‘I'm not here to play games’ says Fittipaldi as he targets wins in rookie season

Emerson Fittipaldi is confident that he can win races in his rookie Formula 2 season – but only if he does the work needed to do so.

The AIX Racing driver is making the step up from Eurocup-3 and he showed a lot of potential in Melbourne, making his way forward in both races to finish P14 in the Sprint and P15 in the Feature.

But that did not tell the full story, as Fittipaldi was one of the drivers to suffer because of the late Red Flag in Qualifying. This meant he went from battling for a place in the top 10 to finishing P19.

This first race weekend had been a long time coming for the Brazilian who was announced to be racing with AIX in F2 last July. Prior to the season getting underway, he talked through how he prepared for the year ahead.

“I’m feeling very excited, it will be a very good test and I'm looking forward to the season,” he said. “The whole of last year I've been with AIX, working with them on simulator work and everything.

“It’s been a lot of simulator work with the team to develop my driving skills and getting used to the car and it paid off quite well in Abu Dhabi post-season test, which was not so bad, it was quite good.

“But it's just another car and another category, just something new to learn.”

When asked what he has learned about the Formula 2 compared to previous that he has driven, Fittipaldi responded: “For sure, it's a different car, different seating position, it changes a bit here, it changes a bit there, just having to adapt overall like any other new car you go into.

“I did a lot of quali runs, a lot of race runs, a lot of laps and a lot of pit stops to be ready, because that's something new for me, that's something I need to get used too.

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“I've also been training physically, giving my all over the winter break and hopefully it'll pay off in the next few months and in the next few rounds.”

Fittipaldi will of course have a more experienced teammate to learn from this year in Cian Shields, but it was the driver whose car he is taking over that spent a lot of time with in 2025.

The 19-year-old paid tribute to Joshua Duerksen, as well as the mechanics and engineers for helping him get up to speed.

“The team is very excited to have me with them and I worked with them last year incredibly well,” said Fittipaldi.

“Also, Joshua Duerksen helped me a lot. Now he has moved to Invicta, but last year working with him was amazing. Working with him in the simulator, I got a lot of information from him, so I give a lot of credit to him.

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“Everybody in the team is really trying to help me and trying to teach me everything I need to know, giving me all the possibilities that could happen, to be ready for anything.”

The hard work done in 2025 with the team, over the winter before the start of the season and also during the year is what Fittipaldi hopes will fuel a successful campaign.

“Obviously, you want to win,” he acknowledged. “I'm not here to play games, I'm here to give my best and to do my best.

“But winning is a consequence of the work you put in before, so that's what I'm aiming the most, putting in the work and then I know the win will come.”