From Setbacks to Successes with Pietro Fittipaldi | FanAmp Insider

For our first episode, we sat down with Pietro Fittipaldi to uncover what it's like growing up in a prominent racing family while still forging your own path. Pietro has an incredible range of driving experience, from NASCAR to endurance racing to INDYCAR and even to Formula 1. He also has the chops off-track, including a successful social media presence with his brother, Enzo, and regular appearances on F1TV.

While he's built a name for himself, his path hasn't been without its fair share of challenges. Pietro continues to overcome them, just like he did when both his legs were broken in a crash, and that tenacity and positivity is what makes his story so special.

Click below to watch the full interview with Pietro Fittipaldi, and keep reading for the full transcript.

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Introductions and Welcome to Las Vegas [00:16]

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Greg: I'm Greg and welcome to the first episode of FanAmp Insider. I am here at the Sirius XM studio in Las Vegas, around the Las Vegas Grand Prix. I'm joined by BaristaJoshRacing!

Josh: Hi, Greg! Yeah, this is exciting! I normally film things in my bedroom, so this is a little bit different than that setup, but I'm excited for today's interview. I think it's gonna be fun.

Greg: For those who don't know, or if you're new, this is our series where we're basically going to tell the unfiltered stories. Of the people who bring motorsports to life. And we are very humbled and privileged to have none other than Pietro Fittipaldi, who is here to kick it off with us.

Pietro: Thank you very much for the invite! It's a pleasure. Right before the Las Vegas F1 Grand Prix, which is very exciting. So yeah, super stoked to be here. Thank you.

Greg: Yeah. Welcome. Welcome. You were saying you've driven a lot of SIM stuff before. Obviously you were just in Sebring testing, but you've driven this race in the simulator before, so what is it like coming in here and seeing this track?

Pietro: So, actually, going from the hotel that we're staying with the team - which is the MGM Grand - to this hotel, we actually got to drive the track for the first time a little bit. Like I went down the main stretch, going down the Strip. So for sure! In real life, when you compare simulator to real life racing, it's always different when you come to real life.

The track always feels slightly different, but the simulator is such an important tool for us drivers to prepare for new tracks, to learn, the characteristics of the track, how the car is going to feel. But then, at the end of the day, when you actually go in and drive it, it's it's a whole different deal.

So maybe one day I'll get the chance to do that.

Greg: Whenever I go to Miami, I think of playing GTA Vice City and I know all the landmarks I'm driving at, but it's nowhere like what it is in the game.

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Who is Pietro Fittipaldi? To NASCAR and Beyond [02:05]

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Greg: We've met you at different races before. You obviously have driven many different series, but for the people who don't know you. Who are you? Who is Pietro Fittipaldi? You have all these different hats, but who are you?

Pietro: Yeah. I'm a born racer. I started racing go-karts when I was four years old.

I come from a family with a lot of racing history and yeah, I'm probably one of the racing drivers that's raced at a competitive level in so many different race cars... Probably the racing driver that's driven the most different race cars in the world. I think close to Alonso. I've raced Formula 1, IndyCar, DTM, Formula E, World Endurance Championship with prototype cars.

I've raced NASCAR. I've had the privilege to drive many different race cars. And I've won championships - races in a lot of different series on ovals, on road courses, on street circuits. For me, like I said, I'm a born racer and I like to drive anything that's fast.

Josh: You did an interview with Motorsport.com, and you dubbed yourself the most diverse racing driver in the world. And like you said, you started in, NASCAR and everything - which is not the most traditional route when you're talking about the Formula Series, but what drew you to NASCAR in the first place?

Pietro: So when we went from karting to cars, you would initially go... let's say you start karting when... I started when I was four, when I got to the age of 13/ 14 - that's when you start thinking about, "alright, we have to move up to race cars".

And you would naturally want to go and start doing some single seater racing, like nowadays there's the whole ladder F4, F3, F2. Back in the day, there wasn't that ladder, but there were similar series. We didn't have the funding to go to race in Europe and start a open wheel, racing career.

So, the most viable step was to actually start racing late models in North Carolina. So I went, I did that when I was 14, and when I was 15, I won a late model championship at Hickory Motorspeedway, which is a very historic track in the NASCAR World and short track oval racing. And by winning that championship, then I got the opportunity and the sponsorship to go race in Europe.

But I always had a very good feeling with the ovals. I've loved oval racing. That's why I like IndyCar so much because you get the road course, street circuits, and then you get ovals. On the ovals, you get short oval, you get kind of normal size speedways, and you get the superspeedways like, the Indy 500.

Yeah, I've always loved oval racing. And one day maybe I'll go back to NASCAR. I don't know, but I had a great time when I did it.

Josh: I know for a lot of drivers, their goal at the beginning is to get into Formula 1, and now that you've done a loto f different series, do you still have an end goal? What kind of that top series you'd want to be a part of even after doing so many different series, or is there one that you've fallen in love with at this point?

