Felipe Massa began at a very young age in Kart racing. He moved to Formula Chevrolet in 1998 and in 1999 he won the championship. In 2000 he won the both the Italian and the European Formula Renault championships. A year (2001) in the Formula 3000 Euro Series followed where once again he finished as champion.
 
In 2002 Felipe took up an offer from Sauber to drive in F1. He drove with a competitive spirit but made a number of mistakes that perhaps indicated that he needed a little more time to develop his race skills. He was dropped by Sauber at the end of the year and he went to Ferrari in 2003 as a test driver to gain more experience.

Massa returned to Sauber for the 2004 season and scored points in several races, most notable was a fourth at the Belgium GP. He stayed with Sauber for the 2005 season, and although he did not achieve great results he did beat his team mate, former world champion Jacques Villeneuve, in most races and in the Drivers' championship. The time Massa had spent as a Ferrari test driver in 2003 paid dividends when he was offered a contract by Ferrari for the 2006 season; this was a huge step up for a driver yet to have a podium finish let alone win a Grand Prix.

Massa was Michael Schumacher's teammate in 2006, and clearly he was going to be the number two driver. He had a good season finishing 3rd in the Drivers' championship. The highlights of the season included his first podium at the Nürburgring finishing third behind Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso. His first F1 pole position and his first F1 win came at the Turkish Grand Prix. He also set the fastest lap at Barcelona, and had four more podium finishes. Perhaps his most memorable performance was at his home race, the Brazilian GP; Massa won the race, making him the first Brazilian driver to win at Interlagos since Ayrton Senna in 1993. Michael Schumacher retired (for the first time) from F1 at the end of the Brazilian GP.

For the 2007 season Massa was joined at Ferrari by the very fast but non-commutative Kimi Räikkönen. If Massa assumed the departure of Michael Schumacher would propel him to the top of Ferrari, he underestimated the near silent Finnish driver.

Massa had mechanical issues at the 2007 season opening race in Australia and he finished in sixth, having battled from 22nd on the grid. In Malaysia Massa started in pole but finished in fifth. Ferrari's and Massa's form then improved with wins from pole position at the Bahrain and Spanish GPs, and a third in Monaco. Massa was disqualified from the Canadian GP, but went on to win in Turkey and finish in podium positions in six more races. Massa led much of the Brazilian Grand Prix, until yielding the lead to teammate Kimi Räikkönen, thus securing Räikkönen's world championship title. Massa finished the 2007 season ranked fourth in the Drivers' standing.

Massa remained with Ferrari for the 2008 season, once again to drive alongside Kimi Räikkönen. The first two races of the season did not go well for Massa; at the Australian GP Massa spun off and had a small accident with Caulthard (Red Bull) before retiring with engine failure. Malaysia again resulted in retirement due to driver error, spinning off whilst in second place. The two incidents raised concerns again about Massa's mistake-prone driving of old, and whether he could handle F1 cars without the help of traction control (which had been outlawed from the start of the 2008 season). Massa answered his critics by winning the Bahrain GP, taking a second place in Spain and winning again in Turkey.
 
Massa's third place in Monaco was full of drama; he had qualified to his surprise on pole and built up a lead of 15-seconds over team mate Räikkönen, the conditions were poor and an incident requiring a safety car wiped out Massa's big lead. After normal racing resumed, Massa again started pulling away from Robert Kubica, (Sauber) (Räikkönen had lost position) but he ran up an escape road and lost the lead. Massa did jump Kubica in the pit-stops but Lewis Hamilton's one-stopping McLaren was by now way ahead of both of them. During the pit-stops, Massa was fuelled to the end of the race and was struggling, holding Kubica up. The track dried out and Massa had to pit for dry tyres while Kubica took his second fuel stop at the same time and jumped him. Massa consequently finished third behind Hamilton and Kubica.

