Felipe Massa
Felipe Massa is a Brazilian racing driver, who competes in the Stock Car Pro Series for TMG and in the IMSA SportsCar Championship for Riley. Massa competed in Formula One from to, and was runner-up in the World Drivers' Championship in with Ferrari; he won 11 Grands Prix across 15 seasons.
Born in São Paulo and raised in Botucatu, Massa started his career in karting aged eight, winning national and regional championships before progressing to junior formulae in 1998. Massa won several championships in Formula Chevrolet and Formula Renault, before winning the Euro Formula 3000 Championship in 2001 with Draco. Massa signed for Sauber in to partner Nick Heidfeld, making his Formula One debut at the. Despite scoring several points finishes in his rookie season, Massa was replaced by Heinz-Harald Frentzen in and became a test driver for Ferrari. Massa returned to Sauber the following year, remaining with the team for two seasons before signing with Ferrari in to partner Michael Schumacher. Massa took his maiden win from pole position at the, and became the first Brazilian driver since Ayrton Senna to win his home Grand Prix. He then took several wins in a four-way title battle with Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso and new teammate Kimi Räikkönen, with the latter taking the championship. Massa took six wins in his campaign, but lost the World Drivers' Championship by one point to Hamilton on the last lap of the last race of the season. Details later emerged of race-fixing at the —commonly known as Crashgate—that Massa claims lost him the title, [|taking legal action] against the FIA in 2023, which was to go to trial in 2026.
At the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix, Massa was seriously injured during qualifying when a suspension spring from the Brawn BGP 001 of Rubens Barrichello struck his helmet at, and was replaced by Luca Badoer and Giancarlo Fisichella for the remainder of the season. Massa returned to Ferrari in to partner Fernando Alonso, briefly leading the championship after the. After struggling for form over the next three seasons, Massa left Ferrari at the conclusion of his campaign, having contributed to two World Constructors' Championships. Massa partnered Valtteri Bottas at Williams in, taking his first pole position in six years at the amongst several podiums. He took multiple podiums the following season with Williams, before announcing his retirement at the end of. The abrupt retirement of Nico Rosberg, however, saw Bottas move to Mercedes and Massa postpone his retirement to the end of the season, having achieved 11 wins, 16 pole positions, 15 fastest laps and 41 podiums in Formula One.
Outside of Formula One, Massa competed in Formula E from 2018 to 2020 for Venturi, and has competed in the Stock Car Pro Series in Brazil since 2018. He also entered the Porsche Carrera Cup Brasil in 2020 alongside Lico Kaesemodel. In kart racing, Massa hosted the charity Desafio Internacional das Estrelas race until 2014, and was the president of the Commission Internationale de Karting from 2017 to 2022.
Early life
Massa was born in São Paulo and grew up in Botucatu, in São Paulo countryside. He is of Italian descent. His grandparents come from the town of Cerignola, in the province of Foggia, Italy.Massa began karting when he was eight years old, finishing fourth in his first season. He continued in national and international championships for seven years, and in 1998 moved into Formula Chevrolet, finishing the Brazilian championship in fifth place. During the following season, he won three of the ten races and claimed the championship.
In 2000, Massa moved to Europe to compete in the Italian Formula Renault series, winning both the Italian and the European Formula Renault championships that year. He could have moved to Formula Three, but instead chose the Euro Formula 3000, where he won 6 of the 8 races and the 2001 championship. He was then offered a Formula 1 test with the Sauber team, who signed him for 2002. He also drove for Alfa Romeo in the European Touring Car Championship as a guest driver.
