Haas F1 Team test driver Pietro Fittipaldi has said that the post-season test “was an amazing day“.
It was the Brazilian’s first experience of a Formula 1 car, where he completed a total of fifty-six laps for the American team at the Yas Marina circuit. The twenty-two year old has signed a deal with the team to carry out testing duties for 2019.
Fittipaldi has competed in a number of different series during his racing career, but is currently competing in the Verizon IndyCar Series for Dale Coyne Racing.
“It was an amazing day. I’m very happy to have had my first drive in a Formula 1 car. The braking power of the car, the speeds you carry through the corners, it was just insane,” said Fittipaldi.
“The car is so fast. It’s just stuck to the ground. The amount of downforce it has is unbelievable.”
Fittipaldi said the team experienced some slight issues at the beginning of the session, but they were rectified and then the test programme was able to be completed.
“We just had small issues at the beginning of the day, but the team got them sorted.
“They really did a fantastic job to get back out there, and then in the afternoon we worked through the plan we had.”
Fittipaldi said that they carried out a comparison between this year’s tyres and next.
“We compared the 2018 tyres to the 2019s from Pirelli. I tried to give the engineers my best feedback so they can start working on that information.”
He added: The team has given me a huge opportunity to be testing with them next year.
“I’ll learn as much as I can, but also help them develop the car for 2019 and throughout the season. It was a really good test.”