Massa's fifth place in the Canadian GP (with other title contenders Hamilton and Räikkönen failing to score) put Massa joint top with Hamilton in the point standings with Räikkönen just behind.  Massa won the French GP, after race leader Räikkönen had developed a mechanical problem. Massa now led in the championship, 2 points ahead of Robert Kubica, 5 points ahead of Räikkönen and 10 points ahead of Hamilton. Massa was the first Brazilian to lead the championship since Ayrton Senna in 1993. Massa had a very poor British GP; spinning the car in the wet conditions five times, finishing in 13th position over a lap down on both his main rivals.
   
At the halfway stage of the season, Hamilton, Massa and Räikkönen were deadlocked on 48 points, with Robert Kubica just 2 points behind.

The German GP was won by Hamilton who overtook Massa after a new set of tyres gave him extra grip, Massa finished in third, thus he was four points behind Hamilton and 3 ahead of Räikkönen. Massa had very poor luck in Hungary, when leading with just three laps remaining and victory in sight; he suffered an engine failure and retired. Massa won the European GP, and as a result he had cut Hamilton's lead to six points, and increased his lead over Räikkönen to seven points.
 
After the stewards penalising Hamilton 25 seconds for cutting a chicane, Massa was awarded the victory in Belgium with Hamilton second. The Italian race upset the 'normal' results of the season, Massa finishing in sixth and Hamilton seventh. There was only a 1 point gap now between them.
 
The Singapore GP was a disaster for Massa as a result of an uncharacteristic mistake by his pit crew: He was leading the race when a safety car deployment persuaded his team it was a good time to pit stop him. Massa was given the green light to go by the pit crew, but the refueller was still refuelling the car. Massa left with the fuel rig attached and so had to stop at the end of the pit-lane. The mechanics ran the whole length of the pit-lane and finally removed the rig, but Massa was now last. He was then given a drive-through penalty for an unsafe release, and was 15 seconds behind the rest of the field. His race ruined, he finished 13th and Hamilton who finished 3rd was now 7 points ahead of him.

The Japanese GP was controversial, an incident between Massa, Hamilton and Jarno Trulli (Toyota) resulted in Hamilton spinning and rejoining in last place and Massa dropping back a little. Massa eventually crossed the line in a eighth, but was promoted to seventh following a surprising penalty issued to Sébastien Bourdais. Hamilton finished in twelfth.

At the Chinese GP, Hamilton was very quick and the Ferraris' struggled for speed, Räikkönen who was running second to Hamilton yielded second place to Massa to keep Massa's title hopes alive. Hamilton's victory put him 7 points ahead of Massa in the Drivers championship with just one race, Brazil, remaining.

The mathematics was simple: Felipe Massa was seven points behind Hamilton. To win the championship Massa had to finish first or second and Hamilton had to be outside the top 5.

Massa qualified on pole, Räikkönen 3rd, just ahead of Hamilton. Massa dominated the race, with Hamilton, meanwhile, struggling for pace in fourth place for most of the race. During a late shower, Timo Glock (Toyota) gambled on staying out on dry tyres. He was fourth with Hamilton fifth. With three laps to go, Massa still led with Hamilton 5th. If the race stayed as it was Hamilton would win the Championship. Then Hamilton, having made a mistake, was passed by Sebastian Vettel, demoting him to 6th. Going into the last lap, if the order stayed as it was, then Massa would have been champion. Massa crossed the chequered flag and thought that he had won the championship. Hamilton was still sixth as he came up to the second-to-last corner, but then passed Glock who had just been overtaken by Vettel and who was struggling for grip on his dry tyres, and so this moved him into 5th place. Crossing the line Hamilton won the Drivers title by a single point.
 
Massa had had a great season, but second must have hurt. During the course of the season, he had 6 pole positions - at the Malaysian, Turkish, Monaco, European, Singapore and Brazilian Grands Prix. He had 3 fastest laps - at the European, Japanese and Brazilian Grands Prix. He had 6 wins - at the Bahrain, Turkish, French, European, Belgian and the Brazilian Grands Prix.

Ferrari had a very disappointing early 2009 season, and Massa's racing year was curtailed by a very serious accident at the Hungarian GP.

