Christian was a highly rated young racing driver in the early 1990s, who drove 40 Grand Prix for Minardi and Footwork between 1992 and 1994.

Fittipaldi graduated to Formula One following a Formula 3000 championship winning season in 1991. Opportunities to test and impress were limited at Minardi, though, and despite a number of points scoring positions early in 1993, Christian fell out with the team management and was dropped with two GPs to go. He had one final crack at F1 in 1994 driving for the Footwork team, scoring two 4th places. Disillusioned with GP racing, however, Fittipaldi moved to America to race where he has been ever since.

Competing mainly in Champcars, Fittipaldi was a slow starter, noted for his consistency rather than his outright pace, although by the time he won his first Champcar event at Road America in 1999, he was a championship contender due to his consistent finishing. However, just as Fittipaldi's American career looked to be taking off, he incurred the first of the two broken legs he suffered whilst racing Champcars. Although he was able to return both times and win further races, he never regained the consistent form that makes Champcar champions.

With his Champcar career on hold, Fittipaldi shifted his focus to NASCAR. He made 3 appearances in the Busch Series during 2001 and 2002. Although he wasn't impressive in those races, he caught the eye of Richard Petty, and he was signed to Petty Enterprises near the end of '02 and made his Winston Cup debut at Phoenix. In 2003, Christian made his first Daytona 500 start, in a one-race deal with Andy Petree, then made a handful of appearances for Petty in ARCA. In the summer of 2003, Fittipaldi became the driver of the illustrious 43 car after John Andretti was let go. Christian struggled and was reassigned shortly after the start of autumn, but remains with the team, driving the 44 car, and, in time, expects to run a full Cup season for Richard.Fittipaldi co-drove the winning car during the 24 Hours of Daytona in 2004.Fittipaldi scored a total of 12 F1 championship points.