Pietro: No, honestly, I've been I think seven seasons now with the Haas Formula 1 Team - every year testing their car and, doing development work for them had the privilege to do two F1 races in 2020 for this team. But my dream and goal is to win as many races and championships and in my career as possible.

If that's in IndyCar, that would be amazing. I really love IndyCar racing. It's probably one of the best racing series in the world in terms of the driver, because any race you go to... it doesn't matter what team you are... you have a chance to win. And I love that feeling about it. And then I also really enjoy endurance racing because it's a whole aspect of -

I'm going to race in Daytona for the 24 hours in January, and I was at Sebring with my teammates. I have ... we have four teammates or three teammates for that race, four drivers in the lineup. And usually your teammate is your biggest competition because you're always getting compared to him, but in an endurance race, it's like your friend, and just working with three other guys, trying to make the car better and trying to find the best strategy for the race.

And that camaraderie that you have during the race weekends - it's something that I really enjoy about endurance racing. Then staying up 24 hours, racing is pretty cool in itself. Yeah, I would say either, IndyCar racing or racing at the highest level of endurance is going to be a very exciting.

Josh: Yeah. Endurance is a whole other beast. Greg and I went to our first endurance race at COTA this year, and it's only 6 hours, but even that feels like an eternity just to be walking around. So, driving that amount of time just would be an incredible experience.

Greg: We were seeing the mechanics... everyone... you could see the fatigue on their faces trying to get through that weekend.

But everyone pushed through it and they were so excited about it.

Pietro: Yeah. Because people think, 'oh, it's 24 hours', but it's actually not because there's days leading up to it. So you're already tired leading up to the race and then you're for sure awake before the race starts. So you're up for, I would say 32 hours because before the race starts, you have to prep the car and everything.

So if the race starts at 1 PM, the mechanics are at the garage at six in the morning. So you're up for a very long time. And for the driver, when you have four drivers and you're rotating, Usually when you get in the car, or out of the car, you have around, let's say four or five hours of rest.

That's your time that you need to try to get to sleep. But I've been part of a few 24 hour races and because of the adrenaline, I've never been able to sleep.

Josh: I was like, I'm trying to get a nap. It would be a little bit of a challenge during a 24 hour race. By the time I fall asleep, you're like, 'I gotta be up! I gotta be prepared'!

Pietro: I know and some guys actually are able to do it. I'm just, I'm not able to, and the first 24 hours race I did, I was like super frustrated in the motor home. I was what the fuck? Like I need to sleep, and I couldn't. And then I felt like I was wasting more energy, just overthinking it.

So then the other ones I would just lay down, and I'm fine with not sleeping and that ends up being better rest than overthinking it.

Josh: Yeah. I know how I feel after a nap and it would not be a good mood to be in to drive a car. That's... imagine waking up groggy. You're like, where the hell am I?

Pietro: There's a lot of caffeine that goes into those 24 hour races. So it definitely helps.

Greg: I'm curious, having started in NASCAR, is there anything you took away from that series that you think sets you up better than other drivers? Is there a lesson, like Josh was saying, it's not as common or not common at all.

Is there something that you take that you think differentiates you from other drivers?

Pietro: Yeah, I think for sure respecting the ovals. Because if you speak to a lot of European drivers that have never watched oval racing or been to an oval race or yet alone participated in one, they look at ovals and think, it must be so easy or just flat out all the way around and, it's easier, it's boring. And it's...

Dude, it's definitely not. It's so difficult. And coming from the NASCAR world, just setting up a race car, setting up a late model to perform at its best at a short oval, it's very hard. And there's so many small details and changes you can make to the car that completely changes the performance.

So then, when you take that and then you go in the car racing where the speeds and the stakes are much higher and you add that intimidation factor, because you're going at averaging 230 miles an hour and skimming the wall... Sometimes if you crash, it's going to hurt. You add that intimidation factor in the competition.

Fact behind that... it's.... I think NASCAR really taught me how to respect the ovals and enjoy oval racing because you need to race really hard and you need to be aggressive on ovals. So yeah, that's something that I took on for any other racing that I do.

Josh: Yeah. That's great. And I think you do offer such a unique experience of not only different series, but different types of cars and everything.

So just to round that out: For you, I think some people can see bouncing from series to series, especially when you're talking about like a wide variety - as potentially either a hindrance or something that is super helpful for you. Where do you fall on that spectrum of, bouncing between all of these very different series?

Pietro: Yeah. I think for me, it's very helpful because I get to experience working with different teams, different people. In Europe you get the opportunity to work with English teams, Spanish teams, Italian teams, sometimes German teams, and just learn, first how to work with different people in the cultures. The way they work is very different.

Yeah. So having that helps me in whatever I do. And then, obviously the experience with the cars and developing different cars. But as a racing driver as well, sometimes it's not your decision of whether, 'Oh, I want to do this or that'. It was, you just take whatever opportunity comes because it's so difficult nowadays for racing.

