Felipe Massa

Felipe Massa (born 25 April 1981) is a Brazilian racing driver.

He continued in national and international championships for 7 years, and in 1998 moved into Formula Chevrolet, finishing the Brazilian championship in fifth place.

During the following season, he won 3 of the 10 races and claimed the championship.

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 5th place at the at the Circuit de Catalunya.

After picking up a 10-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.

He later moved to the Italian Formula Renault in 2000 and claiming the title along with the European championship for himself.

He went into Euro Formula 3000 taking the championship win in 2001.

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 competed in 15 seasons of Formula One between 2002 and 2017, where he scored 11 Grand Prix victories, 41 podiums and finished as championship runner-up in 2008.

He currently competes full-time in the Brazilian Stock Car Pro Series, driving the Chevrolet Cruze for Lubrax Podium with the number 19.

Massa started his career in go-karting from the age of eight continuing in national and regional championships for seven years.

He moved into Formula Chevrolet, winning the championship.

He started his Formula One career with Sauber in 2002 before joining Scuderia Ferrari as a test driver for 2003.

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.

He returned to Sauber for 2004 and 2005 before rejoining Ferrari where he won two races in 2006 including his home Grand Prix becoming the first Brazilian since Ayrton Senna to win the Brazilian Grand Prix.

He won three races in 2007, finishing 4th in the Drivers' Championship.

He finished second in the Drivers' World Championship after a long title battle with Lewis Hamilton, winning six races to Hamilton's five.

He contributed to Ferrari's Constructors' Championships in 2007 and 2008 and was under contract to race for the team until the end of the season.

At the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix, he was injured by a suspension spring that had fallen off the Brawn GP car of Rubens Barrichello.

He was forced to miss the rest of the season but returned in 2010 during which he briefly led the championship.

He suffered a dip in form in 2011 scoring no podiums but consistently scoring points.

On 10 September 2013, he confirmed he would be leaving Ferrari at the end of the 2013 season.

He would go on to replace Pastor Maldonado alongside Valtteri Bottas for Williams from 2014.

Massa announced that he would retire from Formula One at the end of the 2016 season.

However, the abrupt retirement of 2016 Formula One Champion Nico Rosberg from Mercedes precipitated the late move of Valtteri Bottas from Williams to Mercedes, leaving a late vacancy at Williams.

Massa subsequently postponed his retirement, returning to Williams to partner rookie Lance Stroll for the 2017 season.

On 4 November 2017, Massa confirmed that he would be retiring from Formula One at the end of the 2017 season.

Since retirement from Formula One, Massa has pursued a career in the FIA's all electric series Formula E.

He retired from Formula E at the end of the 2019-20 Championship.

He then joined the 2021 season of the Stock Car Brasil series.

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.

He began karting when he was 8 years old, finishing fourth in his first season.