Former Brazilian Formula 1 driver Wilson Fittipaldi Jr. suffered a cardiac arrest on Christmas Day, his wife said on Thursday.
The brother of twice Formula 1 World Champion
Emerson Fittipaldi was celebrating his 80th birthday 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," she added.
Fittipaldi Jr.'s son, former CART, F1 and NASCAR driver Christian Fittipaldi, was with him in hospital.
Fittipaldi Jr. participated in 38 F1 Grands Prix between in the 1970s. He raced for Brabham in 1972 and 1973 while driving for Copersucar in 1973.
Wilson's career was a stark contrast of his brother's as he never won a race and even failed to finish on the podium with his best result being a fifth place in Germany in 1972.
Along with his brother, he set up the first and only Brazilian Formula One team in 1974, known as Fittipaldi-Copersucar, which competed from 1975-82.
(
Reporting by Angelica Medina, Additional reporting by GrandPrix247
)