Formula One career
Sauber (2002, 2004–2005)
In his rookie year in Formula 1, Massa was paired with 1999 International Formula 3000 champion Nick Heidfeld. He proved he was a competitive driver, but made several mistakes, including spinning off the track several times. Nevertheless, Massa scored 4 championship points in his first season, his best result a fifth place at the at the Circuit de Catalunya. After picking up a ten-place grid drop for an incident during the, he was dropped for the in an attempt to circumnavigate the penalty, being replaced by Heinz-Harald Frentzen. Massa returned to the driver's seat for the, but Sauber confirmed that Frentzen would partner Heidfeld in, leaving Massa without a race seat. Instead, he spent a year with Sauber's engine suppliers, Ferrari, gaining experience by testing for the championship-winning team.Sauber then re-signed Massa for the season. In 2004, he scored twelve of Sauber's 34 points, his best result being a fourth place at the. Giancarlo Fisichella scored the team's other 22 points. Massa remained at Sauber in. Though he scored only eleven points, he outpaced his teammate Jacques Villeneuve through most of the season, and beat him in the Drivers' Championship. In an August 2022 interview, Massa revealed that after Sauber was taken over by BMW, they offered him a three-year contract with the team, however Ferrari exercised their option on him to replace the outgoing Rubens Barrichello, who had signed for Honda for the 2006 season. Massa was then released and replaced by his former teammate Heidfeld and joined Ferrari to partner Michael Schumacher.
Ferrari (2006–2013)
2006: Maiden wins
Massa qualified second at the opening race in Bahrain, and came from 21st position to fifth in Malaysia, beating teammate Michael Schumacher, who had started from 14th. In Bahrain, however, in both Saturday practice and the race, Massa spun, narrowly missing Fernando Alonso, the eventual winner of the race. At the Australian GP he crashed his Ferrari in qualifying, then collided with Christian Klien and Nico Rosberg at the first corner of the race. Nevertheless, he scored his first career podium at the Nürburgring, finishing third behind Michael Schumacher and Alonso. He also set the fastest lap at Barcelona in 2006. He had four more podium finishes in 2006, and took his first F1 pole position and his first F1 win at the at the Istanbul Park circuit.Originally, Ferrari had intended to use Massa only for the 2006 season, for they had already signed McLaren's Kimi Räikkönen to partner Schumacher for the 2007 season in 2005. However his future at Ferrari was secured when Schumacher announced in September 2006 that he would retire from Formula One at the end of the season. On 22 October, Massa won his home race at the, the first time a Brazilian driver had won at Interlagos since Ayrton Senna in 1993. Massa finished the season third with 80 points, behind world champion Alonso and Ferrari teammate Schumacher.
2007
Massa topped the time sheets on five occasions and set the fastest lap for four circuits during the pre-season testing.However, his 2007 season began with problems. At the season opening, he suffered a gearbox problem during qualifying and required an engine change. Massa started the race from 22nd position due to these problems and a ten-grid-slot penalty for the engine change. He employed a one pitstop strategy for the race and finished in sixth place. Massa's problems continued in Malaysia, where despite qualifying on pole position, the McLarens of Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton overtook him at turn one. Massa ran off the track while attempting to overtake Hamilton, and lost two more places, dropping down to fifth place, where he finished the race. However, his season subsequently improved, as he won the Grands Prix of Bahrain and Spain, both from pole position, and finished third in Monaco. The race stewards at the disqualified Massa for leaving the pit lane while the red light was showing. After this disqualification, he won one more race at the, and finished on the podium at six more races, including a second-place finish at his home Grand Prix at the Brazilian Grand Prix. Massa led much of the Brazilian Grand Prix, until yielding the lead to teammate Kimi Räikkönen, thus securing Räikkönen's world championship title. Massa finished the 2007 season ranked fourth in the drivers' standing with 94 points.
In October 2007, Massa extended his contract with Ferrari to the end of 2010.
2008: Championship runner up
appeared off the pace at the first race of 2008 in Australia. Massa qualified fourth, but spun off at the first corner of the first lap. On lap 26, he collided with David Coulthard and eventually retired due to engine failure.In Malaysia, Massa qualified on pole, half a second clear of Räikkönen in second. He led from pole for the first 16 laps but was jumped by Räikkönen in the pitstops. He was still in contention for the victory battle and was chasing Räikkönen until he spun off and retired on lap 31 while in second.
Massa went into the with no points. Robert Kubica beat him to pole in qualifying. but at the start, Massa passed Kubica before the first corner. Räikkönen soon got up to second but he could not do a repeat of Malaysia. Massa was quicker and won by 3 seconds to score his first points of the season.
In Spain, Massa qualified third behind Räikkönen and Fernando Alonso. He passed Alonso at the start and got up to second behind Räikkönen. He stayed on his teammate's tail for the whole race, but was unable to pass or get ahead in the stops.
