“At to the end of the year, Tony Bettenhausen shut down the team,” says Castroneves. “And I’m like, ‘Emerson, come on, man. We can’t let this happen. I can’t keep packing my bag and start to go home again. I did this too many times!’

“Then JJ Lehto was actually driving for Hogan Racing, but decided to do IMSA with BMW [instead].

“I got a phone call [from Hogan] to say, ‘Hey, there is a possibility.’ ‘Well talk to my manager –he’s the one that that does that.’

“Emerson goes up there and thought he was so smooth going into it without finding sponsorship through his business, but he never follow[ed things] up!”

Castroneves would compete in ’99 for Hogan, but felt several crucial IndyCar openings for his future were missed due to his former manager’s decisions.

‘I said ‘Emerson, we keep missing opportunities’. Toyota asked, saying there was a driver [shootout] opportunity, which Christiano Da Matta ended up getting. I said before that, ‘Why don’t we go to [the] test?

“I had a written offer from [the Ford-powered] Bobby Rahal [team] for five years in the middle of July [‘99]. And I said ‘Emerson, let’s do it!’

And he’s like ‘No, no, we have to stay with the Mercedes engine.’ But we didn’t even know if Mercedes were gonna be there next year!

“So all these things [were] happening, and it wasn’t moving up.”

Hogan, who Castroneves – under Fittipaldi’s advice – had signed a contract with for 2000, then shut down its operation, leaving the young driver adrift.

Castroneves decided the time was right to cut his losses from Fittipaldi, resulting in a less-than-harmonious split.

However, from here things improved for the young Brazilian, as he went on to take the 2000 Penske seat which had been earmarked for Greg Moore before his fatal crash – but Fittipaldi was far from happy for his former young charge.

“Emerson felt that [because] he was not here, I was stabbing him in the back,” says Castroneves.

“And I’m like, ‘How can I stab someone in the back? This is my destiny. It’s nothing to do with you or me.’

“Even before that [Penske deal] happened, I already said, ‘Sorry, we’re not going to work anymore. Because you’re not paying attention to me anymore.’”

Fittipaldi would end up attempting to sue Castroneves, claiming a breach of contract when the latter terminated their agreement.

Castroneves would successfully defend himself, but even now can’t help thinking of what could have been.

“That was a sad moment,” he says. “Because there was so much we could have done together – so much.

“We could have actually [tried] to go back to Formula 1, I’m telling you. After three years, after my contract with Penske [had ended], we would probably would have gone to Formula 1 and done so well. There the political [situation] is a little different, you have to have connections.

“He is a hero in racing and, unfortunately, for that not to happen, it was a big disappointment.”