There's a lot of well funded drivers that are able to buy into opportunities. And then sometimes that takes away opportunities from a professional driver. So you have to take what you can get at times. But going through that, I think it helped me a lot as a racing driver.

And yeah I wouldn't change it. I wouldn't change sort of mycareer path.

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Editors Note - Fittipaldi Legacy [11:04]

[00:10:02] Logan: Hey guys, Logan here just with a quick little editor's note. Being the humble guy that he is, Pietro didn't really go into extensive detail on his family's racing background. So before we get into this section, I wanted to share some highlights so you know just how deepmotorsports run in his family's blood.

It all starts with his great grandfather, Wilson Fittipaldi Sr. Who was a prominent Brazilian motorsport journalist, and Wilson Sr. 's two sons, Wilson Jr. and Emerson, followed in their father's footsteps and joined the racing scene. Wilson Jr. raced F1 in the 1970s and helped co found the Fittipaldi Automotive F1 team.

His younger brother Emerson is a two time Formula 1 World Champion. For his first win with Lotus, Emerson shared a very special moment with his father, Wilson, which Pietro will get into later. Stay tuned becausey ou definitely don't want to miss that.

His second was with McLaren and was also the team's first ever win for both the Drivers and Constructors Championships.

He also won the Indy 500 twice in 1989 and 1993 among other accolades.

Jumping down the tree, we also have Pietro's uncle, Max Pappas. He raced the 24 Hours of Le Mans, in Formula 1, and he raced in Champ Car. He's also an IndyCar steward... Talk about keeping it in the family.

And of course you have the other half of the Fittipaldi brothers. Pietro's younger brother Enzo races in Formula 2 with VanAmersfoort. When the brothers aren't seen at the track, they can be found on Twitch, streaming or posting on their shared socials. That was a lot of Fittipaldis and there are plenty more to go through. But let's get back to the video and see what Pietro has to say.

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Embracing the Legacy [12:32]

Greg: You obviously have a very successful racing lineage. How does that weigh on you both in the good and also maybe some challenges that it adds, like how does that affect you as a driver?

Pietro: Honestly, it's never affected me. I always saw it as a privilege - having a family that understands so much about racing.

I think it's... Yeah, it's very good for me because if I have any doubt, I can always ask somebody. My grandfather raced my... I don't know how to say it.... My grandfather's brother, which would be my great uncle. He raced as well. Christian Fittipaldi, my cousin raced. Max Pappas, who's married to my mom's sister was a racing driver too.

And he's actually one of the IndyCar stewards. So I have him in my pocket.

Greg: That's why that penalty....

Pietro: He penalized me twice. One of them, I strongly disagree.

Greg: You talked back at Thanksgiving.

Josh: You will talk about this at Christmas.

Pietro: Oh, I was so pissed, honestly. But anyways, that's another story... call him after.

Greg: Did you call him after?

Pietro: Oh yeah. I called him after I went to his office to speak to him. I was really pissed.

Greg: It's in the family group chat.

Pietro: But, for me, it's always been a privilege to be part of a racing family. The pressure comes from within because I'm doing what I love, and I want to do it. I want to win races. The pressure, I think, comes from me wanting to do well.

Greg: I've heard you speak before where you've talked about... That you were lucky to be able to see how to get into racing because you grew up in it. And I'm curious now that you are in it, who are the people that give you that level head in this and that have taught you to have that mindset?

Pietro: Honestly, I think it was mainly my dad who is not part of a racing family.

So my mom is Emerson's oldest daughter. And so Emerson's first child. So my dad did not come from racing, but he's the one that bought me my first go kart. And together with my mom, they would take us to all the race weekends and karting, every weekend. And it's a big sacrifice from their part.

But my dad was the one, "Anything you want to do, you have to like fully commit to it". It's... in his eyes as well as there's no plan B. It's if you want to do something, it's plan A and that's it. And have that mentality to find a way to make it work when things are not going well.

Always having that, "yeah, there's no plan B mentality". So whatever that's in your control, you have to do the best you can and maximize it. So I got that from him really.

Josh: I think it's always cool to hear those stories of like families that have really come together to like support, what their kid like wants to do

Pietro: Yeah, it's a big journey. Because you start karting - we started when I was four, so I'm 28 now. So imagine it's been - Jesus- 24 years of the racing stuff. And my parents are still supporting, sacrificing a lot for us to continue racing, even now with my younger brother racing in F2. We were living in Italy when I was racing World Series and my brother was doing F4 and my mom was there living with us, for four years.

Their whole lives have been dedicated to us chasing our dreams, basically. Yeah, it's a massive family effort.

Josh: In 2018 you had an accident in Spa that was a pretty bad accident, broke both your legs, if I'm remembering correctly. And I remember, you did an interview where they were, basically saying it's going to be a year to get back, on the track. I believe it was two and a half months, three months later that you were back out there.

I think one that speaks to your dedication and resolve to, get to those things, but what is it like being in an accident of that caliber and then jumping back into a car? Was there a little part of you that had a little bit of nerves when you went back in? Or are you just thinking 'I'm ready'?

