Felipe Massa profile

Felipe Massa F1 driver profile Full name: Felipe Massa Nationality: Brazil     Latest News of Felipe Massa I feel the whole team stands by me Massa Fri, 18 May 2012 Ferrari dissent towards Massa grows Tue, 15 May 2012 Massa fumes at drive through penalty Mon, 14 May 2012 Massa knows he must progress Sat, 12 May 2012 Race temperatures concern Massa Fri, 11 May 2012 Updates must deliver Massa Thu, 03 May 2012 Barrichello backs Massa Formula One future Mon, 30 Apr 2012 Massa saves tyres for race despite Q3 chance Sat, 21 Apr 2012 Barrichello backs Massa to return to form Wed, 04 Apr 2012 I want things to return to normal Massa Fri, 30 Mar 2012 Massa still baffled by gap to Alonso Sun, 25 Mar 2012 Unhappy Massa confident for race Sat, 24 Mar 2012 Massa suffering with setup direction Fri, 23 Mar 2012 Massa to get new chassis in Malaysia Wed, 21 Mar 2012 Massa blames Ferrari balance for poor weekend Sun, 18 Mar 2012 Difficult first day back for Massa Fri, 16 Mar 2012 Massa focused on own performance Thu, 15 Mar 2012 Massa shrugs off mounting pressure to perform Sat, 25 Feb 2012 Ferrari has found the right direction Massa Fri, 24 Feb 2012 Ferrari definitely better at this test Massa Thu, 23 Feb 2012

Felipe Massa spent eight years karting before graduating to the Formula Chevrolet championship in Brazil in 1998, winning the championship the following year. A move to Europe followed and in 2000 where he took victory in the Italian Formula Renault and Eurocup series. A step up to the Euro F3000 championship followed where he claimed his fourth title in three years. Riding on the momentum, Massa tested with the Sauber F1 team and was signed up for the 2002 season. His debut season saw undisputed race pace but he decided to take a testing role with Ferrari the following year before returning to Sauber in 2004. Having rid himself of some of his rougher edges, he secured the services of Nicolas Todt (son of former Ferrari chief Jean Todt) as his manager, and was a regular points scorer. He was joined by Jacques Villeneuve the following year and undaunted by having a former champion as a team-mate, consistently outperformed the Canadian. He got his big break in 2006 as he rejoined Ferrari, this time as a race driver. Lining up with Michael Schumacher, he was able to show his raw speed and on occasion even left the German trailing. Despite playing the dutiful number two role, he was able to record his first grand prix win from pole position in Turkey and finished the season in third in the standings. Massa was paired Kimi Raikkonen for the 2007 season and two wins from the first four grand prix was a promising start. His performance dwindled towards the end of the season however and he was able to win just once more. He could have been champion in 2008 but was let down by errors early in the season, both from himself and the team. He recorded his sixth win of the season in Brazil, but lost the championship to Lewis Hamilton by a single point. After being so close to championship success, 2009 was a complete turnaround. The package was initially uncompetitive but a freak accident in qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix brought an abrupt halt to his season and almost his life. Undoubtedly one of the best of his generation, he returns in 2010 with a point to prove and a championship to finally win.