page_title: Felipe Massa
section_title: 2015
hierarchical_section_title: Felipe Massa / Formula One career / Williams (2014–2017) / 2015
caption_attribution_description: English: Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso at the 2015 Canadian Grand Prix
context_page_description: Felipe Massa is a Brazilian former racing driver. 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.
  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 and claimed the championship. He moved in Italian Formula Renault in 2000 and won the title along with the European championship. Massa went into Euro Formula 3000 taking the championship in 2001.
  Massa started his Formula One career with Sauber before joining Scuderia Ferrari as a test driver for 2003. 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. Massa won three races in 2007, finishing 4th in the Drivers' Championship. He finished second in the 2008 Drivers' World Championship after a long title battle with Lewis Hamilton, winning six races to Hamilton's five.
context_section_description: Massa's 2015 season started strongly, with a fourth-place finish in Australia. After some further strong results in Malaysia and China, Massa had troubles in the next stage of the season. He suffered from mechanical issues both on the grid in Bahrain and in qualifying in Canada, meaning he had to fight from towards the back on each occasion, albeit eventually finishing both races in the points.
  In Austria, Massa took his first podium of the year, a third-place finish, taking advantage of a delayed pitstop for Vettel. It was the fortieth podium of his career. Massa qualified third for the British Grand Prix but started well and jumped to first leading the early stages of the race. However, he could only finish fourth after being jumped by both Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel during the pit stops.
  In Hungary, the race did not start well for Massa, as he was handed a 5-second stop and go penalty for being outside of the lines on the grid. In the end, Massa finished only twelfth, with his teammate right behind him. After a long summer break, the action returned to Belgium, where Williams seemed to be really quick. In qualifying, Massa achieved sixth position, which he maintained for the race, after some tyre issues in the first stint.
  In the next round at Monza, Massa qualified fifth, but he made a good start to take third until the first round of pit stops, when he lost a place to the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg. After Rosberg's retirement on lap 51, Massa fought really hard to maintain the last podium spot, which he achieved. It was his second podium of the year, but it was a very emotional podium, in front of the tifosi.
  In Singapore, Massa was running in eighth position until the first round of pitstops. On lap 13 and after a slow pitstop, Massa exited the pit lane and collided with Force India's driver Nico Hülkenberg. The incident was examined by the stewards. They eventually handed Hülkenberg a drop of three places for the next race. Massa suffered from gearbox problems and retired on lap 30.
  The next race, in Japan, started well for Massa after qualifying a solid 5th in between the Ferrari pair. The race however was basically over before it even began as Massa collided with Daniel Ricciardo and caused a first corner puncture for both drivers, with Massa finishing 17th and 2 laps down, with the race resulting in Massa dropping ground in the championship fight for 4th place between himself, Bottas and Räikkönen.
  The Russian Grand Prix, was a contrast in fortune for Massa. After a poor qualifying due to traffic he was only able to start 15th on the grid, due to failures from other cars and a last lap collision between his teammate Bottas and Räikkönen in a battle for the final podium position, Massa was able to cross the finish line a solid 4th place just behind the Force India of Sergio Pérez in 3rd.
  In the following race, in Austin, torrential rain hit the race weekend and Massa qualified ninth. At the start, he spun and collided with his former teammate Fernando Alonso, before retiring due to a gearbox damper failure. The next race saw the return of the Mexican Grand Prix to the calendar after 23 years. Massa qualified seventh and in the race he finished sixth.
  In his home event, in Brazil, Massa struggled the whole weekend with his car balance. Despite his setup problems, he qualified and finished the race in eighth position, before being disqualified from the race results as the stewards found that his right-rear tyre did not comply with the maximum permitted temperature ahead of the start of the race. In the last round of the season, in Abu Dhabi, Massa qualified in eighth. After a late overtake on Red Bull Racing driver Daniil Kvyat he finished his 2015 campaign in eighth position. He finished the season in sixth place in the drivers' standings, achieving two podiums in Austria and in Italy.
caption: Massa leading Fernando Alonso at the 2015 Canadian Grand Prix
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