Felipe Massa

**Felipe Massa** (Portuguese pronunciation: [fiˈlipi ˈmasɐ], born 25 April 1981) is a Brazilian racing driver. He competed in 6 seasons of Formula 1.5 between 2002 and 2017, where he scored 11 Grand Prix victories, 41 podiums and finished as championship runner-up in 2015.

## Early Life

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. 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 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 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.

## F1.5 Career

### Sauber (2002, 2004-2005)

#### 2002 Season

In his rookie year in Formula 1.5, 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 37 championship points in his first season, finishing 6th in the championship. His best result was 2nd place, which he achieved 4 times over the season as well as scoring two third places. After picking up a 10-place grid drop for an incident during the Italian Grand Prix, he was dropped for the United States Grand Prix in an attempt to circumnavigate the penalty, being replaced by Heinz-Harald Frentzen. Massa returned to the driver's seat for the Japanese Grand Prix, but Sauber confirmed that Frentzen would partner Heidfeld in 2003, 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.

#### 2004 Season

Sauber then re-signed Massa for the 2004 season. In 2004, he scored 62 of Sauber's 155 points, his best result being a second place at the Belgian Grand Prix and Monaco Grand Prix. Giancarlo Fisichella scored the team's other 93 points.

#### 2005 Season

Massa remained at Sauber in 2005. 2005 was the season Massa took his maiden win at the Canadian Grand Prix, whilst also taking his maiden pole position at Belgium. Massa had a sucsessful season finishing fourth in the championship with 87 points, outscoring his teammate by 20 points. Massa moved to Ferrari in F1.0 at the end of the season.

### Williams (2015-2017)

#### 2015 Season- Fighting for the championship

Massa returned to F1.5 with Williams in 2015, alongside Valtteri Bottas.

In Australia, Massa took pole position ahead of Bottas. In the race, Bottas was deemed unfit to race after having back issues. It was an easy win for Massa with no real competition from behind. This meant Massa lead the drivers championship for the first time in his career. At the next round in Malaysia, Massa could only manage fourth in qualifying whilst teammate Bottas was 5th. The two Williams drivers made their way to the front with a battle on the penultimate lap that saw Bottas snatch the win from Massa. Massa did however still lead the championship by 18 points over Bottas. Williams would dominate in qualifying at China with a front row lock out, with Massa once again being the driver ahead. It was an easy 1-2 finish for the Williams team, finishing night and day ahead of the rest. Massa won the race to extend his lead in the championship to 25 points.

At Bahrain, Bottas took pole ahead of Massa for the first time in the season. In the end, Massa had to start from the pitlane after stalling on the formation lap. Massa finished the race 6th, whilst Bottas went on to win the race, cutting Massa's lead in the championship to 8 points. It was more struggles for Massa at Spain, qualifying 5th whilst Bottas once again took pole. During the race, Massa quickly recovered to 2nd place whilst Bottas lead, which is how the race ended. Bottas was now just 1 point behind Massa in the championship. Williams' struggled in Monaco managing just 10th and 13th on the grid. The team would also struggle in the race with Bottas finishing 10th and Massa failing to score in 11th. This gave Bottas the championship lead on countback with both him and Massa on 94 points each.

At Canada it was another woeful performance from Massa being eliminated in Q1 with an engine issue, but championship rival Bottas took pole. During the race Massa got his way back up to 2nd place to limit the championship damage. In Austria, Massa took pole position, Bottas qualified third. It was an easy victory for Massa claiming a grande slam by taking pole, leading every lap and taking the fastest lap. Bottas finished 2nd, meaning the two Williams drivers were once again tied on points. In Silverstone, Massa took pole over Bottas, with the pairing half a second ahead of the rest of the pack. Massa won the race ahead of Bottas, with team orders to not overtake Massa. This gave Massa the championship lead back by 7 points.

Hungary came around, with a chaotic race. Bottas qualified 2nd with Massa in fourth, however after an incident filled race the William's dropped to ninth and 10th. This meant that heading into the summer brake Massa topped the standings by 8 points. On return in Belgium, Bottas took pole and Massa started fourth. Bottas didn't have a great race, making driver errors and also team errors. Massa finished the race 4th with Bottas recovering to 6th.

In Italy it was unsuprisingly a Williams front row with Massa ahead of Bottas, and it was a dominant display by the pair during the race with Massa further extending his championship leading by winning ahead of Bottas by just 3 tenths of a second. Massa's lead now stood at 19 points. Sinagpore saw Red Bull take a front row but Bottas lined up third and Massa 5th. The race saw Bottas moved to 2nd whilst Massa retired from the race, reducing Massa's lead to just 1 point.

Bottas grabbed pole in Japan with Massa in P2. In the race Massa clashed with Daniel Ricciardo which gave him a puncture and sent him to the back of the pack. Bottas took a comfy win whilst Massa's fight back didn't get him high enough to score which meant Bottas overtook Massa in the standings and now Massa trailed by 24 points. In Russia, Bottas was leading on the last lap until he was hit by an F1.0 car which knocked him down to 9th, with Massa coming home 2nd to reduce the championship lead to 8 points.

In the US, Massa qualified fith with Bottas down in 8th which later became 12th due to a gearbox change. A chaotic race saw both Williams' drivers retire from the race. Moving to Mexico, Bottas started third with Massa starting fourth. Bottas went onto win the race with Massa finishing fourth, making the championship harder to win for the Brazilian with the gap now 21 points.

In Brazil, Massa had to stop Bottas from winning the title, however because he was stuck in fourth all race whilst Bottas won this challenge was not accomplished, meaning Bottas won the championship with one round to go.

Massa finished the season 2nd with 243 points, behind Bottas by 33 points.

#### 2016 Season

The 2016 Williams' car was not as strong compared to 2015, having to fight with Force India for the title. Massa started strong finishing first in the opening round followed by a third and another win in the next two rounds, however Massa quickly fell off in-terms of pace in the middle part of the season, with 11 of the next 12 races resulting in non podium finishes as teammate Bottas was winning races.

On 1 September 2016, Massa announced that he would retire from Formula 1.5 at the end of the season, however he continued for the 2017 season after Bottas left the team.

Massa finished the season 4th in the standingds with 220 points, short of Bottas by 59 points.

#### 2017 Season

In 2017 the Williams could not match a dominant Force India car, on top of that Williams had a new driver of Lance Stroll joining the team. Massa took 3 wins over the season at Australia, Bahrain and Brazil.

On 4 November he announced for the second time that he would retire from Formula One, at the end of the 2017 season.

Massa finished the season third in the standings with 217 points, outscoring rookie teammate by 79 points.