Pietro: No, honestly, I was ready to go as soon as I woke up from surgery. That's the first thing that came to my mind. It's yeah... it's crazy, but it's just the way it is because we sacrifice so much of our lives to becoming professional racing drivers and winning races and championships your whole mind is... you're not even thinking about your health.

You're like, 'yeah, dude am I going to lose opportunities now because of this?' That's the first thing that came to my mind. So yeah, the crash happened. We had a failure in the car. I was driving a very fast car. It was a thousand horsepower LMP1 car and the car had a failure. I lost steering, went straight in the wall, and then the front left tire actually came into the cockpit.

At the time, actually, the car was a prototype, so it's a closed cockpit. When I hit the wall, the door opened, and I was conscious the whole time.  I was like, all right, it's a pretty heavy hit. I unbuckled and when I went to climb out - I went to move myself out of the seat, and I was like, 'Oh what the fuck?'

My legs hurt a lot.

Josh: A pretty heavy hit. Then it's having to try to pull yourself up and be like, Oh my! Oh, that's crazy! Oh yeah!

Pietro: No, and then I looked down and I saw that my legs were all like.. Have you ever seen those basketball players when they land? And the leg snapped.

It was like that. {motions with arms} With both my legs. And then that's when the pain came. It took a minute for me to realize that something was hurting. So I think because of the adrenaline, it was like that.

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Editor's Note - Pietro's Crash Details [17:38]

[00:16:09] Logan: Okay, so just popping in here really quickly. Pietro was involved in one of the most horrific racing accidents, and I just need you to know how severe it actually was.

In 2018, Pietro was driving for DragonSpeed and racing the number 10 car in Spa for the World Endurance Championship Six Hours of Spa Race. He lost the car right before turning to Eau Rouge, which sent him straight into the barriers at very high speeds. As he describes it, a wheelcame straight into the cockpit, breaking his ankle and his leg.

But it was so severe that his bones were sticking out of his race suit. Pietro had to wait 30 minutes for the medical team to come and get him. Imagine that... You're sitting in the car with your legs all in a pretzel,and you have to wait half an hour as they work to free you. Pietro was then airlifted to the hospital where he could get the help that he needed.

The doctors told Pietro that he would probably be out of commission for a year, maybe more. But Pietro had other plans. I'll let him go into detail about his road to recovery, but just know that only three months after his crash, Pietro was back behind the wheel racing the final races of the 2018 IndyCar season, scoring top ten finishes with one partially healed ankle and one metal rod supporting his left tibia.

Now with that context, let's find out how he did it.

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Recovering From His Crash [18:50]

Pietro: It took them 30 minutes to get me out of the car, and then they airlifted me to the hospital. That's when I passed out, and I only woke up after surgery. And that's yeah... Then my first thought was, 'when can I get back to racing?'

Josh: You're like, 'can I drive with two casts on?'

Pietro: So the surgeon there was like, 'yeah, listen, it's going to take a year, to be fully healed.' And it did take me like a year to be fully healed, but I had opportunities to race an IndyCar still that year. I flew to Indianapolis. I actually lived inside the Indianapolis MotorSpeedway with my mom at a motorhome for two months there.

And I did all my rehab with the IndyCar doctors. Dr. Tremel was a key person that helped me out a lot. We were using the medical center, there at IMS. Doing all the rehab every morning, training at Pit Fit, which is a place where a lot of the IndyCar drivers train at, to keep my upper body fit.

Then Dr. Tremel developed these carbon fiber braces to put on my legs for me to be able to get back... Two and a half months after the accident with a combination, maybe a bit of painkillers and stuff, I was able to get back racing.

Josh: I feel like when you hear it might be a year till you race again... That's not an easy thing to hear when you're talking about something that you're passionate about and you love. But what really helped you get through that period?

Pietro: Honestly, it was just I think the way that we set it up. I went, two weeks after my surgery, from Belgium to Indianapolis.

I was in the motorhome because I was supposed to race the Indy500 that year. That's where we had the motorhome and everything set up. And that crash was during the beginning of May. So I had that motorhome there and then IndyCar was like, 'why don't you do the rehab here with the IndyCar doctor?' So, I flew there to the motorhome with my mom.

During those first weeks there, the Indy 500 was going on, so I was doing all the rehab and training, but still being part of... Like I was racing for Dale Coyne. So going to Dale, seeing how the preparation for Indy was going. Then once the Indy 500 finished, I still stayed another month there at the track, and it was empty.

There was nobody there, and I was just alone with my mom in the motorhome, but I actually really enjoyed it. It was really weird because I'm very goal oriented. So my goal was fully focused on my body and trying to get it to a hundred percent as quickly as possible. So we had a routine of, wake up early in the morning, doing two hours of rehab at the track, and then we're training at PitFit. Then at the end I would go to Dr. Trammell's house, where he had a pool and that's where I would work on my mobility for my ankle. We did that for weeks, and yeah, it was... That kept me mentally sane because I knew I was doing everything I could to get back.

