Felipe Massa

Felipe Massa (born 25 April 1981) is a Brazilian racing driver currently competing in the Stock Car Pro Series for TMG and in the IMSA SportsCar Championship for Riley. He spent 15 seasons in Formula One, winning 11 Grands Prix and finishing as runner-up in the 2008 World Drivers' Championship with Ferrari. Massa also secured 16 pole positions, 15 fastest laps, and 41 podiums in the series.

Born in São Paulo and raised in Botucatu, Massa is of Italian descent, with grandparents from Cerignola, Italy. He began karting at age eight, winning national and regional titles before moving to junior formulae in 1998. He claimed championships in Formula Chevrolet, Italian and European Formula Renault, and the Euro Formula 3000 series in 2001. That success earned him a Formula One test with Sauber, who signed him for 2002 alongside Nick Heidfeld.

In his rookie season, Massa scored four points, with a best finish of fifth at the Spanish Grand Prix. After a penalty incident, he was dropped for one race and replaced by Heinz-Harald Frentzen, then lost his seat entirely for 2003. He spent that year as a test driver for Ferrari. Sauber re-signed him for 2004 and 2005, where he outscored teammates Giancarlo Fisichella and Jacques Villeneuve respectively. Ferrari then exercised an option to replace Rubens Barrichello, and Massa joined the team for 2006 alongside Michael Schumacher.

Massa took his maiden win from pole at the 2006 Turkish Grand Prix and became the first Brazilian since Ayrton Senna to win his home Grand Prix. In 2007, he was part of a four-way title fight with Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso, and new teammate Kimi Räikkönen, who ultimately took the championship. The following year, Massa won six races but lost the drivers' title by a single point to Hamilton on the final lap of the season finale. He later claimed that the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix—known as Crashgate—cost him the championship, and he initiated legal action against the FIA in 2023, with a trial scheduled for 2026.

At the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix, Massa was seriously injured when a suspension spring from Rubens Barrichello's Brawn struck his helmet at 162 mph during qualifying. He missed the rest of the season, replaced by Luca Badoer and Giancarlo Fisichella. He returned to Ferrari in 2010 alongside Fernando Alonso, briefly leading the championship after the German Grand Prix. After three difficult seasons, he left Ferrari at the end of 2013, having helped the team win two constructors' titles.

Massa joined Williams in 2014 alongside Valtteri Bottas, taking his first pole in six years at the Austrian Grand Prix and scoring several podiums. He announced his retirement at the end of 2016, but when Nico Rosberg's abrupt retirement moved Bottas to Mercedes, Massa postponed his exit to the end of 2017.

Outside Formula One, Massa raced in Formula E for Venturi from 2018 to 2020 and has competed in Brazil's Stock Car Pro Series since 2018. He also entered the Porsche Carrera Cup Brasil in 2020. He hosted the charity Desafio Internacional das Estrelas kart race until 2014 and served as president of the Commission Internationale de Karting from 2017 to 2022.