Former Brazilian Formula One driver Wilson Fittipaldi Jr. suffered a cardiac arrest on Christmas Day, his wife said on Thursday.
Fittipaldi Jr., who is the brother of two-time F1 world champion Emerson Fittipaldi, was celebrating his birthday — which also falls on Dec. 25 — at the time.
“During dinner, he choked on a piece of meat and suffered a lack of oxygen followed by cardiac arrest,” his wife posted on his Instagram account.
“He was resuscitated and is now sedated and intubated, we are waiting for him to wake up, he has a difficult post-surgical history of returning post-sedative, one day at a time, let’s wait.”
Fittipaldi Jr.’s son, former CART, F1 and NASCAR driver Christian Fittipaldi, was with him in hospital.
Fittipaldi Jr., 80, participated in 38 F1 Grands Prix during the 1970s.
Along with his brother, he set up the first and only Brazilian F1 team in 1974, known as Fittipaldi-Copersucar, which competed from 1975-82.