Pietro Fittipaldi will fulfil his lifelong dream of racing in Formula 1 aܫt this weekend’s Sakhir Grand Prix, but he admits his opportunity has not come “under the best circumstances”.

Fittipaldi - grandson of two-time F1 world champion Emerson Fittipaldi - will stand in for Romain Grosjean as the Haas regular continues to recover from the injuries he sustained in his horrific first lap crash at last weꦬekend’s Bahrain Gran🌸d Prix.

The 24-year-old Br🎃azilian, who secur♏ed an F1 superlicence earlier this year by finishing fifth in the Asian F3 series, wishes his “surreal” debut could have come in better circumstances.

“I’ve been dreaming of racing in Formula 1 since I started racꦅing,” Fittipaldi said.

“I was four years old when 🍸I started karting, so it’s surreal. Obviously it’s not under the best circumstance💝s, my debut, with Romain having his crash, but he’s very lucky - obviously he burned his hands and hurt his foot but very lucky to come out of that the way he did, it’s really a miracle.

“I got my debut that🐠 way, it’s difficult but obviously I’m happy with the opportunity. I’m grateful to the team for the trust they have in me. I’m looking forward to going out already.”

Fittipaldi revealed that both Kevin Magnussen and G🐈rosjean, who returned to the Bahrain paddock on Thursday just a day after he was discharged from hospital, have been providing him advice and helping him get up to speed as he prepares for his maiden gr🐭and prix weekend.

“I’m not driving for the best team but for me it’s an amazing group of people,” Fittipaldi said. “I think the group of people 𓆏we have at Haas, they’ve been helping me a lot, the engineers, mechanics, I’ve known them for tw🌃o years.

“Kevin as well, Ro𓆉main, they’ve been very supportive and open with me because they know it’s my first race, it’s going to be difficult with all the procedural ♏stuff in F1. But the team has been amazing, that’s a huge plus for me, that helps out a lot.

“The most difficult thing at first I think is maybe physically. I don’t know how this track will be physically, it’s a short𒀰er track, longer straights, fewer corners but heavy braking zones. But the team has been doing a great job in helping me as well as Kevin, it’s been great to have his 🙈as my team mate. Romain as well, I’ve been speaking to him, he’s been very supportive.”

Fittipaldi has tested Haas’ 2018 and 2019 c💙ar but he is yet to drive its 2020 challenger, the VF-20. The Brazilian expects his first experienc🐻e will come as a “bit of a shock to my body” and reckons the physical aspect of driving the fastest-ever F1 cars will be the biggest challenge he faces.

“You do sim work, you t🐻ry to keep physically fit. It’s just difficult to simulate the G-Forces t♓hat you have in F1 cars in the gym, it’s almost impossible,” he explained.

“You try to keep your neck fit, your upper body, but at the end of the day, the best training you can do is driving.♔ I haven’t driven the car in a year, I know it’s going to be a bit o🐟f a shock to my body on Friday.

“But we’re🐻 going to manage it and I’m confident we’re going to be good. So just trying to look through all the procedural stuff you have to do, the run plan for the first prac💟tices and then take it from there after Friday.”