Massa's car was performing poorly in terms of speed at Australia, but he was in third when mechanical problems forced him to retire. A good result at the Malaysia GP was initially undermined by an error in judgement of the team resulting in Massa not getting past first session of qualifying. Massa was ninth and out of the points when the race was stopped for rain. Massa also failed to score in the next two races, retiring from the Chinese GP with electrical problems, and finishing well outside of the point scoring positions in 14th in Bahrain, due to a KERS problem and damaging his car's front-wing on the first lap.

The Ferrari was much upgraded for the Spanish GP, and Massa was running in third when a computer recorded the car as having less fuel than it should have, forcing him to conserve fuel in the final 10 laps, allowing Vettel and Alonso to cruise past, only for him to realise after the race, that the car had enough fuel and the computer readout was an error.  Monaco produced an encouraging fourth place finish, and in Germany a third place indicated that the early season car issues were almost resolved.

Near tragedy struck in the second round of qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix, Massa was struck on the helmet by a suspension spring that had fallen from Rubens Barrichello's Brawn, on a high-speed part of the track. He subsequently crashed head-on into a tyre barrier. Massa was airlifted to hospital in Budapest, where he underwent surgery in the area surrounding his left eye. His condition was initially described as 'life-threatening but stable', but improved rapidly. Massa was discharged from hospital the following week and returned to Brazil.  After further tests it was decided Massa needed a titanium plate inserted into his skull to strengthen it for racing. As part of his return to Formula 1 Massa undertook a series of neurological examinations, co-ordinated by the FIA's medical delegate, the successful completion of these tests resulted in Massa re-acclimatising by practising in a 2007 Ferrari. Massa was well enough to attend the 2009 Brazilian GP and wave the chequered flag.
 
Massa was joined at Ferrari in 2010 by the exceptional Fernando Alonso. Fernando is a double world champion, and fitted in well with the Ferrari culture of excellence.

At the start of the 2010 season, Massa must have hoped that he would not once again be playing the supporting role of number two driver, as he had to Michael Schumacher and Kimi Räikkönen. He would no doubt have taken great solace from sitting atop of the standings after the first three races, a second in Bahrain, a third in Australia and a seventh in Malaysia. A disappointing result in China and a fourth place finish in Monaco left him in fifth place in the championship. Further poor results in Turkey (seventh) and Canada (fifteenth) meant Massa was struggling to stay in contention with the leading drivers. Further poor results at the European GP (15th) and the British (11th) illustrated the struggles he was having.

The German GP was to be Massa's best result of the season but also the most controversial of the year. Massa was leading the race with Alonso second and Vettel in third. Rob Smedley radioed Massa, stating 'Fernando is faster than you. Can you confirm you understood that message'? On lap 49 Massa slowed down and moved off the racing line to allow Alonso to overtake. Smedley then radioed Massa again, saying, 'Ok mate good lad, stick with him now, sorry'. Alonso went on to win the race with Massa second.  At the time, team orders were prohibited and many suggested that Massa's actions and Smedley's message were evidence that Ferrari had broken the rules by instructing Massa to let Alonso overtake. Ferrari denied any wrongdoing but were fined by the stewards $100,000 for breaking Sporting Regulations and the matter was referred to the FIA World Motor Sport Council. (The council accepted Ferrari's account and no further action was taken).

The rest of the season was similar to the first part, a couple of 3rd place podiums in Italy and Korea, and a couple of poor results, 15 in Brazil and tenth in Abu Dhabi (and a retirement in Japan). Felipe ended the season in sixth place with 144 points. The disparity with his teammate is striking; Alonso gained 252 points and finished in second place.

Massa will be driving for Ferrari again in 2011.

Massa seems a very friendly and personable character, and his return to F1 after the horrific accident in 2009 was fantastic and testament to his bravery. Nevertheless, with the removal of the ban on team orders, and his lack of top class form in 2010, it is hard to envisage that Massa will trouble his illustrious teammate in 2011.
 

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