If one goes back to the days of Formula One racing in the 1970s, one of the first names that comes to mind is Brazil’s Emerson Fittipaldi.

One of the best F1 drivers the world has ever seen, he was a constant threat for other great drivers including multiple world champion and Austrian Niki Lauda and Britain’s Jackie Stewart. A string of successes with the Lotus team saw him win the drivers’ title in 1972 and the constructors’ title for Lotus in 1973 before moving to McLaren.
Later, he also drove in the Champ Car series in the United States of America.

Long retired from competitive racing, Fittipaldi is now the seat holder for the Brazilian A1 GP team. Having had some experience in managing the Fittipaldi Automotive F1 team which belonged to his brother Wilson, the legend is now sharing his experiences in the World Cup of Motor sport.

“I like the concept very much. It is great for Brazil to have a team and I am happy to be part of the team,” he said during the A1 GP in Durban.

“I love the concept of A1 as compared to Formula One, which is not a balanced form of racing. It is very difficult to evaluate drivers in F1 since there are so many electronic driver aids that are available now. It is a very different thing to drive with things like traction control. But in A1, the real talent of the driver comes out," said ‘Emmo’ as he is popularly known.

Just like everyone else, Fittipaldi is eagerly waiting for the next season to see the Ferraris in A1 racing. “I have never raced in a Ferrari. But I can tell you that it is going to be big when A1 begins using Ferrari cars from next year,” he remarked.

“In fact, there should be a race in India. All can see how much excitement there will be for the people.”

Talking of Formula One racing naturally brought back a flood of memories. Whom does he consider the greatest F1 driver of all time? “It is difficult to say because technology kept changing. There were many good drivers.

There was my good friend Juan Manuel Fangio, Nelson Piquet, Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher and others,” said the Brazilian.

The man had a word of praise for Narain Karthikeyan too. “That guy is fast and good too,” he said.

Brazil has always produced some great drivers and the most illustrious one would be Senna. But Fittipaldi feels Felipe Massa, who drives for Ferrari now, is good too. “Massa is good and capable of winning the World Championship,” he said.

The sensation in the 2007 F1 season was Lewis Hamilton from McLaren-Mercedes and the Briton narrowly lost out to Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen in the drivers’ championship. “Hamilton is an outstanding driver. His first year has been fantastic. He had a good car and did very well. He could very well win the championship in a year or two,” Fittipaldi felt.

To reach the heights like Senna, Schumacher, Raikkonen or Hamilton needs the right start to racing. That right start would be in karting before moving on to higher forms of motorsport.

“Young kids should do a lot of karting. That is the way to come up. The main reason Brazil produces so many drivers is due to the fact that there is a lot of karting there,” he observed.

Having had his fill of F1, the star of yesteryear has his hands full now in A1. “For me it is just A1 at the moment. I am enjoying it,” he signed off.