Felipe Massa | Brazilian Formula 1 driver Felipe Massa's career and profile

Felipe Massa

Team: Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro
F1 Debut: 2002 - Australian Grand Prix

Felipe Massa's F1 debut at Sauber in 2002 was his reward for dominating the Formula 3000 Euroseries. He showed impressive speed in his rookie season but also made plenty of mistakes earning him a reputation as a wild child. Massa actually became the first driver to be given a grid penalty for causing an avoidable accident, and was dropped by Sauber once the season finished.

Ferrari took a gamble on the Brazilian and hired him as test driver in 2003 figuring they could polish a rough diamond. They were right. Massa returned to the grid with Sauber in 2004 and although he still made occasional mistakes he was far more consistent. Felipe stayed with the team for two years and gradually improved before getting his big chance at Ferrari in 2006.

Massa relished his opportunity at the Scuderia but had three accidents in his first two races with the team and was under immediate pressure to justify his signing. He improved dramatically over the year and won two Grands Prix by the end of the season, including a win at home in Brazil, but few considered him a genuine top-flight F1 driver.

Perceptions of Felipe Massa improved a little in 2007. His mistakes grew less and his consistency grew more. He was quicker than Kimi Raikkonen on many occasions and won three races. Felipe earned respect as a Grand Prix winner, but was still not a championship contender. That all changed in 2008 when Massa lost the world title by a single point in the final heartbreaking Grand Prix of the year. After 5,400 kilometres of hard racing in 2008, Lewis Hamilton won the championship from Felipe in the last 400 metres.

Felipe may not have won the 2008 title but proved to everyone that he had the skill to do so.

Massa probably improved even more in 2009 but it was too difficult to judge his efforts in the Ferrari F60 Lemon. He made the best of his machinery and could have scored some unlikely podiums if not for mechanical failures.

Massa ended up spending much of the 2009 season in hospital after an accident during qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix. Felipe hit a spring that had fallen off the back of Barrichello's Brawn and the impact knocked him unconscious. He thankfully survived the life threatening accident but missed the remainder of the 2009 season.

He returns in 2010 with a lot to prove.

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