Motorsports legend Wilson Fittipaldi Jr. died after a domestic accident on his 80th birthday.

Part of a Formula 1 family, Vilasinho was hospitalized after eating a morsel of meat during his birthday celebrations over Christmas.

Motorsports is experiencing hours of mourning after learning this Former Brazilian pilot dies Wilson Fittipaldi Jr. at the age of 80, Newspaper globosporte It was confirmed that the historic runner died this Friday morning at the Prevent Senior Hospital in the south region of Sao Paulo, where he had been hospitalized since Christmas.

by infobay

what happened with vilcinho He was in the news in the first days of January after a post by his wife Rita reported that the former sprinter had been hospitalized on his 80th birthday. after “Choking on a mouthful of meat” during Christmas lunch., due to which a Cardiac arrest, so they had to resuscitate him and he was left unconscious and intubated In the intensive care unit.

Born on 25 December 1943, Wilson is part of a family with direct links to motorsports. elder brother of emersonHis father, a two-time Formula 1 World Champion in 1972 and 1974, was a businessman and journalist who, together with former driver Chico Landi, was a pioneer in the organization of motorsports in the neighboring country.

In fact, Wilson Sr. was the founder of the Brazilian Automobile Confederation., The capital of São Paulo was one of the meccas of the sport and the Interlagos Autodrome was inaugurated there in 1940, where F1 has raced since 1972 (for the first time without points) and uninterrupted since 1990, due to the pandemic in 2020. except. 19.

The Fittipaldi brothers inherited their father’s passion and fulfilled their dream of becoming sprinters. But he also learned from Wilson Sr. the tools to be able to manage independently and become entrepreneurs. They soon learned how to become good sellers of their work and were adept at obtaining sponsors. He made his mark at the international level The first weapon in the international Formula 3 season which was raced in Argentina in the late sixties, From that moment on he forged a strong bond with our country.

Although Emerson was a pioneer and went to live in England In 1969 he was the first non-European or non-Oceanic champion of British Formula 3., which once had one of the strongest promotional divisions. after some time ammo, as he is known, debuted in F1. Whereas Wilson continued his campaign locally, with some international appearances such as European Formula 2where his friendship with him was born Lolle Reutemann, Both He was Brabham’s teammate when he debuted in the Maxima in 1972,

Overshadowed by Emerson’s work, Wilson made his way into F1Where? Couldn’t go further than fifth place as best result, 1973 in Germany. But amid the trips, family meals and long meetings with sponsors, the Fittipaldi brothers asked themselves, why don’t we form our own team? The purpose of that project was to help other colleagues from our country to be able to race in Maxima.

This was a time when this type of company was possible in less professional F1 than it is today. Also in a very familiar environment where there were massive meetings with drivers, their colleagues, team owners, engineers, mechanics and all members of the teams during the races in South America. magazine in the seventies Corsa He used to organize barbecues in a rural house in Greater Buenos Aires, where more than one person would end up in the pool during dinner.

Within this framework and with highly developed professional training, Wilson and his brothers managed to convince the Brazilian sugar and alcohol cooperative, Coppersucre, to become their main sponsor., While Emerson won his second F1 title, he threw himself into the project and went mclaren In 1976, when it was replaced by James Hunt, who played an epic duel with Niki Lauda that year and won the title,

But a year earlier, the Fittipaldi team was born, known by that name until 1979 Coopersucar, This was quite challenging as they had established their base in San Pablo, 10 thousand kilometers away from Europe and especially England, where most of the teams are based. first car, FD01was designed by brazilian richard divilawho worked building Formula Vee cars for Fittipaldi in the United States and european formula 2, National aerospace company Embraer also got involved, providing new equipment and materials for time in the wind tunnel. and mexican joe ramirez Was appointed as team leader (he later worked in it). mclaren in the time of ayrton senna,

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