The ‘little shark’ made his Formula 2 debut in Monza, and we caught up with the Brazilian to get an insight into the man behind the visor.

Enzo Fittipaldi picked out his favourite music and movies, discussed his hobby of fishing and explained what it was like to grow up as a Brazilian in Miami.

WHERE DO YOU CONSIDER HOME?

“I was born in Miami, I grew up there and lived there for 10 years. Everyone there speaks Spanish and there's a lot of people there from South America, a lot of Brazilians, so I would say Miami is very similar to South America.

“The first language I spoke was actually Spanish, then Portuguese and then English. I would always speak Portuguese and Spanish at home, but in Miami, everyone speaks Spanish, so you learn it pretty quickly.

“I really loved living there, I really enjoyed it, and I would go to the race track in Homestead which is pretty near to Miami. There were four racetracks: Homestead, West Palm Beach, Orlando and Ocala, and I would do all of the races there.

“I started racing when I was four and my whole karting career I did there. You would do a Florida winter tour. I consider myself to be Brazilian, I was born in Miami because my parents were living there, but I consider myself fully Brazilian.”

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WHO INSPIRES YOU?

“I'd say (Ayrton) Senna for sure is someone a lot of racing drivers look up to, I think he's a great example. I look up to my brother as well, I think he's great and I learn from him. He gives me a lot of tips and I try to learn from his mistakes as well. He's a very hard worker and a good example. For sure, my grandfather, my dad, and my mum as well.”

HOW DO YOU RELAX AWAY FROM THE TRACK?

“When I got back home I do a lot of training at home, we have a mini-gym in the garage. I love fishing, so I wake up extremely early, about 5am when the fish are biting, and I go almost every day from 5am until midday.

“What I normally fish is bass, which is like the sports fishing in the US. In Prague, it's more carp fishing so I haven't gone. Hopefully, sometime soon I will go!

“Then I do my training and a lot of simulator - I love iRacing. Family time is really important because we're always travelling all the time, so for me, vacation is going home and spending time with family.”

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE VIDEO GAME?

“When I was younger I would play a lot of games, so probably this computer game named Tibia. I also love the racing games, so F1 2021, but I love all racing games.”

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WHO DO YOU GET ON BEST WITH ON THE F2 GRID?

“In Formula 2, probably my teammate, Guilherme (Samaia), we get along really well. At the end of the day, it's difficult to make friends because when you're on track there are no friends. You might have a racing incident or something like that so it's very hard sometimes to have friends.”

DO YOU HAVE A SPECIALITY DISH?

“I'm very good at making a pasta ragu, I can make a really good ragu. I learnt it on YouTube. I can also make the Gordon Ramsey style scrambled eggs, which I also learnt on YouTube.

“Everything that I have tried to cook from YouTube has turned out to be extremely good. My girlfriend rates it a 10/10 and my mum and dad say it's great too.”

IF YOU WEREN’T A DRIVER, WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

“I would definitely do something in sports as I'm a very competitive person. Something with business, the stock market, maybe, but it would be difficult to stay away from competition because I am a very competitive person.”

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WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE MOVIE?

“I have so many favourite movies... I'm just going to have to choose one. I'd say Interstellar, no wait, Talladega Nights that's a really good one. I enjoy that one.”

WHAT MUSIC DO YOU LISTEN TO?

“Drake, I really like his music, he's very talented and I enjoy his stuff. I also really like ABBA. I always listen to their music before jumping in the car! I don't always listen to music before a race, but if I do, it's ABBA.

“If I had to pick a favourite song, it would be Chiquitita or Mamma Mia. If you see me with a headset on before getting in the car it will either be Drake, ABBA, or Queen. I love those types of music.”

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE THING ABOUT BEING A RACING DRIVER?

“Going fast, it's great. That feeling of going so fast down the straight, of always being on the edge in a Qualifying session or the races when you're fighting one car next to the other.

“The competition is so strong, it's so competitive, you have your team but it's not like soccer. It's one person against another. It's a big rivalry and I love that, it gives me a lot of adrenaline when I'm driving and I love the feeling of adrenaline.”

Fittipaldi named Samaia L as one of his best friends on the grid
Fittipaldi named Samaia (L) as one of his best friends on the grid

WHAT IS YOUR MOST TREASURED POSSESSION?

“I would say my little dog, his name is Speed. He's like a little treasure, whenever I go home, I have my cute little dogs, Obama and Speed, they always make you happy. I love it. Obama is a mini Chihuahua, and Speed is Jack Russell Terrier.”

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE RACING MEMORY?

“Definitely when I won the Italian F4 Championship, that was a great feeling and winning it in the rain was also amazing. It was a great race.

“I have to say my debut in Formula 2, that's something I'm going to remember for a long time. It was quite recent, but it was amazing, it was my first time driving a car with carbon brakes and you feel that difference.

“It's a pretty big step from F2 to F3 and you feel the car stop under braking with the carbon brakes and it's a great feeling.”

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WHERE WOULD YOU VISIT IF YOU COULD TRAVEL ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD?

“I would probably go to the mountains and stay in a cabin for a few weeks, to have a nice little lake there where you can do some fishing and mountain biking, maybe skiing. I'm a very outdoors person so I like those kinds of things.

“The Himalayas, is somewhere I really want to go, the Georgia mountains, where you can see the snow leopards and the bears that's something I want to do.”