Fittipaldi made racing comeback 'a little too soon'

Pietro Fittipaldi concedes he made his return to racing "a little too soon" after breaking both of his legs in an LMP1 crash at Spa in May, having spent less than three months on the sidelines before hitting the track again.

Fittipaldi suffered a high-speed crash during qualifying for the FIA World Endurance Championship 6 Hours of Spa at the beginning of May, causing him to suffer breaks to both of his legs.

It put an extensive racing programme across WEC, IndyCar and Super Formula - plus a planned F1 test in May with Haas - on hold.

The Brazilian went through an intensive rehabilitation programme that allowed him to make his racing comeback in the IndyCar race at Mid-Ohio at the end of July, before appearing in the final four IndyCar races of the year with Dale Coyne Racing.

"This year was really tough," Fittipaldi said. "I broke both my legs at Spa in May. I went back to Indianapolis a week after my surgery and I was actually living inside of Indianapolis Motor Speedway in a motorhome, and there Dr. Trammell - who is the IndyCar doctor - with the physical therapist.

"The medical centre was just outside my motorhome, so I was going every day and doing physical therapy. They were doing everything on my legs, they did an amazing job. IndyCar does a really, really great job on that and they helped me a lot."

While Fittipaldi was grateful for the rehabilitation programme he underwent, he conceded that he may have returned to racing too soon as his legs had not fully-healed from the fractures.

"I was working seven or eight hours a day to get back racing as soon as possible. We got back racing at Mid Ohio which was about two and a half months after my injury and it was tough coming back," Fittipaldi said.

"I maybe got back a little too soon because my left leg was still broken, so it was really tough and quite painful. But then after my first race my leg started healing more and I felt good in the car. We ran in the top 10 and we were consistent there, so I was happy.

"For sure this year has been tough but I’ve been able to come back. I’m fully healed now, I’m really happy about that. The doctors and surgeons did an amazing job and now I’m just looking towards the future."

Fittipaldi will take up a test driver role with Haas in Formula 1 next year, prompting the Brazilian to put his IndyCar aspirations on the back-burner for the time being.

"Unfortunately it has ruled out IndyCar. I love to race in IndyCar, but it has [been ruled out] because there would be a lot of clashing. But we’re going to have something soon.

"Of course I want to be racing next year, the team wants me to be racing too. I have to find a championship that doesn’t clash a lot with the Formula 1 schedule. So we’re looking at that and we’ll have some news soon.”