Enzo Fittipaldi has enjoyed plenty of success in his career, competing as a Ferrari Driver Academy and Red Bull junior driver for plenty of his time in the F1 feeder series ladder, and has opened up, in an exclusive interview with Pit Debrief, on his time at Red Bull and the meetings he had with Christian Horner and Helmut Marko, and even a potential AlphaTauri F1 drive for 2024.
After some very impressive showings in Formula 2 in 2022 with Charouz, Fittipaldi moved to Rodin Carlin and was signed as part of the Red Bull Young Driver Programme for 2023. At the time, Red Bull was starting to dominate Formula 1 again, winning the previous two drivers’ titles and a constructors’ title in 2022 — meaning Fittipaldi had a great shot at joining the ranks of F1’s dominant force at that point.
Fittipaldi: Debut F2 weekend performance enabled “first contact” with Red Bull
Speaking exclusively to Pit Debrief, Fittipaldi revealed that his first contact with Red Bull came already in his first full weekend of F2, when he was called to replace David Beckmann at Charouz mid-season and had to jump straight in with barely any notice — which, coupled with his very good performance that weekend, immediately caught the eyes of Helmut Marko:
“I was thrown straight into the F2 grid, with zero experience, straight to free practice. And I remember that feeling of going like 330 kilometres an hour down the straight for the first time,” he recalled. “I was like, ‘Jesus, this is fast!’. And then you hit the brakes into turn one and the car just stopped. And I said, man, I don’t know how I’m going to adapt to this.
“Like, if it’s going to be [quick], am I going to adapt [in time]? Because I need to adapt fast. I only had a few laps until qualifying. And I did. I adapted quick. I went into qualifying and I qualified [13th]. Only like [seven] tenths off pole, which was [Oscar] Piastri, so I did an outstanding job.
“And I remember after that race, I was fighting. I think I ended up finishing [ninth] in the feature race, but I got a penalty.And that put me in [11th]. So it was a really good debut race. And that was when I got my first contact with Dr. [Helmut] Marko. He came to me after the race and knew that I had come with zero experience into F2.
“Then he started asking me about my career and this and that. And that’s when I started getting in touch with Red Bull and Dr. Marko.”
How “direct” communication with Marko and Red Bull started
When asked on just how directly that communication unfolded, Fittipaldi stated that he didn’t have a “manager” as such, and would deal with Helmut Marko and Christian Horner directly, with support from his family and especially older brother Pietro, who raced two F1 Grand Prixs for Haas in 2020 in place of the injured Romain Grosjean:
“Yeah, [I spoke with Marko] directly,” he explained. “I mean, I never had any management. It was always my either my brother or my dad helping me out.
“But I was speaking to him directly. I remember he he wanted to see me after the race in Monza, and I went to see him briefly at the F1 paddock after the race. He told me he was going to keep an eye on me and that, you know, we’ll keep in touch. And I said, ‘perfect!’.
“As a young driver, going up the ladders, that’s amazing to be able to meet someone like Dr. Marko and to know that he’s watching closely.
“So I knew I had to perform well. And then we went to Jeddah and that’s where I got my first points in my [third] ever race in F2. And I got my first points in the sprint race. I finished seventh.
“And then going to the feature race, I had a big accident, which, unfortunately, I had some injuries, but it’s part of racing.
“But then I was able to bounce back the year after and have a great rookie season in F2.”
Initial deal with Red Bull included a reserve role at AlphaTauri F1 for 2023…
The Brazilian went on to have a brilliant F2 season in 2022, in which he secured six podiums and several good points finishes for Charouz, on his way to signing a deal to represent Red Bull for the 2023 F2 season.
“We had a meeting in Monza [in 2022], they called me, and it was with Christian Horner and Dr. Marko at the Red Bull hospitality.
“I went with my brother, and that’s where they signed me. They said ‘We want you as part of the Red Bull family and the junior team’. And I said, ‘Great!’.
“Initially the contract was for test and reserve driver for, I believe was AlphaTauri at the time, and Red Bull,” he revealed. “But we were waiting till the end of the season to see where I would end up [in the championship] to see if I [would get a superlicence].”
…but one incident with Liam Lawson at Spa cost him that role
Although the deal covered a test and reserve driver role for AlphaTauri in the 2023 F1 season, Fittipaldi still needed to earn his superlicence to be eligible for the role, which he failed by a singular licence point after an incident with Liam Lawson at the feature race in Belgium.
The Brazilian received an unfortunate, post-race 10s time penalty, which demoted him from P5 to P10 and cost him a real shot at fifth in the final standings, which would’ve been enough to secure a superlicence and the full deal with Red Bull/AlphaTauri:
“I qualified second in Spa. And then I had a good feature race. I think I finished fifth [on track], but I got a penalty for shoving Lawson off in turn four. I had shoved him off the track [when] we were fighting for fourth or fifth, and they gave me a penalty, a 10-second penalty because of that.
“So I dropped from fifth to 10th in the feature race. And that result there cost me my super licence at the end of the season.
“I lost 10 points there, which I would have finished [fifth] in the championship. So that penalty really didn’t help with my super licence, which I only needed one point.”
Fittipaldi believes he’d be “in a different position” if he had achieved his superlicence at the time
Although he clearly stated that he’s “super happy” in Indy NXT and chasing the dream to race in IndyCar and the Indy 500, Fittipaldi admitted that his career would probably be “in a different position” right now if he achieved the necessary superlicence points at the end of 2022:
“Unfortunately, I ended up finishing eighth [in the championship], and I missed out on the super licence by one point.
“It’s just the way it is. It’s racing. I think I would definitely be in a different position right now if I had my super licence at the time.
“But at the same time, I’m super happy where I am right now. It’s just the way it is. It’s great experiences, I learned a lot and I had a honestly an amazing time racing in in Europe.”
Fittipaldi: AlphaTauri F1 drive for 2024 was on the table at one point
Although he couldn’t get his superlicence in time for 2023, a strong season would’ve certainly secured Fittipaldi the necessary points in his licence — and he revealed he had preliminary talks about a potential AlphaTauri F1 drive for the 2024 season at the Austrian GP in the year prior.
The timing was especially appropriate given Nyck De Vries’ struggles at the time, and the lack of proper candidate on Red Bull’s ranks, before the team opted to bring back Daniel Ricciardo after the Australian was ousted from McLaren at the end of 2022:
“I remember in the weekend of Austria, I had sat down with Helmut Marko and Christian Horner, and we talked about the possibility of me racing for AlphaTauri the year after,” he revealed. “That’s when we had the first conversation with Dr. Marko and Christian about, you know, potentially me having the shot at racing in F1.
“I just, I needed to reach certain results at the end of the season. And I just missed out with that. It is what it is, but it’s just part of racing.”
