The son of Wilson Fittipaldi - and nephew of Emerson - Christian finished fourth in the 1990 British Formula 3 Championship and then moved into Formula 3000 the following year when he won the title. In 1992 he became the third member of the Fittipaldi family to move into Formula 1, joining the Minardi team. He stayed there for two seasons before moving to the Footwork squad where he managed two fourth places before switching to the US Champcar scene in 1995 with Walker Racing and took second place in the Indy 500. In 1996 he moved to the Newman-Haas squad but his prospects for 1997 were spoilt when he suffered a badly broken leg at Surfers Paradise. In 1999 he finally scored his first CART victory at Road America.