum would take him to the medical centre where he would train for four hours with doctors and physios.
The 22-year-old stuck to this routine for two months almost everyday.
Fittipaldi then used a brace on his left leg which would give him more support to help him break but ultimately offered him extra protection.
Fittipaldi recalled everything he can remember from the crash and what he saw from inside the crushed cockpit.
He added: “The adrenaline carried me through initially.
“I hit the wall, I had the failure and I couldn’t steer, so I went straight into the wall.
“When I crashed the door opened on its own. So I unbuckled my belts and I was trying to get out but I was like ‘something is hurting really really bad’ and then I looked down at my legs…
“I had two compound fractures, so the bone was sticking out of my left leg, this foot was here and the other one was all the way on the other side.
“And that was when the pain started coming.
“I was like ‘f***ing hell, s***’ and then I was waiting there and they had to lift me so they cut the chassis.
“They did a great job and did it really fast but I was in the car for 30 minutes and I was fainting in and out and coming back.
“After I got out the car, they gave me something and I woke up the day after, after the surgery.”
The Brazilian feared that his career would be over as he woke up in a hospital bed.
Fittipaldi said: “I was scared.
“They told me the surgery went well but I didn’t know how bad my injuries were, the only thing I knew was when I looked down at my legs they looked all crap.
“I didn’t know what the injuries were so I didn’t know if I could come back racing."
Fittipaldi is Haas' F1 test driver this season and also races for WRT Audi in DTM having also tested for Jaguar in Formula E this season.
