A Beginning

A Taurus by birth (April 25, 1981) Felipe Massa defies the image of the slow bull by finishing second in the 2008 Drivers’ World Championship and by bagging the racing contract for Scuderia Ferrari till the 2010 season end. But his speeding career actually began quite early when he joined carting at the age of eight and ended fourth in his very first season. His success did not stop as he raced for various championships like Formula Chevrolet, Italian Formula Renault, and Formula 3000 Euro-Series where he was dominant, winning six out of eight races and taking the championship.

Days of Formula One

From 2002 to 2005 his career simply accentuated. Even in his first season at the Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit de Catalunya he scored four championship points, resulting of fifth place. The offset had several mistakes with a race suspension late in the season, forcing him to miss the United States Grand Prix. Returning to the Japanese Grand Prix in 2003 he was left without a race seat so he spent time with Ferrari and slowly demonstrated his decline in mistakes. It resulted in his re-union with Sauber for the 2004 season. It was not a futile act as he scored twelve out of the thirty four points that Sauber won. His best result was being fourth in the Belgian Grand Prix. With Taurean determination he outpaced teammate Jacques Villeneuve., beat him in the championship and in 2006 he re-joined Ferrari as a race driver, siding Michael Schumacher.

Ferrari Fiesta

2006 seemed the year of his glory as he won his first F1 championship at the Belgian Grand Prix at the Istanbul Par Circuit. Moreover, he achieved four podium finishes in USA, France and Germany after the first career podium at the Nürburgring, behind Schumacher and Alonso. At Barcelona he set the fastest lap. Schumachers’ announcement on 10 September of his retirement from F1 at the end of the 2006 season secured his future at Ferrari. Massa marked history on October 22 when he became the first Brazilian to win his home grand at the 2006 Brazilian Grand Prix ironically beating Schumacher finishing the season at third place with 80 points, after world champion Fernando Alonso and teammate Schumacher. In 2007 after some trouble shooting he recovered by coming second at his home grand prix. Massa was much in the lead in the prix till he yielded to teammate Kimi Räikkönen, securing his tile of world championship. In 2008 he had plenty of ups and downs as racers struggled to grab the position that Schumacher had left as a void and his old problems resurfaced. However, he did win at the Bahrain, Turkish, French, European, Belgian and Brazilian Grand Prix. 2009 did not begin favorably as technical problems with Ferrari and computer glitches prevented him from making much headway.

A Wrap

Felipe Massa tied the knot with Anna Rafaela Bassi on November 30, 2007. Now they are waiting for the arrival of a baby boy to join their family in November 2009.