Josh: Yeah. You basically had a very clear end goal and it was basically, 'how much work are you willing to put in' and the more you put in, the quicker this is going to go.

Pietro: Yeah, for sure.

Greg: It's crazy that you just end up in a crash. That's that severe. And then you just snap into, 'all right, how do we fix this?'

Pietro: Yeah. It's the only option, because we have to make a living racing. So, there's no other option for me, honestly.

Greg: I've had days of work where I'm like, I'm just going to take a sick day. Meanwhile, you're in a crash where your legs are broken.

Josh:  It's like the subway is a little busy today. I'm just going to take it off.

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Mind and Body [22:07]

Josh: People talk a lot about, the mental and physical toll of any racing series. Some of the series have power steering. Some of them are like IndyCar and you are just wrestling that wheel around... and then you take, what you've done to bounce between different ones. What is the physical and mental toll?

Pietro: Yeah. Last year I was racing the World Endurance Championship with team Jota. We had a successful year. I - we won the race at Monza. We were super fast at Le Mans. I had to be very light for endurance racing. So I was very skinny because when you have teammates, the lighter you are, the lighter the car is.

There's no balance in between the drivers. So if I have a teammate that weighs 30, 40 pounds more than me... that guy's going to be slower automatically because he's carrying more weight. Honeslty, it's the way it is. So for endurance racing, I had to lose a lot of weight, and then when I got the opportunity last year.

It was around this time where I signed to come race in IndyCar. Yeah. I was like, all right, now we've got to bulk up massively. So I was like, this is amazing. I'm going to eat whatever I want now. I gained I think before the IndyCar season started.... I gained almost 20 pounds.

Josh: Yeah.

Greg: What were you eating?

Josh: Bread.

Pietro: So I was eating like probably six meals a day. They got to a point after two months of doing it where initially it was like, 'ah, amazing, whatever'. They got to a point where it was like, 'I can't do this anymore'. It's so difficult to keep up the high calorie intake. I never felt that before.

I would always see like videos of like people bulking up and people saying that it gets tiring, and I was like, dude, come on. You can get to eat whatever you want- like it should be amazing, but it's not. It, actually, does get tiring after a lot of it.

That helped me bulk up and get ready for IndyCar because the car is very physical. There's no power steering in the car, so there's corners where you physically cannot steer the wheel. Even if you want to turn more, you can't because the steering wheel is so heavy. So adding that weight definitely helps.

Josh: Yeah, we've talked to a lot of IndyCar drivers and then some WEC drivers and it's so funny hearing like, 'Oh what's your, go to post race meal?' And in WEC just it's a salad. Then you talk to IndyCar and they're like, 'yeah, pizza, beer, fries, three burgers.'

It is a different world.

Pietro: Yes, it is.

Greg: What about the mental game of this- because you're changing your body composition? You also need to be in a different headspace with different series. How do you work through that aspect of it?

Pietro: Yeah, the mental aspect is very important. I would say sometimes, even more important than the physical aspect because, as a driver, you need to have confidence in the car you're racing in. I think confidence is a key, role to your performance. Then last year, in endurance, I had an amazing season. I got offered a contract to race in Hypercar, which would have been amazing, but at the same time this IndyCar opportunity came. I've been waiting for a very long time to have the chance to race full time in IndyCar, so I went for it. I knew that at the time it was just a one year deal, but if we did well and stuff, there was a possibility to continue depending on sponsors and some other things.

But then going into a series where I hadn't raced in many years - I only knew 4 of the 16 tracks we were racing on with very limited testing. So, a lot of the preparation that you have to do is all on the simulator, watching video, going through data with your engineers, and making sure you arrive at the track as prepared as possible.

But for sure- If you don't arrive as confident as if I was just doing the endurance racing that I've been doing so well at the past few years because it's like a whole new kind of world again for me... As a racing driver, every new challenge that you get, it's a new motivation. So for me, yeah, going to IndyCar after so long - trying to do it, it was very exciting.

Greg: So would it be fair to say then for you it's, that you go through just so much preparation. That's how you keep yourself in the right headspace to be able to do it.?

Pietro: I think so. Everybody works differently. I know my brother works very differently. I try to, as a big brother, to help him out, and sometimes he doesn't want to listen because he has his way of doing things.

But for me, I gained confidence by preparing to the best of my ability, and then going out there and doing the best job that I can do. So that gives me confidence. Then, that's the way I'm going to do things.

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Livin' the Dream [26:34]

Greg: Take a look at the IndyCar season that you had, then, after that. You were dreaming of and wanting to do that in a full time capacity. You then did it. What was that like just reflecting on it?

Pietro: Honestly, it was a very tough season. We still were able to compare it to where the 30 car - which was a car was driving - where it had finished the previous year, we improved in points.

