Emerson Fittipaldi Jr. enters the 2026 F2 Baku round hoping to build on his breakthrough result in Madrid as he continues his development as a rookie.
The AIX Racing driver secured his strongest result of the season at the previous round, taking P2 in the Sprint and P5 in the Feature Race at the Madring. The double points proved key, moving him up to P17 in the Drivers’ Standings after a challenging start to the season. However, Fittipaldi Jr. will now make his first-ever appearance in Azerbaijan, with the supersized 2026 F2 Baku round featuring three races and two qualifying sessions.
Fittipaldi Jr. eyes “entertaining” 2026 F2 Baku round
Speaking during a virtual media session attended by Pit Debrief, Fittipaldi Jr. welcomed Baku’s additional race as an opportunity to gain more experience during his debut at the circuit.
“I mean, I think that a weekend that has an extra race is always good for me with someone that doesn’t have that much experience,” he said. “You know, it’s extra experience for me, so it’s always amazing. It’s going to be a great weekend, I think, for everybody. We’re going to have to adapt a bit to our run plans from the usual what we’re used to, but I think it’ll be, you know, a very entertaining weekend for everybody.”
Baku has long proved to be a challenging circuit, with its high-speed layout and narrow sections leaving little room for error. However, despite the technical demands and the need for precision, Fittipaldi Jr. added that he does not expect the extra race to make the weekend significantly more difficult.
“Well, I think an extra round, you know, or an extra race will be always interesting, you know, one more chance to show ourselves to the world and also to gain and gather experience. But I don’t think it will be, you know, too demanding. I mean, it is a very technical track, it is a difficult track, but I think it should be quite okay, you know, just an extra race. So it’ll be good.”
Madrid as a turning point
Looking back at the 2026 F2 Madrid round, the Brazilian said the weekend marked a significant moment in his rookie campaign, especially since he had scored points in only two previous races.
“Well, I mean, Madrid was a big turning point for my, you know, my career this year. It was very important to get a result like that, you know, for confidence and also for the team. We did expect this result many times before, but unfortunately, the circumstances did not help us that much. And then in Madrid, everything went together. So everything went perfectly and it’s really good.”
Asked by Pit Debrief how he feels he has developed as a driver since the start of the season, Fittipaldi Jr. reflected on his adaptation to F2 after spending three seasons in EuroCup-3.
“Well, I mean, for me, I had zero experience in this championship in the beginning of this year. So it’s always something new. And, you know, coming from my previous championship I raced was a big, big jump.”
“So up until now, I’ve learned so much in Formula 2, you know, working a lot with the team and the team is helping me a lot. So I think every round, every time I get to go on track, I’m learning a lot and, you know, keep on learning.”
Preparing for the final rounds
With a two-month break between Baku and the final 2026 F2 rounds in Lusail and Yas Marina, Fittipaldi Jr. discussed how he plans to stay focused on physical training, karting and simulator work.
“I mean, there’s a lot of preparation, yeah, in the scenes that not a lot of people get to see. You know, we still keep ourselves fit and, you know, also mentally we still have to, you know, keep our mind sharp.”
He added: “It will be a long break, but I think, you know, I use a lot of karting to warm me up again before a race weekend. So that gets all my reflexes and coordination back and, you know, just keep, you know, increase the training and just do a lot of sim work, a lot of simulator to keep myself sharp for the following rounds.”
Starting from “nothing”
Reflecting further on his jump from EuroCup-3 to the FIA Formula 2 Championship, the 19-year-old explained how the lack of experience in the category has so far presented a major challenge throughout his rookie season.
“Well, I think it was a very big jump,” he began. “There wasn’t much I could bring from my previous experience because everything is new for me. You know, the car, the tyres, the engine, everything, the tracks, most of the tracks I didn’t know. So, you know, it’s a big, you know, I had a big handicap, you know, the whole season because some of these drivers have so much already experience on these tracks, in the car and I arrived there with nothing.”
Despite the stark contrast, Fittipaldi Jr. credited his father, Emerson Fittipaldi, and the AIX Racing team for helping him adapt to the new championship, both mentally and technically.
“So having also my dad around helped me a lot to try to develop myself and mentally, mainly mentally, how can I approach a weekend so I can learn and do good. And also mainly with the help of the team that they’ve been giving me, you know, the engineers worked, we worked so much on fine details and we’re still working a lot to perfect all these big jumps I had to do from my previous category. So, yeah, learning a lot and having fun.”
New venues offer opportunity
Despite his limited experience, Fittipaldi Jr. has benefited from racing at three circuits this season where none of the 2026 F2 field had raced before. The cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian rounds led to the addition of Miami and Montreal, while the new Madrid venue gave the AIX Racing driver another chance to match his rivals.
When asked how important it was to capitalize on opportunities at new circuits, Fittipaldi Jr. said:
“Well, yeah, absolutely. I mean, it is, those are the two tracks, you know, the new tracks for everyone where, you know, even Miami where we didn’t finish on the points but we were quite competitive and also Montreal and Madrid. It’s because, you know, we put a lot of work on the simulator before with the team and a lot of development too. When we arrived there, we don’t have such a, you know, new track for us because we kind of knew already what to expect from the work we put in.”
“And yeah, I mean, it’s the only three weekends where it was kind of fair for everyone in the end because it was a track where everybody had the same amount of experience, no experience at all. So, it was always good to know that everybody is starting off the same page. So, yeah, the team and I did a good job and we managed to put everything together for those weekends. Yeah, it was good.”
A liking for street circuits
With all four of his points-scoring finishes coming on street circuits, the Brazilian continued:
“Well, this is my first season ever racing on street track. So, yeah, having fun and enjoying them. They’re very challenging and I think that’s where, you know, kind of separates a bit of the grid apart from drivers because some might prefer streets, some might prefer normal tracks. And, yeah, I think I have a small advantage on the street tracks because I do like them a lot. And, yeah, I find it very challenging, and this is the first ever time I raced on a street track this year. So, it was very fun.”
Approaching Baku’s extra track time
With the focus now turning to the 2026 F2 Baku round, Fittipaldi Jr. explained how he plans to approach the additional track time.
“Well, I mean, this weekend will be more or less, in the end, almost the same as any other weekend, just with the extra race. We do have tyres for that. So, I think I would just approach it like it would be just a normal weekend. It would be just an extra race. So, one more race to, you know, get some information and extra data for the season. And, yeah. So, just everything’s normal, just an extra round, or extra race,” he said, in response to a question from Pit Debrief.
However, with two qualifying sessions scheduled back-to-back, Fittipaldi Jr. stressed the importance of keeping the car on track during the opening session, which will set the grid for Saturday’s Sprint and first Feature Race.
“Well, I mean, I think that the qualifyings are going to be quite challenging here because we have two qualifyings, one back-to-back. So, the first thing you want to do is finish. You want to first finish the first qualifying, because if you don’t finish the first qualifying, then you don’t do the second one.”
“So, you need to make sure you keep the car on track and do the best lap you can as possible for the first qualifying. It will be a bit more important than the second one because, you know, for the first qualifying, it will be for the Sprint and the first Feature Race. So, in the end, both of them are just equally as important. But, yeah, you just have to keep the car on track and make sure you finish the two sessions.”
