Pietro Fittipaldi is a reserve driver for Haas. He has already had the opportunity to compete in Formula 1 when he replaced the injured Romain Grosjean at the end of the season in 2020. In addition to this, he takes part in selected Friday practice sessions and is with the American team on the track on the occasion of many Grand Prix weekends. On a day-to-day basis, however, he takes part in endurance racing, in which he recently achieved considerable success at Monza. Roksana Ćwik spoke to the Brazilian ahead of the Italian Grand Prix about his approach to the WEC, combining these duties with Formula 1, supporting his brother Enzo in Formula 2, or the chances of drivers from his country in motorsport.
Pietro, we are in a special place here at Monza because a few weeks ago you won the WEC race. Now you are here as a reserve driver for Haas. What is the difference between winning the race and coming here a few weeks later?
Monza is always a special track to come to just because it's a classic track and everybody enjoys coming here because the racetrack is nice, and then you have nice restaurants around and stuff. It's always perfect to come back to Monza, and even better coming back from a win. Last time I was here, we won the WEC race with JOTA so that was fantastic, and now I'm focused here with Haas to try to help as much as I can for us to score some points.
The schedule between IMSA and WEC, and now also Haas, is very tight. How do you manage to do everything on time and always be fit, always aware, to be present at every weekend?
It's hard to be honest because I think I'm doing 33 race weekends. Usually, I fly to a race weekend on Wednesday night, and I go back home on Sunday night. I spend maybe two to three days at home and then traveling again. I think the important thing is, when I'm here with Haas, and I’m the reserve driver, every morning I try to keep training, so waking up very early, doing some training in the morning before I get to the track because if I try to do the training in the afternoon, I'm going to be tired. I always keep the routine and maintain doing training in the morning and this is always very important and then always try to get good sleep. I think that's a problem when you change the time zone a lot, you lose a lot of sleep, so making sure that you time it right and try to sleep is important. And never sleep during the day because it changes your whole schedule, so always sleeping at the right time is very important.
You mentioned JOTA. Last year you were a driver for the Polish team, Inter Europol Competition. I must ask about it because they won Le Mans this year — are you impressed by how much they changed during the year? I know that not everything was perfect when you were there, but now something has changed, and do you miss them sometimes?
They did an excellent job this year in Le Mans. They executed better than anybody, so they got to win there, and they deserved it. They made very little mistakes, and it was a race that many things happened. As I said earlier - it was a race where the person who executed the best was going to win and that's what they did, and they've been doing a very good job this year. Most of the race weekends, they've been very competitive, so it's going to be interesting to see what happens in these last two races.
What is your take on the LMP2 being excluded from WEC next year?
LMP2 is a great and super competitive category. I love the racing and I would like to have LMP2 in the WEC field. But they're not being able to do that for a good reason because there's a lot of hypercars, which is cool to see. I think that is very good for the sport and for endurance racing that the top class is having so many cars and entries. I also know that a lot of the LMP2 teams that will not do hypercars - they will bring their cars to do IMSA, so then I think IMSA is going to have a very big field of LMP2 cars.
With WEC coming back to Brazil in 2024, will you do everything to make a debut in Brazil in your hometown?
That would be amazing for sure; to do a world championship race in Interlagos would be super cool. I raced there before in a Porsche GT race and as well the Brazilian stock cars. It's just an amazing track as well, with so much history, a very flowy track and it always has a very good feeling. We'll see what the opportunity is for next season, but to race in Brazil with the WEC would be something very nice.
Is racing in stints in the WEC still something you look forward to? When you switch with another driver from your team in the middle of a race? Unlike Formula 1, Formula 2, where it's just racing from start to finish?
I think that's the whole idea of endurance racing. It's a teamwork, you know. You go out, do your stint in the car, then your teammate gets in, does his stint, then your other teammate gets in, does his stint, then you're back in the car. It's very intense, and keeping mentally and physically fit throughout the whole race is something super difficult. I think more difficult than any other type of racing; just making sure that you conserve your energy levels, and you're good throughout the whole race. Especially when you go to 24-hour races - from the beginning to the end, you're a different person. I mean, you're so drained by the end of the race, so making sure that every time you get in the car you're performing at your best is critical. Here when you're doing, you know, one race, and it's like two hours and that's it, I'm not saying it's easier, but the preparation can be a little bit more relaxed. In the endurance, especially when you're going for 24 hours, you have to prepare days before to make sure your body is ready; you're hydrated, you have the right food in your body to make sure you last for the whole 24 hours. So it's a different type of challenge, but it's a challenge which I like a lot, you know. It's challenging for my body but for my mind as well.
We already know that the WEC has decided to go back and remove tyre blankets for the upcoming races. What is your opinion on this, and do you think the FIA should do the same when it comes to Formula 1?
