A Champion on Campus: Emerson Fittipaldi Meets the Students of H-FARM International School.

“Everyone in this room has a talent. Each of you has something unique. Your job is to find it, develop it, and dedicate yourself to what you love with passion and resilience.”

This was the message Emerson Fittipaldi left our students with when he visited our school.

A two-time Formula One World Champion and two-time winner of the Indy 500, Fittipaldi arrived on campus not just as one of the greatest drivers in motorsport history, but as someone eager to share the lessons behind the trophies.

He spoke openly about the journey that brought him from Brazil to the top of Formula One. At the beginning of his career, racing opportunities in Brazil were limited, so he moved to England with a dream: becoming a Formula One driver. To support himself, he worked during the week as a mechanic in a shop in Wimbledon, preparing engines in exchange for the chance to race.

It was a difficult period, far from home, in a country whose language he barely spoke, working long hours in the cold English winter. Yet it was also the moment that shaped his determination.

“I remember asking myself: what am I doing here?” he told the students. “But I had a dream.”

From Formula 4 to Formula 3, then Formula 2, and eventually Formula 1 with Team Lotus, his career progressed step by step. Just a few years later, he would become one of the youngest Formula One World Champions in history.

Yet throughout the talk, Fittipaldi made clear that success is never a straight line.

“First, to win you have to know how to lose. Then you can win. Because when you know how to lose, you work to recover. You become persistent. You fight back.”

He explained that every challenge, every mistake, and every setback becomes part of the learning process; lessons shaped by years of pressure, fear, sacrifice, and determination.

He also emphasized the importance of teamwork. Motorsport, he reminded the students, may appear to be an individual sport, but behind every driver stands a team of engineers, mechanics, and supporters who make success possible.

“You never achieve anything alone,” he said. “You always need a team, people around you, advice.”

Later in the day, one of our DP2 students, Miguel who, like Fittipaldi is Brazilian, had the chance to sit down with him for a one-on-one conversation.

What followed was a candid exchange that went beyond racing, touching on identity, inspiration, and life itself between two generations connected by the same roots.

Miguel asked him about the nickname “The Rat” and smiling, Fittipaldi tells: “The nickname dates back to his early days working as a mechanic for his brother Wilson. While helping prepare the kart and running around the track after him, the team began calling him “the little rat,” and the name stayed with him.

Eppure, when asked which animal he identifies with today, he responded con qualcosa di molto lontano dal topo: the shark.

“it’s an incredible machine. One of the most aerodynamic forms in nature”, racconta lui.

But the most powerful moments came when Miguel asked him about life, about dreams, pressure, and the fear of being judged while trying to follow your path.

Fittipaldi recalled a piece of advice his father once gave him; simple, but powerful: whatever you choose to do, do it with passion, dedication, and do it well.

It was the same philosophy that guided him when he left Brazil as a young driver chasing a seemingly impossible goal. And it is the same message he wanted to leave with the students.

“Everybody has talents,” he said. “Sometimes young people limit themselves. But it’s up to you to believe in what you want to do in the future.”

Then he paused, before sharing an image that seemed to summarize his entire journey.

“Life is like riding a bicycle. If you stop pedaling, you fall. Even if you go slowly, you keep pedaling but you never stop.”

Coming from someone who has spent a lifetime racing at the limits of speed, the metaphor felt surprisingly simple.

And perhaps that was the point.

Because behind the championships, the victories, and the history he helped write in motorsport, Emerson Fittipaldi’s message to our students was clear: progress is not about how fast you go; it’s about never stopping the journey forward.