I think we scored 20 percent more points than the car did the previous season. So, it was a step up, but it was very challenging. Unfortunately for the team, there was a lot of change in people before the season started, and then as well during the season. So we struggled a lot with continuation in terms of crew, and engineers and stuff.

For me going to a lot of new places and new tracks - I had to learn. Our crew, we have a lot of talented people in terms of mechanics and engineers, but for them as well, it was new for a lot of the crew. So it was like we were all learning with the 30 crew.

It was like a baptism of fire for everybody, and at the same time - trying to ... trying to perform and trying to do better than, what the car did last year - that was the goal to be able to improve it. We ended up succeeding, and we did finish 19th in the standings, but as a driver I definitely wanted more.

There were races where we had potential to finish very well and things just ended up happening. We had a lot of mechanical failures as well throughout the season, which didn't help. So, yeah, it was a tough season, but we completed our goal, which was to improve the the performance of the car, which we did.

For me, it was amazing to be able to race my first full season in the car.

Greg: What was your favorite race? ‍

Pietro: It was going to be the Indy 500, but it was very short. It was the shortest 500 mile race I've ever done in my life because the car we had, the car was not fast in qualifying.

I think I qualified 30th or something. Graham had to go again to last chance qualifying, but he made it. So it was good that everybody from the team made the race, but on Carb Day, our car was very fast. We had the fastest race average on Carb Day, so our car was racing very well. I was looking forward to starting 30th and moving up the field, and then there was that situation that happened at the start with Blumqvist and Ericsson, and there was just nowhere for me to go. It ended short, but that's how it goes sometimes. That's racing.

Greg: The Indy 500 and the qualifying as a fan is probably the most anxious I get watching racing. I can't imagine what you guys deal with.

Pietro: No, it's honestly the mental factor, because you're going out for four laps, knowing 'I'm not lifting for four laps, whether the car is going to stick to the corner or not.' But when you're going there... The first Indy 500 I did, I qualified 13th with Dale Coyne and we honestly could have qualified in the top 10, but we played it safe. We would have made the Fast 12, and we would have fought for pole.

We wouldn't have gotten pole, but we had the car to make it in the Fast 12. The car just had natural speed and it was very fast. And then this year with Rajal, we just did not have speed. Everything that we would do... just... we didn't have speed. So we knew that we were in that bubble of having to make the last chance qualifying or not.

Thank God we didn't have to go through it, but unfortunately Graham did and he made it through, but you never know what can happen. You know that you have the car that can make the race. Then, you're put in a situation where you have to go to last chance, qualify.

Then what happens if the gearbox fails....? Because the Dale Coyne cars that year, this year weren't fast. Our cars are faster, but if something happens in your run, if something breaks, you're done. You're not making the race. So, at least that we didn't have to go through that, but it's ... Mentally taxing.

Josh: Just sitting in line, waiting to go out to qualify.

And you're like...

Pietro: Yeah... like, I don't know if we have the speed, but we're going to send it. And you're like....

Josh: We're going to find out if it's going to stick or not.

Pietro: Because the worst thing is when you don't have the speed, you start doing things that compromises the, sort of, performance in terms of grip for the car.

You start removing downforce to the point where you're like... 'dude, I don't know if I can hold it flat out in the corner', but you're doing it to get at as much speed as you can to just to be able to make the race because a lot of the speed of the car comes from other things. It's not just the downforce. It's all the preparation and the car and what you do in the gearbox and the uprights and stuff to remove as much friction as possible. So if that, for whatever reason, wasn't done in the right way and you have to just remove downforce from the car to go quicker, that's when it gets really tricky.

Josh: Also, congrats for your seat with Pratt Miller Motorsports.

Pietro: Thank you. I appreciate it.

Josh: LMP2 for IMSA.

One of our friends Makenna threw this one out. She is a huge IndyCar.... well I love IndyCar, but she knows way more than I would ever know about an IndyCar. "IMSA is unique in its way that you can still pursue some other racing, careers outside of that individual series.

So you talked about wanting to stay in IndyCar. What does that look like for you in the off season to continue to pursue that IndyCar role?

Pietro: Yeah. I'm doing the IMSA and Pratt Miller ride. It's very good because they're the most successful sportscar team in the world.

It's their first time coming back into prototype racing. They'd been the Corvette Factory Team for, I think, over 25 years. And now they're going into this prototype realm, I believe with the intention to prepare for getting into GTP, which is like the LMDH hypercar stuff. So it's very exciting.

I think the future with them there could be very good, but, as well, still pursuing the IndyCar opportunity that I'd be able to do alongside that, because I want to continue in IndyCar racing. My brother, a few days ago, was testing for McLaren in the car. He had a very good test over there with them.

They were very happy with his job, and I did many laps at Thermal. Who knows, maybe a program where it could be both me and my brother either racing for the same team or in the same car. The Fittipaldi Brothers racing together for the first time would definitely be something special.

Greg: That'd be cool. That'd be cool. We're going to make you guys compete in the garage.