Actually I tested the F1 car with no tyre blankets last month in Silverstone. We ran many laps there. Obviously, the first half a lap is super tricky, you know. The car is sliding around a lot, you don't have any temperature, but then the temperatures come up pretty quick, so it's very different. I think for sure it would shake up the strategy quite a lot, because you're going to be thinking, you know, when I do a pit stop I will be with cold tyres and vice versa, so I think if they can get the tyre ready and, you know, make it safe, I think that it would be pretty interesting for F1. Like how IndyCar has it - they have cold tyres and stuff, so there's more of a difference with the strategy because of that, so I think it shakes up the racing.
A few minutes ago, journalists asked Günther Steiner about free practice for young drivers. We know you were one of the drivers before, do you know if you will have the chance to take part in free practice?
I'm not sure yet. Obviously, the team gave me an opportunity to test in the Pirelli test a month ago at Silverstone, and they have to do two FP1s, but that's up to the team, they haven't told me yet.
After Nico Hülkenberg joined the team, how much the team has changed?
I mean the team, the personnel, are the same, but having Nico and his experience is something very important for the team. He drove the current generation F1 car for Aston Martin last year. I think it's good because he knows the car as well, and he brings good information for the team. He has a lot of experience, and he's a great guy to work with, I really enjoy working with him. It's been really nice this season, so I think it was very good.
Talking about Brazil and Brazilian drivers. You come from Brazil, Felipe Drugovich is an F2 champion, he sits as a reserve driver at Aston Martin, and you sit here at Haas. Do you think we will see a Brazilian driver in Formula One in the future, maybe your brother Enzo?
Yeah, for sure. I know many Brazilian drivers that are pushing and preparing to get into F1. I know that the fans and the people in Brazil have a lot of passion for racing, and they want to see a Brazilian driver back in Formula 1. I think it would be something really huge and Brazil has such a big history with Formula 1, so to have a Brazilian F1 driver back full time on the grid would be something spectacular for Brazil.
Speaking of your brother, he won the sprint race at Spa. I could see his emotions. How does it feel to see your younger brother on the top step of the podium?
I was super happy, he deserved it so much. This year he was very close to having a few wins and always something would happen with either safety car or something crazy would happen, and he didn't get it, so… To finally get the first win, I think it was like a… Finally! He definitely deserved it a lot. He was extremely happy, and I was very happy for him. I know the effort behind it from my whole family to make it possible for us to race, and now I just gotta keep going.
WINNER! Beautiful race brother 🦈 Te amo muito Enzo!!! ❤️🏆🇧🇷 pic.twitter.com/bkWBHN9pAp
— Pietro Fittipaldi (@PiFitti) July 29, 2023
Now he is in the Red Bull Junior program. How does it all change before the program and now? What is the most significant difference?
I think the program prepares the driver a lot. You know, together with Dr Helmut Marko and the engineers that they have there, helping in the development program. Rocky is one of the engineers there, he used to be Vettel’s engineer. I think that as a driver, you can learn so much from them. Obviously, they are a championship winning team, they are the best team in Formula 1 at the moment. So just being able to have those doors open and to ask questions and the way they prepare you and the approach, I think it's something that has so much value. My brother has been able to learn a lot and I told him: you have to be like a sponge and try to take in and soak in as much information as possible and keep learning from them because they have a lot of experience.
Aren't you afraid to look at the history of young drivers? I mean what happened to Brendon Hartley or Pierre Gasly, for example.
The pressure is part of anything that you do competitive in life, there's going to be pressure because if you do anything at a high level, there will be people competing at a very high level because the higher you go, the less opportunity there is. So the pressure is there your whole life, whether you're doing racing or you're doing another job: you're always going to have pressure. The mentality is to do your best. If I know I'm doing everything I can, I will have no regrets, and Enzo works the same way. All I can do is literally my best to give everything that I can and in the end, whatever happens, is a result of the preparation, of the opportunity, timing of everything. Some things are out of your control, you have to just be at peace with it and just focus on doing your best and that's it.
I know you are a reserve driver. How does it feel to be a reserve driver, to be here, and then to jump into the car so right off the bat?
I think when you get a chance to jump in the car, obviously doing simulator work helps for you to be ready. Being physically prepared also helps. I have my routine that if I get a call-up to jump in the car to do a test, I know how to prepare myself in the best way possible, with the engineers looking at the data and the video, to make sure when I jump in the car, I adapt very fast. I think that's always very important. You cannot take long to get used to the car. You want to learn it in a few laps and already be on pace. I think it's just a matter of being ready. You can be relaxed here and then tomorrow if something happens, you got to jump in the car.
Like with Liam Lawson.
Yeah. But then just take things step by step, and you're going to have a lot of emotions and excitement and everything... But just staying calm and taking it as another race weekend like any other race. You're just doing it on the biggest stage with the most cameras and the journalists and everything. But you just take it one thing at a time.
Have you ever considered competing in Formula E?
I was doing testing and development for Jaguar in Formula E, and I liked the championship a lot and it's something that I definitely look into every year.
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
