Red Bull's Formula 2 driver Enzo Fittipaldi is looking to cause Christian Horner and Helmut Marko a headache as he fights for an F1 seat; with Sergio Perez, Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda under pressure, can the Brazilian American known by his fans as 'Baby Shark' stake his claim?
Wednesday 16 August 2023 10:03, UK
While Max Verstappen's 2023 season will go down as one of the most dominant the sport has seen, his fellow Red Bull drivers Sergio Perez, Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda are under scrutiny - and the pressure to perform is not just coming from the top.
Formula 2 star Enzo Fittipaldi headed into the summer break on a high having taken his first F2 victory in the sprint race in Belgium, before finishing third in the feature race to catapult himself into future Formula 1 contention with three races remaining.
During a weekend which challenged drivers experienced as well as young, the Brazilian American surged to sprint race success, with an emotional victory on Saturday, before taking the third step on the feature race podium.
"It's a great race weekend for us," the smiling Fittipaldi told Sky Sports.
"We scored a lot of points, two podiums, a race win, P3 in the feature race.
"And it's special for me to get my first win at Spa - my family was there except for my dad, who was at home."
Enzo is the grandson of two-time champion Emerson and the brother of Haas reserve driver Pietro, and so has racing in his blood as well as a huge name to live up to.
Despite the pressure that might come from the expectation, Fittipaldi is "laser-focused" on beating his fellow F2 drivers to make it to F1, and weekends like this will help his case.
"When you are in F2, performing is the first step, so as long as I continue with this momentum into the next few race weekends, who knows what could happen," said Fittipaldi.
"If you perform and you do very well - in the championship especially - opportunities will show up.
"So, right now what I'm focused on is continuing to do well, continuing to improve as a driver every time I go out on track, and hopefully, opportunities will show.
"Dr Marko at the race weekend congratulated me for the race victory."
Head of the young driver programme, Dr Helmut Marko is a key player in any Red Bull driver's career, and notoriously difficult to please.
Marko described Red Bull's Perez as having "woken up from his world title dream" following the Mexican's poor run of form, while he also lost patience with Nyck de Vries at AlphaTauri after just 10 races.
Red Bull's young driver programme has always been a sink or swim environment.
But Enzo will hope to give Marko reasons to help his progression, and with all of Red Bull's drivers except Verstappen under intense examination, the end of the F2 season could be critical to progression up the ranks for 2024 and beyond.
With Perez struggling in dominant machinery, although under contract to the end of 2024, Ricciardo hoping to rediscover his mojo and Tsunoda still relatively untested, there's the potential for change in three of Red Bull's four F1 seats over coming years, and Fittipaldi is one of multiple Red Bull young drivers waiting in the wings.
Super Formula driver Liam Lawson and Fittipaldi's Carlin team-mate Zane Maloney are Red Bull's official reserve drivers, while Jak Crawford, Isack Hadjar, Dennis Hauger and Ayumu Iwasa all make up the Red Bull young talent flooding F2 this year.
Fittipaldi's stellar weekend, racking up 25 points, at Spa puts him seventh in the championship, 36 points behind the lead Red Bull driver Iwasa in third position.
The maximum number of points drivers can score on a weekend is 39, and with just three rounds of the F2 season remaining, the competition to impress Marko, Christian Horner and the rest of the Red Bull hierarchy is fiercer than ever.
On fighting his team-mate Malony in a sprint race battle that saw the two touch, but carry on, Fittipaldi explained that "there are no friends on track".
"Obviously, it was very close - a close call - fighting with him on track very much to the limit," said the 22-year-old.
"Definitely, me and Zane have a good relationship off the track - as team-mates, we work very well together.
"But when you get on track, we're all trying to do our best there, and, like I said, our goal is to make it to Formula 1 - there's no friends on track, it's every man for himself and it's a big battle on track - you just have to go for it."
Red Bull's young driver academy has come under fire in recent years, with home-grown drivers Alex Albon and Pierre Gasly being dropped for the external hire of Perez.
The last successful Red Bull young driver to progress to Red Bull Racing and stick was Verstappen, whose brilliance has raised the level for the academy as well as the Formula 1 field.
"Max is winning every single race - he's just so fast," said Fittipaldi.
"And for young drivers coming up the ladders - personally, I look up to Max - he's one of the best, if not the best of all time.
"They're just dominating right now, and being part of the Red Bull family and a driver in the Red Bull junior team - it's super amazing to be a part of the greatest Formula 1 team of all time."
Red Bull's junior team AlphaTauri's future may be one that is heavily discussed, but with the successes of Sebastian Vettel, Ricciardo and Verstappen, there are multiple examples of why young talents such as Fittipaldi should be given a chance.
The 22-year-old will head into the final three rounds of the F2 season with the shining lights of F1 in sight - if he can reach the gates, will Red Bull let him in and who might they eject?
Watch Enzo Fittipaldi and the rest of the F2 drivers duel it out among the dunes in Zandvoort live on Sky Sports F1 on August 25-27.