Josh: Pit Stop Challenge! Change a tire faster. Yeah. It's going to be the most random competition. Good for socials. For sure.

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Haas Formula 1 Reserve Driver - Answering the Call [33:03]

Greg: On the F1 side of things, that was one of the avenues that you wanted to drive, and you've driven in there before. You've been with Haas for 6 seasons. I know that you didn't get the chance to do the full time opportunity with them, but reflecting on that, that also opened the doors to other opportunities? When you look back at that period of time, how does that feel? You think it was the right decision or it created the right opportunity for you elsewhere?

Pietro: Yeah, for sure. It was an amazing opportunity for me, to continue being part of the Haas Formula 1 team for so many years. As a driver, you learn so much because the technology in Formula 1 is, by far, ahead of any other racing series in the world. Anything a race car driver wants the Formula 1 car has, so when you drive it, it like feels like a spaceship because it's so fast, but it feels like you're driving the most comfortable car in the world too.

Usually, when cars are fast, it's very rigid and stiff and it's not very comfortable to go fast, but the F1 car is extremely comfortable compared to other race cars.

Greg: Except that period of porpoising?

Pietro: Yeah, there is, but it's still... There's other cars that like bounce even harder than that and you just deal with it, but the F1 car has amazing brakes, amazing acceleration, amazing downforce, and everything feels so smooth. To be part of the development every year with Haas from 2018 onwards... you, as a driver, learn what makes a car go fast. What group of people, how people work together that make a project successful because obviously, we've had different people over the years, and you start understanding and learning.

You start being able to apply what you learned from F1 to other racing series. So I think, for me, it's very important that I had this time with with Haas and I continue to be a part of it.

Josh: Yeah, I'm sure it's cool as well. Being, part of the testing and reserve and everything and seeing their kind of upward trajectory recently and more consistently, actually, fighting for points and everything.

I feel like that would just be... You're in a unique position where that you're not actively driving it every weekend, but you are a part of that process at the end of the day. I think, that is probably really cool.

Pietro: Yeah. For me, it's very cool to be part of.

Some of the work I do, as well, throughout the race weekend is I assist a bit with the data and video analysis for the drivers. So I'm always very interested in doing that, and then we pass that info onto the performance or race engineer, and they give the feedback to the drivers - where they can improve live in the session.

So for me, that's very good. I learned a lot in terms of working the data, and I can apply that to my other racing stuff, but just to be part of a massive group of people and understanding kind of key areas that make the development of a Formula 1 car successful. Other racing series, the amount of people is less, but you understand the characteristics of why this car was fast and this other car wasn't, and what people were involved in the way they worked that made it go well.

Greg: Do you feel like it gives you a better perspective than even the guys who are going to be racing this weekend? Because yousee the car from so many different angles.

Pietro: No, I think so. Obviously you're driving the car, you get the best feedback from that, but as a driver, I've never had the chance in other racing series to understand the inner workings of a racing team. So for me, being part of this team for so long, you get to see the part that when you're racing, you're so focused on your driving and your performance, you don't see what the other people are doing and how important their job is.

Staying, as reserve for so many F1 weekends, I've done over... I don't know... A hundred F1 races as a reserve driver. You start to understand everybody's role and how important it is to making that weekend go the best way possible.

Greg: I was writing it down as you were speaking, but you're just gonna be a team principal next year.

Like you've seen so many different facets of it. I think it sets you up for that. It's just being in the car only and only seeing what's behind the steering wheel - there's so much more that goes on behind the scenes.

Pietro: There's so many people in the race team. To make sure that everybody... It's like a people's... You need to have very good people skill to put the right group of people together to make sure that they're working at the best of their potential.

Because as a racing driver, that's what you need from the car for you to drive at your best. For example, some drivers drive a race car that is not good for the way they drive. So, you need to change the way the car works to maximize your potential, but it's the same with other people - with engineers or guys that are developing the aero side of the car.

If you don't put them in their best position for them to extract the best out of their talent, then you're losing potential there and making sure that the group is working together. Because maybe you have two of the best guys working together, but they don't work well with each other. So then, they're not able to maximize the work they're doing for the team.

So just understanding that side is, I think, sometimes overlooked, and it's very important to the success of any race team.

Greg: When you did drive for Haas and actually at racing, you took over from Romain after his crash. You had your crash. When you were getting into that car, what went through your mind knowing that he had just been through that situation?

Pietro: He had the crash and then there was a week till the next race. Guenther... I couldn't... They were limiting people to go to the hospital because it was COVID time. So I couldn't go see him, but Guenther had called me and said 'I spoke to Romian and he was the first person that gave full support for you to get in the car and he's doing well.'

So he just said, 'just focus on your job that, he's going to be fine.' So as soon as Guenther told me that, I was fully focused on just racing and getting ready to do my first Formula 1 race. I've known Romain for many years, and we're friends and stuff. The time that he had his accident was very scary because obviously you saw his car catching on fire and the engineers are trying to speak to him on the radio and he wasn't talking back. You see the car on fire and you don't see him getting out.

