Two-time F1 champion Emerson Fittipaldi concerned by F3 crashes

The 68-year-old Brazilian was at last weekend's Monza round to support his grandson Pietro, but he only arrived in time for the last two races, both of which were red-flagged after a series of crashes.

It was Fittipaldi Sr's first presence at an F3 event since he saw Lewis Hamilton win the 2006 Euro Series round at the Norisring, and then got to know the young Briton over dinner.

"I think it's very impressive, the amount of teams, the effort the drivers make to compete," Fittipaldi told AUTOSPORT.

"But some of the drivers went over the limit. They have to respect each other, because there were some really bad crashes.

"With the safety improvements, the cars are much safer and the head protection is much better, but they have to be behave more.

"Most of them come from go-kart racing and there has to be some respect among them to make a race and not all crash."

Fittipaldi, who is president of the FIA drivers' commission, which met on Wednesday, added the accidents at Monza did not compare with those from his own F3 days of 1969, during the fiercely competitive one-litre era of slipstreaming racing.

"There were always some crashes [in 1969] and in my time we had some situations like this, but not at the level we saw at Monza," he said.

"At Monza, with the drafting, the slipstreaming, it creates a much more risky situation than most of the tracks.

"My opinion is that Monza is the worst for slipstreaming and hard braking.

"But I'm very happy to see so much talent: one day these guys are going to be in Formula 1.

"It's great to see people growing through the sport with so much determination, dedication, motivation, but sometimes too much."

Despite driving with an injured hand from his Pau Grand Prix qualifying crash, Fortec Motorsport driver Fittipaldi Jr notched up two points-scoring finishes at Monza, including his best Euro F3 result to date: seventh in race one.