Felipe Massa
Brazilian racing driver (born 1981)
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Key Takeaways
- Felipe Massa ( Brazilian Portuguese: [feˈlipi ˈmasɐ, fiˈ-] ; born 25 April 1981) is a Brazilian racing driver, who competes in the Stock Car Pro Series for TMG and in the IMSA SportsCar Championship for Riley.
- Born in São Paulo and raised in Botucatu, Massa started his career in karting aged eight, winning national and regional championships before progressing to junior formulae in 1998.
- Massa signed for Sauber in 2002 to partner Nick Heidfeld, making his Formula One debut at the Australian Grand Prix.
- Massa returned to Sauber the following year, remaining with the team for two seasons before signing with Ferrari in 2006 to partner Michael Schumacher.
- He then took several wins in a four-way title battle with Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso and new teammate Kimi Räikkönen, with the latter taking the championship.
Felipe Massa (Brazilian Portuguese: [feˈlipi ˈmasɐ, fiˈ-]; born 25 April 1981) is a Brazilian racing driver, who competes in the Stock Car Pro Series for TMG and in the IMSA SportsCar Championship for Riley. Massa competed in Formula One from 2002 to 2017, and was runner-up in the World Drivers' Championship in 2008 with Ferrari; he won 11 Grands Prix across 15 seasons.
Born in São Paulo and raised in Botucatu, Massa started his career in karting aged eight, winning national and regional championships before progressing to junior formulae in 1998. Massa won several championships in Formula Chevrolet and Formula Renault, before winning the Euro Formula 3000 Championship in 2001 with Draco. Massa signed for Sauber in 2002 to partner Nick Heidfeld, making his Formula One debut at the Australian Grand Prix. Despite scoring several points finishes in his rookie season, Massa was replaced by Heinz-Harald Frentzen in 2003 and became a test driver for Ferrari. Massa returned to Sauber the following year, remaining with the team for two seasons before signing with Ferrari in 2006 to partner Michael Schumacher. Massa took his maiden win from pole position at the Turkish Grand Prix, and became the first Brazilian driver since Ayrton Senna to win his home Grand Prix. He then took several wins in a four-way title battle with Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso and new teammate Kimi Räikkönen, with the latter taking the championship. Massa took six wins in his 2008 campaign, but lost the World Drivers' Championship by one point to Hamilton on the last lap of the last race of the season. Details later emerged of race-fixing at the Singapore Grand Prix—commonly known as Crashgate—that Massa claims lost him the title, taking legal action against the FIA in 2023, which was to go to trial in 2026.
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