So it was a very... Probably one of the scariest moments, because I think when you're watching from the outside and it's not you in the car - that fear factor is... I don't know. It's even more apparent in a way.

Josh: The mentality of being a reserve driver must be so interesting because you could be on very last minute. We saw Ollie have to hop in for KMag a couple of times this year.

It's never that you get a week, usually, to prepare. It's the day before or the day of, and it's like that mindset to be always ready to hop into a car that you don't drive that often outside of a simulator. It must be... I would be stressed if I had to think about it all the time.

Pietro: No, it's for sure stressful, but it's like any race car you drive. If you're a fast racing driver, you're going to adapt very fast to the situation. But the preparation you do beforehand is also very important. So, all the simulator work we do, all the data, video analysis, that already gets you ready.

So, you're going through the race weekend as if you're going to drive, even though you're not driving. Then if something happens, you feel like you're prepared. Sometimes it's months since you've driven the car, so you're going to be a little bit rusty, but you adapt fast and then you perform at your best.

Greg: What about taking off the driver hat and putting on the commentator hat? What got you to do that and what's that been like?

Pietro: I really enjoy it. F1, like F1TV - they always invite some of the reserve drivers to be a part of it. They've always been inviting to me, and I've been doing it often for the past few years.

Especially with with Will Buxton and stuff. He's a very funny guy, and I always got along with him very well. What got my... actually my grandfather into racing was HIS dad. So my great grandfather was a radio commentator and TV commentator later on as well for Formula 1 at the biggest network in Brazil.

My grandfather got into racing because of that. He was the commentator. First, it was radio and then it was TV for racing. Then they would go to the races together and that's when they did- they got that passion for motorsport. At one of the races, my grandfather won his first championship.

It was his father commentating.

Greg: I was about to ask.

Josh: That's so cool.

Pietro: Which is really cool. And there's video of it. It's in Portuguese.

I can imagine as a father... imagine commentating your son winning the first F1 race.

Greg: Yeah. Was he like crying?

Pietro: Yeah, he was, but he kept it very intact. You can tell that he was emotional.

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Writing the Next Chapter [41:48]

Greg: I joked about this team principal thing, but I think it's true. If you think of your life as this mosaic of all these different pieces, you've had all these different sports and series that you've raced in... What is the next chapter like for you? What's that next piece that you add to the puzzle?

Pietro: For now, for me, is deciding whether we're able to continue an IndyCar, or if not, I have to go back to full time endurance racing and get back to that that scene, which we were doing very well at. For me, still, I want to race for as long as I can. I love racing. There's nothing that gives me close to the feeling of when I'm behind the wheel.

It's not really just driving the car. If I'm just driving any race car and there's nobody else on track, it's actually boring for me. I like the competition aspect of going there, and there's a car that's quicker and we need to get better. How can we get better? And that's either working on myself or making the car go faster.

When that is over, I think still being involved in racing, for sure. In whatever role that may be, because I even see it when I've been following my brother's F2 seasons. They always race together with Formula 1, and I would always go to his F2 team, and I would help with strategy and help him get better - just following that closely that gave me the same excitement... As if when I was competing in racing, just being part of a program that: "Okay, I'm not driving, but I'm helping to make the car and the driver go faster and get better results."

So, yeah, maybe, do something in the management role with racing. It's still far, very far away, but to be part of a race team not in a driving capacity... I'd still be very willing to do that.

Greg: You have a legacy, generational family in the sport. When we interview the next generation of Fittipaldis, what in one sentence are they going to say about you?

Pietro: About me?

Greg: Yep

Pietro: Oh my god, that's a tough one.

I don't know. I never really like talking about myself to be honest, but I know that, like I said, I'm a born racer. Racing is my life. I'm obsessed with motorsport, and I commit all my time into this and being as successful a racing driver as I can be. I believe in hard work and no plan B mentality... like you have got to make this work and that's the only way forward.

And yeah, a lot of sacrifice and dedication. That's kind of the principles I've always lived by and I'll continue to do.

Josh: You just are a diehard race fan at the end of the day. Greg asked 'Oh, what are you gonna do after you're done racing?' I was like, Pietro's never gonna be done racing.

He's being 85 with a broken arm and still be in the car.

Greg: That's right.

Pietro: That's right.

Greg: Thank you very much for sitting down with both of us. We'd love to have you again in the future.

Pietro: No, I appreciate it. And congrats with all you guys are doing with FanAmp. I think it's very cool. Keep it going.

So thank you.

Josh: Thank you.

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Editor's Closing [44:44]

Logan: Hi, thanks so much for watching!

If you're new here, don't forget to subscribe, so you don't miss out on any of our future Insider episodes. We have tons of exciting guests lined up. Let us know who you'd like us to chat with in the comments down below. And if you enjoyed the video, please give it a like!

Thanks, and we'll see you in the next one.

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