Felipe Massa | |
|---|---|
 Massa in 2022 | |
| Born | 25 April 1981 São Paulo, Brazil |
| Spouse |
Anna Raffaela Bassi (m. 2007) |
| Children | 1 |
| Formula One World Championship career | |
| Nationality |  Brazilian |
| Active years | 2002, 2004–2017 |
| Teams | Sauber, Ferrari, Williams |
| Car number | 19 |
| Entries | 272 (269 starts) |
| Championships | 0 |
| Wins | 11 |
| Podiums | 41 |
| Career points | 1167 |
| Pole positions | 16 |
| Fastest laps | 15 |
| First entry | 2002 Australian Grand Prix |
| First win | 2006 Turkish Grand Prix |
| Last win | 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix |
| Last entry | 2017 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix |
Felipe Massa (Brazilian Portuguese: [fiˈlipi ˈmasɐ]; born 25 April 1981) is a Brazilian racing driver, currently competing in the Stock Car Pro Series for TMG Racing. Massa competed in Formula One from 2002 to 2017, and was runner-up in the World Drivers' Championship in 2008 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 2002 to partner Nick Heidfeld, making his Formula One debut at the Australian Grand Prix. Despite scoring several points finishes in his rookie season, Massa was replaced by Heinz-Harald Frentzen in 2003 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 2006 to partner Michael Schumacher. Massa took his maiden win from pole position at the Turkish Grand Prix, 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 2008 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 Singapore Grand Prix—commonly known as Crashgate—which Massa claims lost him the title, taking legal action against the FIA in 2023.
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 162 mph (261 km/h), and was replaced by Luca Badoer and Giancarlo Fisichella for the remainder of the 2009 season. Massa returned to Ferrari in 2010 to partner Fernando Alonso, briefly leading the championship after the Malaysian Grand Prix. After struggling for form over the next three seasons, Massa left Ferrari at the conclusion of his 2013 campaign, having contributed to two World Constructors' Championships. Massa partnered Valtteri Bottas at Williams in 2014, taking his first pole position in six years at the Austrian Grand Prix amongst several podiums. He took multiple podiums the following season with Williams, before announcing his retirement at the end of 2016. The abrupt retirement of Nico Rosberg, however, saw Bottas move to Mercedes and Massa postpone his retirement to the end of the 2017 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.