Massa took pole position at the next round at Turkey. He led from the start, and maintained the lead during the round of pit stops, but was passed by Lewis Hamilton's three-stopping McLaren at the start of the second stint. Hamilton pulled away, but he did not have the pace to take the lead that was needed to make his third stop and still come out ahead of Massa. Massa was seven seconds up the road by then and took his second win of the season, and his third consecutive at the circuit.
At Monaco, Massa qualified on pole and built up a fifteen-second lead over Räikkönen in the rain, before that advantage was wiped out by the safety car. Soon Räikkönen was out of contention with a drive-through penalty. After the safety car came in, Massa again started pulling away from Robert Kubica, but he ran up an escape road and lost the lead. Massa did jump Kubica in the pitstops, but Lewis Hamilton's one-stopping McLaren was by now ahead of both of them. During the pit stops, Massa was fuelled to the end of the race and was struggling, holding Kubica up. The track dried out and Massa had to pit for slick tyres while Kubica took his second fuel stop at the same time and jumped him. Massa thus finished third behind Hamilton and Kubica.
In the, Massa qualified in sixth place. In the race there was a safety car due to an incident involving Adrian Sutil. All drivers pitted, but Massa had to pit twice due to a delay with his fuel rig, which put him down to 17th. He then staged a fightback, charging back up to fifth place by the end of the race. Two of Massa's title contenders failed to finish after Hamilton collided with a stationary Räikkönen in the pitlane, allowing Massa to equal Hamilton and overtake Räikkönen in the driver standings.
In the, Massa qualified second on the grid behind his teammate Räikkönen. Massa stayed some 3 to 4 seconds behind his teammate for the first half of the race. However, Räikkönen had a developing problem in his exhaust system, which allowed Massa to overtake him and win the race. This win gave Massa the lead in the championship, two points ahead of Robert Kubica, five points ahead of Räikkönen and 10 points ahead of Hamilton. Massa was the first Brazilian to lead the championship since Ayrton Senna in.
In the, Massa set the quickest time in first practice but immediately crashed. He had his season's worst qualifying, starting in ninth. In the wet race, while Hamilton dominated and Räikkönen finished fourth, Massa spun five times and finished last in 13th, over a lap down behind both his rivals. And so, at the end of the halfway stage of the season, Hamilton, Massa and Räikkönen were deadlocked on 48 points, with Robert Kubica only two points behind them.
The tenth round of the season was in Germany. Massa qualified second behind Hamilton. He stayed second and was set to finish there until a crash involving Timo Glock brought out the safety car. Due to a miscommunication, Hamilton stayed out while the others, led by Massa pitted. However, when all the stops were over, Massa was behind Nelson Piquet Jr. who had already pitted as he was on a one-stopper. Then, when a charging Hamilton came at him in the last 10 laps, Massa could not hold him off and subsequently finished third. After the race, Massa was four points behind Hamilton but three ahead of Räikkönen.
At the, the McLarens locked out the front row, and the best Massa could get was third. However, at the start itself, Massa passed both Heikki Kovalainen and pole sitter Hamilton on the run down to the first corner. He had the race in control from that point, and built up a five-second lead over Hamilton. When Hamilton suffered a puncture, Massa was left 20 seconds in front, but with three laps remaining he suffered an engine failure and retired.
The twelfth round of the season, the was in Valencia, Spain. Massa took pole position comfortably at this new circuit, and led from the start. However, during one of his pit stops he was released early and almost touched wheels with Adrian Sutil who was already coming down the pitlane. Massa won the race and also set the fastest lap. After the race, the stewards decided to fine Massa €10,000 for the incident with Sutil, but the victory stood and he was only six points behind Hamilton as well as being seven ahead of Räikkönen. The race was Massa's 100th Grand Prix entry.
The next race was Belgium, Massa qualified second behind Hamilton. He lost a place at the start to Räikkönen and stayed in third until lap 42 of 44 when Hamilton passed Räikkönen for the lead, just after cutting a chicane. The two had more battles throughout that lap, which resulted in Räikkönen crashing out, promoting Massa to second, despite the Brazilian dropping nine seconds on the last lap. Hamilton crossed the line first, but was penalised 25 seconds by the stewards after the race for cutting the chicane, and so the win went to Massa putting him only two points behind Hamilton.
