Fittipaldi calls Melbourne performance a ‘big confidence boost’ despite not scoring points

Emerson Fittipaldi may have missed out on points in Melbourne, but his performance at Round 1 has given him a huge boost of confidence going into the rest of his rookie season.

The AIX Racing driver was one of those to suffer with the late Red Flag in Qualifying having been in the battle for a place in the top 10, ultimately winding up in P19.

Fittipaldi did however make his way forward in both races, finishing 14th in the Sprint and 15th in the Feature. While it was not the result he wanted, he is taking the positives from his debut.

“It was the first round in F2 for me, first round on an F1 weekend, so that was very exciting,” he said. “I was very happy to know that I'm on the track where I always dreamed to be on, which is the same weekend as Formula 1 and hopefully one day in Formula 1.

“But it was a great weekend. Lots of learning, lots of laps. Managed to finish every session and do as many laps as physically possible with the limited running we have. So, just every lap, just learning more and more and improving for the next rounds.”

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Looking at the weekend’s results completely, Fittipaldi reflected on the missed opportunity in Qualifying.

“It obviously started with qualifying and that was a bit of a mess,” he explained. “It was difficult to get a lap with all the traffic But obviously in qualifying, unfortunately we had quite a few red flags.

“The last one is the one that really screwed me up, because I was actually quite confident that I could get the car more or less in the midfield.

“We only get four push laps overall in quali, and the last push, that's all that matters. On the second set of tyres, I got traffic, and then that just shows you the reality of this harsh qualifying programme we have.

“Just a little mistake or traffic and your whole weekend is ruined. So, you're really on the edge to perform and give your best in Qualifying. We have to take a lot of positives from the fact that we went forward in each race.

“I went forward in each race and managed to do every lap of the race and without big mistakes and just learning slowly every lap and developing from the test we had in Barcelona. In the end, we don't get much running, so, it's a fantastic opportunity to learn.”

When asked what he had learned the most in his first F2 weekend, Fittipaldi responded: “This weekend definitely was how fast the weekend goes by. I mean on Friday morning, you're doing FP and then a few hours later you're already in qualifying.

“The next day you wake up and you already have a Sprint Race. So, it's like, it's really fast. It goes by really fast.

“So what I learned the most is to work with the team as much as possible after every session to develop the car and develop yourself, because, at the end of the day, you really don't get many laps.

“So, that was the biggest difference I had from any other racing category I've ever raced in my life, and also, learning the most about racing these fantastic drivers on the grid. It's an opportunity to be wheel-to-wheel with them, learning with them every lap. It's just great.”

While Fittipaldi acknowledged the strength of the Formula 2 grid, his ability to make his way forward in both races gives him a huge confidence boost.

As a rookie, being able to hold his own against drivers with more than a season of F2 experience lets him know he is on the right track.

“At the end of the day, I was racing and dicing with some guys that are second year, third year and fourth year drivers. They have a lot of experience.

“So just knowing that I'm able to already keep up with them, that's already a big confidence boost. Knowing that it can't be that bad.

“It's an amazing opportunity to be able to compete with these guys. I mean, I was looking in my mirror and I had Kush Maini behind me.

“I know how much experience he has in F2. So, I was like, ‘Wow, I'm keeping him behind me’. So just getting used to the field and getting used to how the drivers react and how aggressive they are and how some may not be that aggressive.

“So just learning the field a lot. That's what I tried to do the first race, to know more or less what each driver likes to do. So, I can progress through the field in the following races.”