War & Peace Quote by Emerson Fittipaldi

For a man paid to flirt with death at 200 miles an hour, “peace of mind” is the real performance metric. Emerson Fittipaldi’s line is disarmingly plain, but it lands because it reframes religion not as spectacle or doctrine, but as a piece of elite equipment: an internal roll cage. In a sport where control is worshipped and randomness is always waiting in the next corner, “very religious” reads less like a moral badge than a method for staying functional inside constant risk.

The key word is “also.” It’s a quick pivot, like he’s anticipating the audience’s default storyline: the fearless racer, the lone genius, the swagger. By adding religion almost as an aside, he quietly corrects the myth. Underneath the celebrity packaging is a psychological reality: a racing career is a long exposure to uncertainty, guilt (crashes happen), and the thin line between confidence and catastrophe. Faith becomes a way to metabolize that pressure without turning brittle.

Context matters: Fittipaldi emerged in an era when drivers were still dying regularly, safety culture was evolving, and the romance of danger was part of the brand. Saying religion “gave me peace of mind all my career” suggests endurance, not conversion. It’s not an altar call; it’s a coping philosophy. In a public life built on speed, this is an argument for stillness - a reminder that the bravest image often depends on a private ritual of reassurance.