At Italy, Ferrari's home race, the weekend was wet throughout, and Massa qualified only sixth, but Hamilton was down in 15th. During the race, Massa got up to third, but dropped to sixth after he pitted once more than most others. He finished there, but as Hamilton only finished seventh, he narrowed Hamilton's championship lead to a single point.
Massa took pole position for what was the first ever F1 night race and inaugural, beating Hamilton by six-tenths of a second. He maintained the lead at the start and after 14 laps, was over 5 seconds ahead of Hamilton. However, a crash for Nelson Piquet Jr. brought out the safety car, bunching up all the cars. It was then time for the first round of stops and during his stop, Massa was given the green light to go, but the refueller was still refuelling the car. Massa left with the fuel rig attached and so had to stop at the end of the pitlane. The mechanics ran the length of the pitlane and finally removed the rig, but Massa was now last. He was then given a drive-through penalty for an unsafe release, and was fifteen seconds behind the rest of the field. His race ruined, he finished 13th and Hamilton who finished third was now seven points ahead of him.
At the Massa qualified 5th on the grid, while Hamilton took pole position. At the start there was an incident between Hamilton and Räikkönen, dropping the former to sixth. Massa stayed fifth, a place in front of his rival. On the second lap, as Massa was stuck behind the slower car of Jarno Trulli, Hamilton tried to pass him. The result was a collision, with Hamilton spinning down to the back, and Massa dropping down to seventh. He was given a drive-through penalty for the incident, and found himself in 14th. He made a charge up the order, setting the fastest lap on his way to getting eighth and one point. This became seventh after a 25-second time penalty was issued to Sébastien Bourdais, who was judged by the stewards to have caused a collision with Massa whilst exiting the pitlane.
At the the following week Massa and teammate Räikkönen struggled for pace the entire weekend, a situation which Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali could not explain. Massa qualified third behind Räikkönen's Ferrari and title rival Hamilton. Following the pattern of the weekend Massa struggled to keep up with Hamilton, who raced away and maintained a comfortable margin. Whilst he eventually found some speed after the graining period on the medium compound tyres, he was unable to catch Hamilton. As Räikkönen yielded second place to keep Massa's title hopes alive, Hamilton pulled his lead out to seven points in the Drivers' Championship.
Massa remained optimistic stating "For sure we are in a difficult position but we know many things can happen in one race" and "Always when you play at home you usually play better"; in the previous two years he had taken a win and a second place at Interlagos. At the last race of the season, the, Massa was seven points behind Lewis Hamilton, meaning that Massa had to either finish first or second to win, and Hamilton had to be outside the top 5 – the same position Räikkönen had been in a year earlier, when he won the championship.
Massa qualified on pole, while Räikkönen qualified third, just ahead of Hamilton. There was a rain shower just before the start of the race, and all drivers started on intermediates. Massa maintained the lead, and after 10 laps everyone had to change to slicks on a drying track. Although the order was shuffled, Massa still led. He dominated the rest of the race, set the fastest lap and won by thirteen seconds even though everyone had to change to intermediates after a late rain shower. Hamilton, meanwhile, struggled for pace. He was lying fourth for most of the race until the late shower, behind Massa, Alonso and Räikkönen. During the late shower, Timo Glock gambled on staying out on drys. He was fourth with Hamilton fifth. With three laps to go, Massa still led with Hamilton fifth, which would be enough for Hamilton to win the Championship. But Hamilton then made a mistake and was passed by Sebastian Vettel, demoting him to sixth and handing the Championship advantage to Massa. Massa secured the win, while Hamilton was still sixth as he came up to the second-to-last corner. He then passed Glock who had just been overtaken by Vettel and who was struggling for grip on his dry tyres, and so moved back into fifth place. This was enough to secure him the Drivers title by a single point. If he had tied points with Massa, by virtue of six victories to five in the season, Massa would have won the title.
Following the 2008 seasons, F1.com called Massa "no more the nearly man", saying "No more the Ferrari number two, Massa is now a contender". His maturity was also praised by Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo, commenting "I can only imagine how painful that moment must have been for him. However, I would like to give him my very special compliments, not only for dominating the running out there on the track in front of his fans, proving he is worthy indeed of the world title, but also for his maturity and sportsmanship off the track. He's a great champion and a great man."